Project description
A closer look at student sex workers
Discrimination among university students is on the rise, particularly along the lines of class, gender, race, age and occupation. While European universities have made strides in addressing gender-based violence, they still overlook discrimination against students in the sex industry, a reality that is growing as tuition and living costs rise. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the COSTI project aims to address the needs of student sex workers in Italian and Spanish universities. It will explore the relationship between stigmatisation, sex work, education system and social change. The project will map student sex work across Europe, investigate the motivations behind it, identify factors contributing to stigma and create recommendations to prevent discrimination within the academic community.
Objective
Global challenges in fostering university education free from discrimination are on the rise. Many students face bias based on their class, gender, race, age, or occupation, often without recognition of their rights. While European universities have made significant progress in preventing gender-based violence against women and the LGBTQ+ community, they have yet to address discrimination against students in the sex industry. This issue is increasingly relevant as more students turn to sex work due to rising tuition fees and living expenses. COSTI aims to fill this gap by promoting equitable responses to the needs of student sex workers in Spanish and Italian universities. This pioneering project employs an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and multi-sited approach to explore student sex work in previously unexamined contexts. COSTI will investigate the interplay between stigmatization, sex work, the education system, and social change and pursues four key objectives: 1) to map the phenomenon of university students in the sex industry in Europe through a comprehensive literature review; 2) to understand the motivations of student sex workers and the social and political factors contributing to their institutional stigma in four of the most important Spanish and Italian universities; 3) to identify the needs of student sew workers together with experts in institutional stigma; 4) to co-create recommendations with student sex workers to prevent discrimination within the academic community. The methodology will combine ethnographic research, quantitative methods, and action research practices. This means realising short online anonymous questionnaires among students and academic staff, face-to-face in-depth interviews and focus groups with student sex workers. COSTI will elevate awareness of student sex work within educational institutions and society, delivering significant benefits to researchers, student sex workers, academic community and civil society at large.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
43003 Tarragona
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.