Mission

The project Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations – SO-CLOSE will last 3 years.

The mission of the project is to contribute to social cohesion and fight refugee marginalization or exclusion by facilitating the encounters between similar life stories, through the mediation of innovative digital and artistic tools.

Based on theories of cultural heritage-making, exposing the commonalities of past and present experiences, listening to the target groups’ needs and through the development of a methodology template of co-creative design of replicable digital tools and cultural products, SO-CLOSE will improve social cohesion and promote mutual understanding between refugees and their local communities.

The resulting data and methodology will be used to develop several digital applications, for which purpose we have in our consortium strong technological partners with experience in this field. Working at the intersection of history, sociology, cultural studies, art and computer science, SO-CLOSE will design educational and cultural tool like interactive cookbooks, interactive documentaries based on immersive video recording, AI-powered Chatbots, interactive exhibitions based on personal memories and storytelling or an online platform, named Memory Center, built as a content aggregator and services platform.

Work Package 1 WP1
Work Package 2 WP2
Work Package 3 WP3
Work Package 4 WP4
Work Package 5 WP5
Work Package 6 WP6

Work Package 1

Framework Set Up & Design of the co-creation paths

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)

WP1 aims to find a common methodology and tool to gather information from the target group able to inform the subsequent phase of the project and specifically:

To examine the existing state of the art in terms of tools and methods used to collect information from the target group in the field subject of the project;
To create a common methodology for an integrated and storable data gathering;
To provide data and information to be used in the further definition of scenarios and prototypes.

Work Package 2

Co-design of the tools for cultural heritage co-creation

Monte Sole (Italy)

WP2 aims to develop the common co-creative methodology and tools to gather information from the target group, users, cultural institutions and academics necessary for the continuation of the project and specifically:

Design the procedure and structure of the co-design methodology.
Test the co-design methodology in locally-based activities.
Collect and analyze the data resulting from the exchange activities
Provide empirical content to WP3, WP4, WP5

This WP is crucial for the other WPs as it will serve to outline the profiles of the different users and participants in the activities, as well as to organize them chronologically avoiding overlaps and enhancing the interaction and exchange of results among the venues, and among WPs 3, 4, 5 (recipients of the results and the data obtained). This WP will decide the structure, time schedule, interactions, and dependencies of the co-design methodology, tested in four locations, each one of them devoted to a historical experience:

Poland, in VDA, Krakow, on displacements after the end of the Second World War
Greece, organized by GFR in collaboration with ASKI, at the Trikeri Island Concentration Camp, on political persecution and women internment during the Greek Civil War
Spain, in MUME de l’Exili, La Jonquera, on civilian exile and lack of refuge in France during the Spanish Civil War
Italy, in MONTE, Marzabotto, on violence against civilians during the Second World War and the Italian Civil War

Work Package 3

Toolbox development

ENGINEERING (Italy)

The main goal of WP3 is twofold. On one hand it has to develop a set of tools to enable the sharing of cultural heritage and the co-creation of new cultural materials with and for refugees. On the other hand, this WP will also develop the Memory Center, an accessible multimodal platform that will gather the new materials created by SO-CLOSE in different locations to connect them with similar initiatives and reach broader and different targets (academic, arts, public authorities, and the whole society).

The specific objectives are:

To design at least three different digital tools to be implemented in the four different pilot locations (Greece, Poland, Italy, Spain).
To develop and test a first prototype for each of the tools and test it in lab conditions with a reduced sample of users.
To design and develop a first prototype of the accessible multilanguage multimodal platform (Memory Center).
To ensure the integrability of: (i) the locally created materials into the Memory Center and (ii) the Memory Center with other existing platforms (e.g. Europeana).

Work Package 4

Implementation & Validation (pilots)

Lund University (Sweden)

The main goal of WP4 is to implement and validate the digital tools resulting from the work in previous work packages in four distinct locations.

