ECRP V - 2009

Six projects from the ECRP 2009 competition have been funded. You will find below the abstracts of the projects as well as the lists of Project Leaders, Principal Investigators and Associate Partners.


09-ECRP-015 EUPERFORM

EUPERFORM aims to increase scientific knowledge on the role of the EU as a global actor, by generating and implementing a comparative framework to examine the relationships between the EU and a number of international institutions.

The project will investigate these interactions, with a focus on performance as a dependent variable. In addition, the project will strengthen the research community and academic network addressing the role of the EU in international institutions and, more generally, in multilateralism.

Project Leader

ProfessorKnud ErikJørgensenE-Mail
Aarhus UniversityFaculty of Social SciencesDepartment of Political SciencesAarhusDenmark

Principal Investigators

Dr.NinaGraegerE-Mail
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)Department for International PoliticsOsloNorway
Dr.RobertKissackE-Mail
Barcelona Institute for International StudiesBarcelonaSpain

Associated Partners

ProfessorEugeniaBaroncelliE-Mail
University of BolognaFaculty of Political ScienceForliItaly



09-ECRP-020 Intentional Inhibition of Human Action

Most people recognise the experience of stopping themselves ‘just in time’ before committing an unwise action.  We call this process ‘intentional inhibition’.  The capacity for intentional inhibition is as important for human volition as the capacity for initiating actions, and is essential for successful social interaction.  However, it has been largely ignored, perhaps because it produces no measurable behavioural output.  Yet preliminary studies have successfully identified processes of intentional inhibition distinct from external inhibition previously studied with ‘stop’ signals.

This is the first systematic research programme on intentional inhibition of human action.  Experimental paradigms for eliciting intentional inhibition are developed and implemented across four complementary laboratories.  These are used to investigate psychological and neural mechanisms of intentional inhibition, and interactions of these mechanisms with reward, emotion and social context.  The emergence of intentional inhibition in normal child development is contrasted with striking pathologies of the action/inhibition balance in Tourette’s Syndrome.  Specific research collaborations transfer knowledge and skills between partners, and integrate the various studies. 

Project Leader

ProfessorPatrickHaggardE-Mail
University College LondonInstitute of Cognitive NeuroscienceDepartment of PsychologyLondonUnited Kingdom

Principal Investigators

ProfessorMarcelBrassE-Mail
Ghent UniversityPsychology and Educational SciencesDepartment of Experimental PsychologyGhentBelgium
ProfessorEvelineCroneE-Mail
Universiteit LeidenFaculty of Social and Behavioural SciencesDepartment of PsychologyBrain Development LaboratoryLeidenNetherlands
ProfessorAlexanderMuenchauE-Mail
Universitaetsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfDepartment of NeurologyUniversity Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfHamburgGermany



09-ECRP021 National Transfer Accounts and intergenerational redistribution in European institutional settings

In all societies the very young and the very old consume more than they produce. The survival and welfare of the human species therefore require transfers of resources across ages through family, public taxation or capital market saving. This fundamentally affects the working of financial markets, wealth accumulation and public finance. The project maps these resource flows into a National Accounts framework as part of an international project to create comparable National Transfer Accounts. Funding is requested to support the current European NTA teams to perform comparative analyses of the data and adapt the methodology to European institutional settings. NTA will yield important information on wealth accumulation, family economics, equity issues across generations and gender as well as a better understanding of public transfer and consumption systems. Indicators and projections to determine future sustainability of transfer systems and consumption levels can be computed from the data. The comparative analysis of differences in the NTA patterns yields a new approach to understanding the institutional impact of these flows. The country contributions from Spain, Sweden, Austria, Hungary and the Associate Partners in Germany and Finland assemble team members with different expertise and cover a wide sample of different institutional arrangements for intergenerational redistribution.

Project Leader

ProfessorThomasLindhE-Mail
Institute for Futures StudiesStockholmSweden

Principal Investigators

ProfessorAlexiaFürnkranz-PrskawetzE-Mail
Vienna University of TechnologyInstitute for Mathematical Methods in EconomicsResearch Unit: EcoViennaAustria
Mr.RobertGalE-Mail
TARKI Joint Research CentreBudapestHungary
Dr.ConcepciónPatxot CardonerE-Mail
Universitat de BarcelonaFacultad de Ciencias EconomicasDepartament de Fundamentos de Analisis EconomicoCentre d'Anàlisi Econòmica i de les Polítiques Socials (CAEPS)BarcelonaSpain

