New publication of the institute associates

Darka Podmenik, PhD, external associate at the IRSA institute and Maruša Gorišek, young researcher, published an article in the journal Research in Social Change titled Is youth unemployment in EU countries structural?

Geopolitical, socio-economic and cultural aspects of Covid-19

The following contribution was written during the research on socio-economic, geopolitical and cultural aspects of the current pandemic.

Why is Eastern (Central) Europe less affected by the pandemic?

Dr. Frane Adam published a new book

Dr. Frane Adam published a new book at the Institute for developmental and strategic analysis, titled

Between meritocracy and populism

On the cacophony of data in the postfactual society

(Second, edited edition)

Workshop on (highly educated) youth unemployment

Institute IRSA organized a workshop titled: Long-term unemplyoment of (higher educated) young people - an indicator of social crisis?

The even was prepared and moderated by dr. Darka Podmenik, external associate of IRSA

IRSA workshop

In the time from November, 28. to November 30, the workshop for the members of program and project gruop at iRSA took place in Ljubljana. The main topic was Globalisation and Meritocracy, with the accent on four cases China, Sweden, Romania and Slovenia, a detailed workshop program can be viewed here.

Research Profile and Topics

The Institute for Developmental and Strategic Analysis (IRSA) is a private, non-profit research institution, primarily centered on social sciences and humanities and their application to the spheres of business, industry, and government. In addition to purely theoretical research (inter - and trans-disciplinary based but with strong sociological background) – such as system theory, institutional economics and modernisation theory – the IRSA is also increasingly engaged in empirical and applied, policy-oriented research, expertise (in the sense of “Mode 2 production of knowledge”) and consultation commissioned by governmental bodies and civil society organisations.

IRSA has developed a specific thematic and methodological research profile. The emphasis is on a multi-level and holistic orientation backed by the use of quantitative as well as qualitative methods and data (triangulation) including meta-analysis and case studies. Comparative, cross-national approach is one of the specific features of IRSA style of research.

Recently, there is an emphasis on empirical studying of socio-cultural factors of developmental performance, and – in this context – special interest is paid to the concept of social capital, transfer of knowledge and regional innovation systems. We are opening a new field of researching in which we are focusing on gender issues: we are analyzing the concepts of gender equality in relation to democratic processes, innovative practices and creative (artistic) content and educational institutions.

The most important international publications have been focused on the following topics: democracy and elite formation in post-socialist societies, intercultural communication dynamics, the concept of social capital and its impact on economic performance in the context of knowledge-based society and economy, sociology of knowledge and science.

Our members also have extensive experience in international and/or EU research programs and projects, including participation in various projects, among the most recent one a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation project STEM4Youth.