To gain access to the PhD files, please contact youthshareproject@gmail.com

PhD on impact of employment initiatives on new forms of work in resilient MED EEA sectors

Mrs. Effie Emmanouil is a funded Ph.D. candidate at the University of the Aegean (Greece), studying the impact of employment policies upon NEETs in the context of the Mediterranean European Economic Area, with a specific focus on the reproduction precarious work arrangements through such policies. Being geographically driven, her research approaches youth employability in terms of regional unevenness and resiliency. Methodology-wise she adopts a mixed methods approach, processing primary qualitative material, examining a wide array of secondary quantitative data, and analyzing the pertinent regulatory framework. Up to this point, Mrs. Emmanouil has completed the collection of primary data, as well as the first round of secondary data collection and analysis. She has participated in the writing of the first YOUTHShare transnational report, one chapter in a collective volume regarding populations and crises across the Mediterranean, one paper regarding youth employability and regional resilience, and she has presented in numerous national and international scientific conferences. She is currently working on a new paper assessing the impact of Youth Guarantee on the regions of Italy and Spain through a mix of correlation analysis and semi-structured interviews with key-informants.

PhD on impact of employment services on social and sharing economy practices for NEETs

Mrs. Athina Avagianou is a Ph.D. candidate, co-funded by the University of the Aegean (Greece) and Neapolis University Paphos (Cyprus). She studies employment services’ programs for NEETs in the countries of Mediterranean EU, with a special demarcation on the role of social and platform economies in youth employability. Up to this point, Mrs. Avagianou has completed the first round of qualitative and quantitative data collection, processing, and analysis. Additionally, she has participated in the writing of the second YOUTHShare transnational report and of two papers that were submitted to international scientific journals—one analyzing the expansion of social economy across the regions of Mediterranean EU vis-à-vis the pertinent regulatory frameworks (has advanced to the second round of reviews), and another scrutinizing NEETs through the theoretical concept of Youthspaces. Her work has been presented in numerous national and international scientific conferences. Mrs. Avagianou is currently conducting fieldwork in Athens, Greece, doing semi-structured interviews with delivery workers for online platforms (e.g. Wolt) so as to elucidate their working and living conditions, especially amidst the current Covid-19 pandemic. Her imminent plans include another round of interviews with similar workers in Cyprus.

PhD on impact of training initiatives upon employment of target groups in MED EEA

Mr. Carlos Pesquera Alonso is a funded Ph.D. candidate at the Catholic University of Murcia (Spain) studying the impact of—public and private—training and education programs for NEETs, in the context of the Mediterranean European Economic Area. Methodology-wise, he combines quantitative analysis techniques with an array of qualitative methods. In the course of his research, Mr. Pesquera Alonso has completed the collection of primary data—including focus groups in multiple countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Germany) and interviews with several key informants and stakeholders—, whilst he has also completed the collection and processing of secondary statistical data. He has participated in the writing of the third YOUTHShare transnational report regarding the impact of education and training initiatives on young NEETs, he has submitted a paper regarding the vicious cycle of vulnerability among NEETs to an international scientific journal, and he has published one paper which critically assesses the implementation of Youth Guarantee in Spain. Additionally, his work has been presented in two scientific conferences. He is currently working on a new paper that utilizes secondary statistical data as well as the material collected through focus groups, so as to explore the socioeconomic perceptions of young NEETs.