Europe again supports Ghent University researchers for innovative research into greater justice and digital empowerment
(03-12-2024) Two Ghent University researchers, Tine Destrooper and Liselot Hudders, will receive an ERC Consolidator Grant. This grant will allow them to expand their research group and conduct groundbreaking research.
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded its Consolidator Grants to 328 researchers. These grants, totalling €678 million, aim to support outstanding scientists and scholars as they establish their independent research teams and develop their most promising scientific ideas. The funding is provided through the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
GROUNDOC – Tine Destrooper
How can societies confront the legacy of massive human rights violations? GROUNDOC aims to revisit this challenge by rethinking "transitional justice", the process of addressing past wrongs to promote redress and accountability.
Transitional justice
“Transitional justice” is the field of scholarship and practice that examines how societies deal with the consequences of massive human rights violations. Today the language and practice of “transitional justice” are increasingly used by grassroots justice actors, including in contexts where no recent political transition took place. Examples are “transitional justice” initiatives to address ongoing conflict or historical injustices.
This increased popularity on the ground, including in contexts that are very different from those in which “transitional justice” practice emerged is striking in itself, and even more so when considering the profound critiques that have been made by scholars and professionals alike, both about the foundations and normative underpinnings of “transitional justice”, as well as about how it is implemented.
Innovation, ambition and experiment
Interestingly, the ways in which “transitional justice” is interpreted in contemporary cases is often characterized by innovations, new ambitions, and experimentation, which invites for a rethinking of current standard mechanisms and objectives.
This project asks how we can learn from these contemporary practices, proposals and interpretations to rethink the “transitional justice” architecture and address some of the most pressing critiques of standardized “transitional justice” practices.
Central role of documentation
The project will engage in this exercise through a close study of documentation initiatives because there is significant innovation happening in this realm, and because documentation’s central role across all “transitional justice” initiatives means that this innovation has the potential to amend the entire paradigm.
The envisioned outcome is a practice-informed and future-oriented understanding of how “transitional justice” can best contribute to an increasingly wide range of justice struggles.
KIDFLUENCER – Liselot Hudders
In the digital age, kidfluencers, the young stars of social media such as Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, are playing an increasingly important role in the lives of Generation Alpha (children born after 2010). With their popular profiles on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, they bring entertaining, funny and inspiring content (e.g. unboxing videos, challenges, vlogs, tutorials), often sponsored by brands. The KIDFLUENCER project aims to investigate the dynamics of this phenomenon and better understand its impact on young children's development into consumers.
Empowerment and consumer socialisation: the other side of the coin
While previous research has mainly highlighted the negative effects of kidfluencers, such as the commercial exploitation and deception of their young followers, this project looks at the other side of the coin. It examines how kidfluencer activities can also provide opportunities for empowerment and growth in children's consumer socialisation process. This research will help us understand whether, to what extent and in what way these kidfluencers have an impact on how young children learn from media and engage with consumption.
Kidfluencers as co-designers of research
Using an innovative multi-method, three-pronged approach, it will look not only at the production processes and content of kidfluencer activities, but also at their impact on young viewers. In the KIDFLUENCER project, kidfluencers, their entourage, and their followers are given a voice, and children are actively involved as co-designers of the research. The project seeks a deeper understanding of how children's consumption behaviour changes in a digital world. It will lead to a new conceptualisation of kidfluencers as hybrid agents in children's consumer socialisation process.
Raising awareness
Liselot Hudders' research group has built up extensive expertise in influencer studies in recent years. Several of her and her team’s research projects highlighted the role of social media influencers in the lives of their followers. These study both the commercial and social (e.g. in making parenting decisions) role of influencers. Two years ago, the site magditonline.be was established as a science communication initiative to raise awareness about the dangers of depicting children in influencer content. The KIDFLUENCER project builds on this research and looks at the opportunities the kidfluencer phenomenon can offer for children.
About the ERC
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants.
With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva.
Researchers who wish to apply for an ERC Grant with Ghent University as their host institution, can contact the EU Team for advice and support.
Contact
EU-team UGent
eu-team@ugent.be