The specific objectives are:

To implement and test the digital toolboxes in several locations
To document the process of local adaptation, local content co-creation and testing
To generate co-created content that fills the digital tool “shells” designed in WP3
To address the on-site problems that might occur and include them in a troubleshooting section of the how-to manual.
To evaluate the quality of the tools and of the process

Work Package 5

Exploitation, Dissemination & Communication

Villa Decius Association

The main aims of this Work Package are:

to develop an exploitation plan and sustainability strategy for the SO-CLOSE methodology and showcases, whilst addressing approaches to innovation management and handling of IPR emerging from the project, based on principles outlined in the consortium agreement.
to actively promote the results and benefits of the SO-CLOSE project to the widest possible audience, including European and worldwide stakeholders.
to actively promote resilience across the different identified project stakeholders

Work Package 6

Project Management

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)

The main goal of WP6 is to ensure a timely execution of the project and the accomplishment of the project objectives. Its specific objectives are:

To set up a governance structure and the required procedures to ensure a proper coordination and communication with internal and external stakeholders and an effective management of the project, including gender management.
To set up and implement a control and monitoring system to ensure that all Work packages and related tasks meet the objectives in a timely matter.
To ensure an effective communication with the European Commission and fulfill all the reporting requirements in terms of time and quality.
To set up and implement a Data Management Plan for the data and results obtained in the project
To set up a framework to identify and deal with potential legal and ethical issues and ensure compliance with reference agreements.

SO-CLOSE Team

Leader of the project:

Javier Rodrigo

Born in 1977, is Associate Professor - recognized for Full professorship-, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Since 2019 he is awarded with ICREA Acadèmia grant. PhD (2004) in History from the European University Institute in Florence and postdoctoral researcher at the London School of Economics, has later been “Juan de la Cierva” Research Fellow at the University of Zaragoza and “Ramón y Cajal” Research Fellow at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona. He is the author or coordinator of 16 books on concentration camps history, mass violence and Civil Wars.

Advisory Board

Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas

(Orense, 1966) He studied at Universities of Santiago de Compostela and Dijon, and received his PhD in Contemporary History from the European University Institute in Florence. He is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Santiago de Compostela and from October 2012 to October 2018 at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich.

Since 2018 he has been vice-president of the Galician Culture Council (Santiago de Compostela). He specializes in „the comparative study of European and Iberian nationalisms, as well as in migratory studies and the cultural history of violence.”

Philipp Ther

(Mittelberg, 1967). He studied modern history, Eastern European history, sociology and political science at the universities of Regensburg and Munich from 1988 to 1992. Received his PhD from the Free University of Berlin with a thesis on the history of German and Polish refugees from 1945 to 1956.

Since 2010 has been a University Professor for the History of Central and Eastern Europe at the Institute of Eastern European History at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on the comparative social and cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, in particular studies of nationalism, the history of migration, the history of the city and the history of musical theatre.

Luisa Passerini

(Asti, 1941). Laurea in Philosophy and History, University of Turin. At present Professor Emerita, Department of History and Civilisation, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

Fields of research: Cultural history, with particular attention to oral and visual memory; history of subjectivity, including forms of European identity; gender and generations; diasporic subjectivities; art’s contributions to the socio-historical disciplines.

Recent research project: Bodies Across Borders: Oral and Visual Memory in Europe and Beyond (BABE) – project funded by the European Research Council

Sari Hanafi

Master’s degree (D.E.A.) „Sciences et Techniques dans l’Histoire, la Culture et l’Organisation des sociétés”, University of Strasbourg and Ph. D. in Sociology, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales-Paris.

Professor of Sociology at the American University of Beirut and editor of Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology (Arabic). He is the President of the International Sociological Association (2018–2022).

Advisory Board

Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas

- Advisory Board Member
Philipp Ther

- Advisory Board Member
Luisa Passerini

- Advisory Board Member
Sari Hanafi

- Advisory Board Member

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)