Associated Partners

Ms.FannyKlugeE-Mail
Max Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchRostockGermany
Ms.MarjaRiiheläE-Mail
Government Institute of Economic ResearchResearch Unit on Taxation and Social TransfersHelsinkiFinland
Mr.RistoSullströmE-Mail
HelsinkiFinland
Mr.ReijoVanneE-Mail
HelsinkiFinland
Mr.RistoVaittinenE-Mail
Finnish Centre for PensionsEläketurvakeskusFinland
ProfessorFrancois-CharlesWolffE-Mail
University of NantesInstitut d’Economie et de ManagementNantes CedexFrance



09-ECRP-025 Optimising the detection of criminal intent and deception among criminal networks

Current concerns over citizen security call for tools to investigate and prevent criminal and terrorist activity carried out by individuals and networks. The project includes deception researchers from several countries with proven track-records. We aim to develop lie detection tools ranging between cutting- edge interview techniques to measuring brain activity, embedded in psychological theory regarding (1) orienting response, (2) memory, (3) response inhibition, (4) cognitive load, and (5) avoidance strategies. We focus on criminal behaviour and intention because a vital part of security involves preventing criminal and terrorist acts. We further focus on individuals and networks of individuals, which is important because the largest security threats come from organised crime and terrorists, both involving networks. Our research concentrates on two different situations: where exact details of the crime are (i) known or (ii) unknown to the investigator. The research will help end-users (police, secret service, airport security and passport control) to carry out their work with improved lie detection tools.

Project Leader

ProfessorPär AndersGranhagE-Mail
Göteborg UniversityDepartment of PsychologyGöteborgSweden

Principal Investigators

ProfessorGeertCrombezE-Mail
Ghent UniversityPsychologyGhentBelgium
Dr.MatthiasGamerE-Mail
University Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfDepartment of Systems NeuroscienceHamburgGermany

Associated Partners

ProfessorGershonBen-ShakharE-Mail
The Hebrew University of JerusalemFaculty of Social SciencesDepartment of PsychologyJerusalemIsrael



09-ECRP-032 Qualitative Tracking with Young Disabled People in European States (Quali-TYDES)

The purpose of the Quali-TYDES project is to investigate and explain how new developments in global, European, national/local policies are impacting on the lives of young disabled adults in several European countries. By combining qualitative longitudinal methods (life stories) with critical policy analysis, the project aims to generate policy-relevant knowledge that is grounded in the experiences and aspirations of young disabled people themselves. Using these methods, the study aims to generate a comparative understanding of national policy regimes in relation to disability, family, work and welfare. As a consequence, the project also aims to investigate the potential for using qualitative case study methods to assist in monitoring states’ implementation of international policy obligations, such as those arising from the United Nations and European Union.
Project website: http://quali-tydes.univie.ac.at/home

Project Leader

Dr.MichaelShevlinE-Mail
Trinity CollegeFaculty of Arts & HumanitiesDepartment of EducationDublinIreland

Principal Investigators

ProfessorGottfriedBiewerE-Mail
University of ViennaFaculty of Philosphy, Education and Human DevelopmentDepartment of Education and Human DevelopmentWienAustria
Dr.Miguel A. V.FerreiraE-Mail
Universidad Complutense de MadridFacultad de CC. Políticas y SociologíaDepartamento de Cambio Social (Sociología I)Pozuelo De AlarcónSpain

Associated Partner

Dr.JanSiskaE-Mail
Charles University, PragueFaculty of EducationPragueCzech Republic



09-ECRP-044 Toward a European Society: Single Market, Binational Marriages, and Social Group Formation in Europe

This collaborative international research project seeks to measure trends in binational marriages between citizens of the European Union and to examine the extent to which these binational couples both express and contribute to the emergence of a new European middle class.  The study departs from previous research on intermarriage through its exclusive focus on marriages between EU citizens and through the examination of binational couples not from the perspective of how foreigners integrate in host societies, but rather from the standpoint of the formation of new social groups that could be described as European. 

Project Leader

ProfessorJuanDiez MedranoE-Mail
Institut Barcelona d'Estudis InternacionalsBarcelonaSpain

Principal Investigators

ProfessorHelgade ValkE-Mail
Vrije Universiteit BrusselDepartment of Social ResearchBrusselsBelgium
ProfessorJörgRösselE-Mail
Universität ZürichSoziologisches InstitutZürichSwitzerland
ProfessorLeonardusVan WissenE-Mail
University GroningenFaculty of Spacial SciencesDepartment of DemographyGroningenNetherlands