To progress towards the planned objectives, team members carried out the following activities within the first 30 months of the project:
Objective 1: To strengthen cooperation between academic and non-academic organizations involved in pro-democracy struggles. This overall objective is divided into the following three sub-objectives:
Objective 1.1: Establish a new inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary training-through-research program to reinforce innovation ecosystems in South-Eastern Europe. To achieve this objective, 28 staff members – 15 from the academic sector and 13 from the non-academic sector – completed 137.6 months of secondments during the reporting period. We have also organized 44 internal workshops, 18 internal dissemination events and two main project events (conferences). The training program included legal, political, criminological, and sociological methods for exploring illiberal systems, civic mechanisms for monitoring illiberal regimes, and how to create more robust democracies.
Objective 1.2: To deliver a program of secondments and skills training for transferring academic know-how to non-governmental and news media organizations. Academic organizations – InstCrim, BOUN, Roma Tre, VUB, UNSA and OzU – provided training on conceptual tools and advanced research methods for exploring illiberalism and training on practical skills needed to conduct high-quality research (e.g. research proposal preparation, integration of ethics in research, open science practices … etc.). In total, 51.1 months of secondments were carried out at 6 academic organizations by 13 staff members from nonacademic organizations.
Objective 1.3: To deliver a program of secondments and skills training for transferring NGO knowledge to researchers and media organizations. The participating civil society organizations – Libera, CAWN and IstanPol – provided training on civic mechanisms for monitoring illiberal governments and strategies for involving civil society in pro-democracy struggles. In total, 86.5 months of secondments involving 15 academic staff members were carried out at non-academic organizations. Those organizations provided the secondees training on government accountability programs (e.g. fact-checking), empowerment actions (e.g. public engagement in anti-corruption and legislative initiatives), and public advocacy at the local and international levels. We also organized 5 workshops providing training on government accountability mechanisms.
Objective 1.4: To deliver a program of secondments and skills training for transferring knowledge from news media organizations to academic staff and staff members of non-governmental organizations. Delo provided seconded staff members with know-how in various media practices (e.g. basic insights into investigative journalism, article editing, producing videocasts and podcasts, and using the media archive for research purposes). In total, 38.8 months of secondments were carried out at Delo by 6 staff members from the academic sector.
Objective 2: To deliver a program of transferable skill training for researchers, innovators, and other research and innovation talents. This overall objective includes the organization of training workshops on research management, knowledge brokering, data stewardship, and knowledge transfers.
Objective 2.1: Training to build R&I transferable skills and leadership capacity. In line with the timetable, we have organized a series of workshops on research management (9 workshops), knowledge brokering (6 workshops), data management (6 workshops) and knowledge transfer (7 workshops). In total, we carried out 28 workshops for project members.
Deliverables: All deliverables planned for the reporting period – 10 in total – have been submitted.
Milestones: All milestones planned for the reporting period – 4 in total – have been achieved on time.
Timetable: We are currently on schedule to achieve all project objectives.
