IMPULSE: Gender in a Changing Society

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Gender in the Changing Society was an international collaborative project funded by the OeAD – Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research between 2015 and 2017. The project explored how social narratives shape the formation of personal identity, with particular attention to the role of gender in contemporary societies undergoing social and demographic change.

The project was based on the premise that identity is fundamentally relational and is constructed through the transmission of narratives about family relationships, social roles, and everyday experiences during childhood and adolescence. Particular emphasis was placed on gender as one of the most influential dimensions of identity formation and on the ways migration and changing social contexts reshape perceptions of gender roles.

Bringing together researchers from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, the project combined comparative empirical research with interdisciplinary theoretical reflection. Through a series of workshops and collaborative meetings, the research teams developed shared analytical and methodological approaches for interpreting qualitative data collected across the participating countries.

Project duration

2015 – 2017

Funder

OeAD – Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research

Partners

Project Coordinator

  • University of Continuing Education Krems (Danube University Krems), Department for Migration and Globalization (Austria)

Project partners

  • Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe (CAS SEE), University of Rijeka (Croatia)
  • Centre for Refugee and IDP Studies, University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University, Belgrade (Serbia)

Project objectives

The project examined the relationship between identity formation, gender, and social change through four interconnected objectives:

  • understanding how social narratives influence the construction of young people’s identities;
  • analysing the transmission of family and social role narratives during childhood and adolescence;
  • developing a relational understanding of identity formation;
  • investigating how migration and changing social contexts shape perceptions of gender roles.

CAS SEE contribution

The Center for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe participated as the Croatian research partner, contributing to the comparative analysis of identity formation and gender narratives within changing social contexts. CAS SEE researchers collaborated in the collection and interpretation of qualitative data, the development of shared methodological frameworks, and comparative discussions across the partner institutions.

The Centre also hosted one of the project’s international consortium meetings at the University of Rijeka on 6–7 April 2017, where project partners presented preliminary research findings, discussed translation and interpretation strategies, and developed common analytical approaches for the next stage of the project.

Project activities

The project included several international meetings that structured the collaborative research process:

  • Kick-off Seminar, Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University (Belgrade, Serbia), 6 May 2016, launching the project and establishing the collaborative research agenda.
  • Project Meeting, University of Rijeka (Croatia), 6–7 April 2017, devoted to presenting collected data, discussing translation strategies across national teams, and developing common analytical methods.
  • Research Workshop, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), 26–27 August 2017, focusing on interpretation frameworks and the establishment of a shared methodological framework for comparative analysis.

Teams