Research centre projects

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1532&langId=en

• A new project has started, the European Disability Expertise (EDE) which is the follow up after ANED ended. The aim of EDE is to collect, analyse and provide independent scientific data and information relating to national policies and legislation, linked with provisions at EU level, as well as providing information about the situation of persons with disabilities. The project will draw upon the expertise of existing disability research centres, supported by national experts, thematic rapporteurs and links to relevant networks in the disability policy field. 
• 34 countries participate in the project and Iceland's expert is James Rice who is also assisted by Rannveig Traustadóttir at times.

DARE will train a new generation of disability scholars and policy specialists. It sets out an ambitious research programme, providing interdisciplinary, intersectoral training which will equip the early-stage researchers to have a real impact on law and policy reform and on the real lives of persons with disabilities.

The goal of DARE is to give legitimacy, through research, to the lived experience of persons with disabilities, as a basis for law reform. This is not just a desirable policy goal - it is legally required by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which is binding in the EU alongside its Member States.

The project has it's own website where more information can be found.

The interdisciplinary project: ‘Disability before disability’ (DbD) is situated within the field of Disability Studies (DS), a field that has grown rapidly over the last two decades. In short, DS is a critical, interdisciplinary field designed to investigate the interaction between bodies and minds perceived as disabled and the various aspects of culture and society.

The project set out to open up new and understudied perspectives and unheard voices from the past by investigating ‘disability’ (as a concept and embodied experience) in variety of sources from the medieval Icelandic prose literature through history to the personal narratives in the 20st century, artefacts and archaeological evidences.

This approach provided the opportunity to investigate society and culture from a radically new perspective and to elucidate the experiences of a social group that have largely been ignored in research of this time period.

For more information about the project and videos, visit the projects website.

The LIFE-DCY research project had two aims a) to evaluate disabled children’s quality of life (QoL) as reported by themselves and their parents, and b), to locate commonalities, differences, and conflicting issues in the processes that may influence disabled children’s life quality and participation. 

This was a transformative study, meaning that the aim was to identify aspects that support or restrict life quality and participation of disabled children and youth in different environments.

Another aim was to use the results to define ways to promote disabled children’s overall well-being and participation at home, school, and in their communities. Information was gathered via various channels such as through surveys, individual and group interviews and participant observations in the children’s homes, their schools and other places that they attend.

Although the project is formally completed the research team continues to publish results, share them with important stakeholders such as scholars, service providers, disabled children and their families and the public.

For more information, visit the projects website. 

• The research project was funded by the Research Council of Norway for the period 2018-2021 and lead by Hege Gjertsen at UiT, Norway. Researchers from Norway and Iceland collaborate on the study.
• The Icelandic part of the project is lead by Stefan C. Hardonk and Árdís Kristín Ingvarsdóttir 

Researchers

• Snæfríður Þóra Egilson, Professor in Disability Studies
• Guðbjörg Ottósdóttir, Assistant Professor in Social Work
• Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir, Professor in Anthropology

The goal of this project is to understand the multi-generational context of disabled parents and their families in the implementation of child protection measures in Iceland.

The project will furthermore investigate the seldom explored issues facing disabled immigrant parents and their dealings with child protection, looking in particular at questions concerning the implementation of support, language issues, cultural differences, and awareness of rights.

Principal investigator: Dr. James G. Rice.

ANED: Academic Network of European Disability experts

ANED was the precursor to EDE - European Disability experts. The ANED project still has it's own website .

To learn more about the ongoing project, EDE, scroll up and select the EDE information option.

The centre has taken part in many other research projects that only exist in Icelandic. To read about them in Icelandic visit the IS page