Our project is dedicated to the study of the influence of Europeanization on women and migrants’ access to social rights and benefits in France and Germany. The specific articulation between forms of discriminations and compensation for inequalities is drastically affected by the European process in both countries. In our project, we conceive social citizenship (i) as a discourse on social cohesion, (ii) as a relationship between citizens’ participation, social protection and statutory norms, and (iii) as a relation to the multiscalar dimension of power. We use this concept as an innovative tool for the analysis of the dynamics of social rights and benefits since 1957. France and Germany showcase contrasting traditions of social citizenship, which are combined differently in the process of Europeanization. The French social citizenship tradition emphasizes the abstract notions of equality and universal social integration, which creates differences with respect to social status and specific policy targeting. The German one is based primarily upon the belonging to a cultural community. It operates mostly through delegation to intermediary groups and admits more disparity in a more decentralized political space. The dynamics of inequality and discrimination in the access to social rights will be considered in the case of women and migrants as both groups have historically been marginalized on the labour market and in the welfare state. Our project is organized in three steps. Firstly, based upon the available literature, we will conduct a historical analysis (i) of the problematization of access to social rights, (ii) legal codification, and (iii) the instrumentation of policy-making in regarding gender, migration, and ethnicity in France and Germany. Secondly, based on legal and administrative documents, we will summarize and assess the definition and regulation of access to social rights at the European level. Thirdly, we analyse the effects of Europeanization on the definition of social rights and benefits in both countries, specifically around the issue of access to social rights for both women and migrants. We will analyse these effects in the aftermath of the European anti-discrimination directives (2000) in particular. This project will contribute to advance the analysis of current transformations, convergences, and obstacles in terms of legal codification and policy instrumentation, which are aimed at addressing inequalities and combating discriminations. We will work on two specific policy domains: 1) access to social minimum income, and 2) access vocational training and career advancement.

The climate crisis generates pressing challenges, encompassing the need for environmental sustainability while preserving and enhancing human well-being for which social protection institutions are called to play a key role. However, on the one hand, they are confronted with severe environmental hazards and new social risks, and on the other hand, they are facing the paradox that the economic growth which fostered their development and legitimacy aggravates today's climate crisis. WELRISCC explores how various European welfare states respond differently to these challenges and are differently equipped to address the social risks generated by the current environmental transition. It examines how 15 European welfare states address human well-being amidst climate change. Focussing on 'third generation social risks’ arising from changing climate, it distinguishes between a) direct social risks (i.e. stemming from immediate threats like droughts or floods; e.g. sickness or property loss), and b) indirect social risks (i.e. stemming from policies that seek to mitigate climate change; e.g. the effects of carbon taxes on lower-income brackets). Adopting a comparative welfare state perspective, it hypothesizes that a country’s approach to these risks is influenced by established institutions, interests, and ideas that have evolved within the nation's welfare, economic and environmental systems. This innovative project brings together so far unrelated approaches and develops new datasets. The goal is both to map out the current landscape of responses to social risks related to climate change, and to explain this variation by forging new theoretical pathways for future studies on the interplay between climate change, welfare states, and well-being. WELRISCC is backed by an interdisciplinary team, with diverse European expertise, who will provide timely insights into societal well-being amidst the climate crisis.

In order to meet the climate change mitigation objectives of the European Union as well as the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it is inevitable that the European Union phases out fossil fuel consumption in the power sector and decarbonizes fossil-fuel dependent industries. These industries are not spread evenly across the EU but concentrated in a number of carbon-intensive regions. Decarbonization will lead to deep structural changes with implications for regional economies, labour markets, as well as for the regions’ social, political, cultural and demographic composition. If not managed well, these structural changes may cause serious economic impacts, societal upheaval, aggravated social inequalities and hardship. To minimize such consequences it is necessary to better understand the patterns and dynamics of structural change in response to decarbonization at the regional level, to understand which parameters determine the pace of transformation as well as the capacity of regional actors to adapt and pro-actively create alternative structures. This project aims to enable these activities through highly integrated, inter- and transdisciplinary research working in close collaboration with regional stakeholders. It combines quantitative model-based research with qualitative in-depth analysis. The qualitative research will focus on four highly fossil-fuel dependent regions: Western Macedonia (Greece), Silesia (Poland), Ida-Virumaa (Estonia) and the Rhenish mining area (Germany). The regions were selected to cover a diverse set of different fuels, state of economic development, diversification of the regional economy, political economy, and spatial composition. This diversity will enable the project to derive generalizable insights about the patterns and dynamics of decarbonization and the corresponding structural adjustments that hold relevance for all carbon-intensive regions in the EU and its neighbouring countries.

Open ENTRANCE addresses the development, use and dissemination of an open, transparent and integrated modelling platform for assessing low-carbon transition pathways. The platform will be populated with a suite of state-of-the-art modelling tools and data for covering the multiple dimensions of the energy transition. This will facilitate and improve the dialogue between researchers, policy makers and industry when investigating central questions in the transition. Open ENTRANCE will improve the adequacy of the energy modelling approaches in different ways: i) the quality of the models that will be included in the suit ii) the linking of models which makes it possible to run analyses faster and to conduct a number of sensitivity analyses iii) by integrating large-scale empirical data about human behaviour into energy modelling tools iv) by combining detailed bottom-up and top-down approaches. Open ENTRANCE will demonstrate the functionality of the platform by conducting scenario building exercises, in-depth (case) studies and macro-economic analyses of the transition. Energy transition pathways will provide strategic recommendations to policy-makers. The platform allows 3rd party users to link own tools to the database and to conduct comparative studies to the results from Open ENTRANCE. IIASA guaranties that the database will be open accessible at least 10 years after the end of the project. If new projects will use the platform, it is possible to develop it further. Open ENTRANCE is built on a number of national and European energy modelling projects. The Consortium includes 13 energy modelling groups in addition to World Future Council which is responsible for dissemination and communication. Open ENTRANCE will arrange 12 workshops for stakeholder discussions, 4 annual conferences and 1 workshop in the European Parliament. 45 stakeholders have signed for their interest in the project so far. Open ENTRANCE is a 4-year project with a budget of 4.9 mill Euro.

To facilitate the necessary energy transition, there is an urgent need for highly trained professionals with the scientific knowledge and professional skills to analyse, understand and design relevant (new) energy systems and governance in different sectors and administration. The proposed project Energy Systems in Transition (ENSYSTRA) aims to train 15 ESRs in this field. The objectives of ENSYSTRA are 1) to develop state-of-the-art science of energy systems transition, scenario analysis and energy modelling tools with emphasis on interdisciplinary model collaboration, 2) to provide ESRs with interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral and applied perspectives on the energy transition, 3) to provide new skills and competences for interdisciplinary analysis, 3) to establish collaboration between key universities and their networks, 4) to create and increase linkages between different academic disciplines, applied research, industry and the public sector, 5) develop links and synergies between relevant scientific arenas, and 6) to contribute to accessible energy science based on open source work environments. By focussing on a prominent ‘’living lab’’ of the energy transition, the North Sea region, the project will bring together a strong network and analytical capacity to understand energy system & scenario modeling; new energy technologies & infrastructures; actor behavior & interactions; and policy & market design, linking the regional to the international scale. Through a carefully designed training programme, ESRs are trained in both scientific and transferable skills with ample opportunity to collaborate between different projects and partners. The total effort will result in major progress in the field of energy system analysis and transition modelling. By the combined use and improvement of a range of modelling tools and methods, the project will deliver integral insights in energy transition pathways, policy implications and options for the North Sea region.