Javier Rodrigo

- Project Coordinator
Monica Cervera

- PM of the project
Miguel Alonso

- Team Member
Purificación Perona

- Admin Contact / Advisor
Teresa Sordé

- WP1 Leader
Sònia Parella

- Team Member
Ainhoa Flecha

- Team Member
Massoud Sharifi

- Researcher
Pilar Orero

- Team Member
Oriol López

- Team Member
Francisco Morente

- Team Member
João Pedro Silveira Martins

- Researcher
Giorgia Priorelli

- Researcher
Magda Fytili

- Researcher

UAB Research Park

Juan F. Sanguesa

- Team Member
Ona Tribó

- Team Member

Lund University

Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

- WP4 Leader
Björn Petersson

- Team Member
Kjell Josefsson

- Team Member
Eleonora Narvselius

- Team Member

Villa Decius Association

Dominika Kasprowicz

- WP5 Leader
Karina Veltze

- Team Member
Krystyna Potapenko

- Team Member
Karolina Hess

- Team Member
Anna Antoniewska

- Accountant

The Peace School Foundation of Monte Sole

Monicelli Elena

- WP2 Leader
Bergonzini Elena

- Team Member
Merzi Stefano

- Team Member
Rossi Maria Elena

- Team Member
Venturi Degli Esposti Vilmer

- Team Member
Martina Ferraro

- Team Member

The Exile Memorial Museum Consortium

Alfons Quera

- Team Member
Eva Carrera

- Team Member
Maximiliano Fuentes

- Team Member
Adriana Grosu

- Admin & Financial Manager
Chiara Gunella

- Team Member
Ana Perez-Muelas

- Team Member

The Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas CERTH

Ioannis Kompatsiaris

- Team Member
Stefanos Vrochidis

- Team Member
Sotiris Diplaris

- Team Member

La Tempesta

Marc Hernández

- Team Member
Eleni Ananiadou

- Team Member
Raquel García

- Team Member
Xavier Valentí

- Team Member

The Greek Forum of Refugees GFR

Yonous Muhammadi

- Admin Contact / Advisor
Kortessis Nikolas

- Team Member
Photene Kalpakioti

- Team Member
Ms Panayiota Kapsali

- Financial Manager/Accountant

ENGINEERING Ingegneria Informatica

Silvia Boi

- WP3 Leader
Luca Bevilacqua

- Team Member
Elena Adelina Sperlea

- Team Member
Nicola Mariniello

- Team Member
Vladimiro Scotto di Carlo

- Team Member
Angelo Manfredi

- Team Member
Alessandra Aurelio

- Team Member
Valentina Sparacino

- Team Member

Ethics

The SO-CLOSE project will carry out tests within all the relevant national, EU and international ethics-related rules and professional codes of conduct. The partners have considerable experience in ethical issues deriving from the research using eye-tracking, focus groups, on elderly people and people with disabilities. The coordinating institution, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has an Ethical Commission on Human and Animal Research to supervise the experimentation on human and animal beings in compliance with the European directives 86/609/CEE, 91/628/CEE and 92/65/CEE, and will seek its advice any time the consortium considers it appropriate.

Concerning test design, SO-CLOSE partners will be able to capitalise on the experience gained under the previous projects, where some users proved uncomfortable when taking part in specific tests aimed to demonstrate their reading comprehension. Each experiment performed by UAB was subject to prior authorisation by the UAB Ethical Commission and the consortium will maintain this approach lead by UAB within WP6 and WP7. In case of ULUND, VDA, MONTE, MUME, CERTH, ENG, TEMP and GFR the following ethical guidelines were derived from their work in previous projects. They will be applied in all SO-CLOSE tests and validations performed by ULUND, VDA, MONTE, MUME, CERTH, ENG, TEMP and GFR and brought into the project for all tests by UAB:

The research must be planned, implemented and evaluated in a free and independent way.
The first condition is a respectful contact on an equal footing with all users. Especially people who are les competence must have increased attention by the test leaders.
The tester must be informed honestly and exporting and only then give their consent. The communication must be adapted to the needs of users. Questionnaires and organizational communication will be coordinated with disability organizations
The tests must be anonymous and privacy must be ensured.
The ethical risks are assessed with disability organizations in advance. Here is the dignity of the users the most important aspect. The completely test procedure is planned in close consultation with disability organizations
The tests must be of as much as possible while limiting the possible expense for the testers.
It must be emphasized, that not the user will be tested but the application, what means the users are the experts. A pleasant atmosphere for the user needs to be created, so that the test results as free and objective as possible. To put the users under pressure regardless of the type (time, understanding, sympathy) would distort the test results.

SO-CLOSE will describe the procedure and the arrangements for protecting the confidentiality of personal data of the individuals concerned. If the beneficiaries wish to retain the data for further research, they will have to ensure that the consent form mentions it and that the measures taken to encode or anonymise banked data are explained. In case only anonymised data will be retained, researchers will ensure adequate security for storage and handling of such data. SO-CLOSE will generate personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) as of data from workshops within WP1, WP2 and WP4. All consortium members participating in this task will identify a Data Protection Officer implementing a common Data Protection Plan that complies with European Regulation 2016/679.