SOFI-led research project named EU Commission Success Story
The EU Commission has officially recognized the rEUsilience research project, led by SOFI’s Rense Nieuwenhuis and Mary Daly from the University of Oxford, as a standout success story. The research highlights families as the cornerstone of resilient societies, and how policies that empower families can strengthen Europe’s ability to overcome social and economic challenges.
Photo: Laurent Perren/Unsplash
The EU Commission has recognized the rEUsilience research project, led by SOFI researcher Rense Nieuwenhuis and Mary Daly of the University of Oxford, as an official success story. The rEUsilience project focuses on how strengthening family resilience contributes to broader social and economic resilience across Europe.
Rense Nieuwenhuis. Photo: Magnus Dahl
“Most policies aimed at resilience overlook the central role families play”, says Rense Nieuwenhuis, Associate Professor at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University. "Our project emphasizes that families are fundamental to individual and societal resilience."
Through extensive research, including focus groups and large-scale data analysis, rEUsilience identified crucial barriers limiting families' capacities to cope with economic and social challenges. The project then translated these insights into practical policy recommendations, establishing an innovative Policy Lab to support policymakers at EU and national levels.
By highlighting family needs in policy design, rEUsilience aims to ensure that all families have adequate resources and support to thrive, ultimately strengthening Europe's resilience.
”Resilience” refers to the ability of individuals, families, and societies to effectively respond to, adapt, and recover from various social, economic, or environmental challenges. A resilient family or society possesses the necessary resources, skills, and support systems to manage changes and difficulties without significant disruption to their well-being or functioning.
The problem that rEUsilience tackles is of lack of adaptive capacities or resilience (understood from a familial rather than individual perspective) and resulting dilemmas and inequalities.
Research at the Social Policy unit includes investigating explanations for the development of the welfare state, as well as the effects of social policy on an individual and societal level, often in an international comparative perspective and with quantitative research methods.
