Open Seminar on the Scientific, Political and Social Impact of Social Sciences and Humanities

Former EPA President, Johannes Theiner was personally invited to represent EPA in an Open Seminar held in Barcelona on October 2nd, 2015 at Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Catalan Academy of Sciences). He had been invited by the “Impact-EV”-consortium acting within the European framework programme FP7. The purpose of this project is to characterise the impact of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and prove the value of their science results.

EU Youth Report

On 15 September the European Commission presented the EU Youth Report 2015 that draws a full picture of the situation of young people in Europe and how policymakers have addressed it in the period 2013-2015.

European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) 2015: “Living together in multicultural societies: respect, dialogue, interaction”

 This week (12 - 18 October) more than 130 events and activities are taking place at local level across 23 member States of the Council of Europe to celebrate the 2015 edition of the European Local Democracy Week (ELDW). Participating municipalities are organising a wide range of events on this year’s theme ‘Living together in multicultural societies: respect, dialogue, interaction’, such as seminars on solidarity, debates on human rights, exchanges with migrants and visits of refugee camps, bilingual theater performances, interviews with foreigners, exhibitions on recent armed conflicts and multicultural coffee mornings. You can still register your event.

Call for laws giving fathers an equal role in raising children

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is urging Europe’s governments to ensure that fathers can play an equal part in the upbringing of their children, pointing out that the role of dads, including with very young children, “needs to be be better recognised and properly valued”.

The Assembly called for laws which give parents “equal rights vis-à-vis their children”, in the best interests of the child, including paid parental leave available to fathers, “shared residence” arrangements for children when their parents separate, and the possibility of joint custody in case of divorce.