Research

Europe experiences dramatic social and demographic changes. These are characterized in Luxembourg by a progressively declining and low birth rate and greater longevity. Recent extrapolations by Eurostat predict that there will be a dramatic increase of the “old old” people above 80 years within the next 15 years, while the proportion of persons within the active age between 15 to 64 years will decrease. The ratio between active and inactive persons will dramatically change from now on till 2040 and threaten the sustainability of public finances and resources. All these changes will challenge the European societies on several dimensions:

• Social security and welfare
• education and employment
• migration and integration
• social inclusion and exclusion
• intergenerational relations will thus represent key areas of concern in the future.

One of the leading tasks of a University is to develop research programs that elaborate key knowledge structures and action models, which will promote a sustainable social development by studying social change phenomena. The Integrative Research Unit on “Social and Individual Development  (INSIDE) is committed to this goal since it aims at conducting interdisciplinary studies on the impact of social change, both at the individual and at the social level. Participating disciplines include

• psychology
• sociology
• educational sciences
• social pedagogy
• social work.

 Three major objectives motivate research within INSIDE:

• Scientific knowledge production

         –i.e., developing a set of core knowledge on a national and international basis by integrative interdisciplinary research;

• Training   and education

         –i.e., developing new training programs  for new skills and different target groups across the life span;

• Consultation

         –i.e., consultation of and cooperation with business firms, national stakeholders and decision makers.