National Projects

UkraIntegration – Navigating Ukrainians’ Integration in Slovakia: A Multifaceted Approach to Identifying Barriers and Facilitators

As Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries transition into new immigration destinations, they face major challenges in shaping migration policies, adapting to demographic and labour market changes, and fostering migrant integration. Slovakia, despite hosting one of the highest per-capita shares of Ukrainian migrants in the region, remains one of the least studied cases.

UkraIntegration addresses this gap through an interdisciplinary (sociology, demography, international relations, internationals law), mixed-methods study that combines quantitative statistical analysis with qualitative research, including a longitudinal survey, in-depth interviews, and policy analysis. The project examines Ukrainians’ living and working conditions, social and cultural integration, their aspirations, factors influencing their integration, and Slovakia’s institutional capacity to manage migration effectively.

The project aims to generate multiple datasets, including the first longitudinal data collection on a migrant population in Slovakia, providing a robust empirical foundation for future research.

From a scientific perspective, UkraIntegration contributes to closing key knowledge gaps in the study of migration to new destinations, labour migration, and female migration. From a policy perspective, it supports the development of evidence-based integration policies in line with the EU’s 2024 Pact on Migration and Asylum and strengthens Slovakia’s capacity to manage and support migrant integration.

The project is funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV) and conducted jointly by the Institute of European Studies and International Relations (IESIR), Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava (FSEV UK), where it is hosted and the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV).

Research team:

• Dr. Michaela Šedovič (Principal Investigator, IESIR, Comenius University)
• Dr. Martino Comelli (Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences)
• Dr. Olena Khylko (IESIR, Comenius University)
• Dr. Maksym Khylko (IESIR, Comenius University)
• Dr. Clarissa Tabosa (IESIR, Comenius University)

Programme: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project number: APVV-22-0526
Principal Investigator: Veronika Miťková
Investigators from FSES UK: Tomáš Domonkos, Miroslava Jánošová, Lucia Mokrá, Vladimír Mlynarovič, Clarissa do Nascimento Tabosa, Matej Jando
Implementation period: 2023 - 2027

Abstract: The aim of the project is to examine the economic and fiscal impacts of immigration in the Slovak Republic, which despite their importance, are relatively rare in the professional literature. Since migration is currently a politically exposed topic, we want to contribute to the discussion with politically independent, unbiased, and scientifically accurate research. In the proposed research, we want to rely on three modeling tools: generational accounts, a dynamic model of full equilibrium of overlapping generations, and a computable general equilibrium model. Generation accounts allow for a high level of heterogeneity, but they are a partial equilibrium approach. The dynamic model of full equilibrium of overlapping generations allows capturing both direct and indirect effects of migration. However, their solution is often computationally demanding and allows only a lower level of heterogeneity. General economic equilibrium models are useful for estimating the impact of migration on the economy and on welfare at both the macroeconomic and sectoral levels. The first two models are useful for both short-term and long-term analysis, and general economic equilibrium models are particularly suitable for short-term analysis. Our goal is to develop a demographic forecast segregated into native residents, EU migrants, and third-country migrants until 2200. We will further complement the economic analysis with a legal analysis of the transposition obligation of the Slovak Republic in relation to secondary EU law, in particular its directives. We assume that the project results can increase awareness of the economic, fiscal and legal consequences of immigration in Slovakia. The research is planned for four years and is divided into five stages with financial costs of 195 598 €. The research team consists of seven members from Institute of Economics and Institute of European Studies and International Relations of Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences Comenius University Braislava.

Programme: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project number: APVV-21-0114
Principal Investigator: Doc. PhD. Andrej Findor, PhD.
Investigators from FSES UK: Andrej Findor, Pavol Hardoš, Karin Holosová, Marta Králiková, Ondrej Buchel
Implementation period: 1.7.2022 - 30.6.2026
Funding: 24 007 EUR

About the project: MIMEDIS is a joint project of Institute of European Studies and International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, Department of Applied Informatics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava, and Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies, funded by The Slovak Research and Development Agency. The four-year project started in July 2022. The main goal of the project is to study the impact of media discourse on attitudes towards migration, migrants and migration policy in Slovakia using a combination of computational natural language processing, automated content analysis and complementary qualitative and quantitative observational and experimental methods. We will also develop methods, techniques, resources and tools for automated analysis of textual content useful for exploring topics other than migration.
https://cogsci.fmph.uniba.sk/MIMEDIS/index.html

Programme: National Bank of Slovakia Foundation
Investigators from FSES UK: Matúš Sloboda, Jakub Szabó
Implementation period: 01.10. 2024 – 30.9. 2026

Abstract: The aim of this research project and collaboration of FSES UK (ÚVP a ÚEŠMV) and IFP (OBEA) is to examine (i) the degree of acceptance and willingness to pay fees associated with the acquisition and ownership of a car (fee or tax) - the effects of framing, information signal about the amount of the fee and the use of revenue from the fee and (ii) the effectiveness of the fee in changing behavior (preference for a more environmentally friendly alternative) - the effect of information and price signals. As part of the project, we will conduct six separate, yet interconnected, questionnaire collections (experiments) on a representative sample of the Slovak population. The results will help to understand people's motivations and reactions to fees/taxes related to purchasing a car, and thus this project will provide knowledge that will allow for more effective public policy in this area. We are collaborating with the Financial Policy Institute and its behavioral unit OBEA and with Institute of Enviromental Policy on the project.

Programme: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project number: APVV-21-0237 
Principal Investigator: Mgr. Matej Navrátil, PhD.
Investigators FSEV, UEŠMV: Matej Navrátil, Jakub Szabó, Clarissa Tabosa
FiF, KPOL: Zsolt Gal, Max Steuer
SAV, UPV: Juraj Marušiak, Maichael Augustin
SFPA: Tomáš Strážay, Miroslava Pisklová
Implementation period: 1.7.2022 - 30.6.2026
Funding: 39 139 EUR

About the project: The proposed project contributes to the growing literature concerned with the DI and identifies analytical lacuna in the literature that has been the lack of focus on the consequences that the DI has on the level of the member state. Furthermore, it links the increasing willingness of some member states to integrate their core state powers directly to DI. Starting point of the SKEUDIFGOVRE project is to conceive of the EU as a political order with inherited system of differentiation. First step in understanding the current state of affairs is to disentangle conceptual variances in EU’s post-crises institutional order. While answer to diversity among the Member States was an attempt to homogenize policies and polities across the EU, now differentiation is often understood as a tool increasing the heterogeneity of commitments vis -à-vis the Member States and the EU institutions and in some instances might even be considered democratically problematic. Recent comprehensive analysis of differentiation in European integration shows that it follows two main logics: instrumental differentiation and constitutional differentiation (Schimmelfennig and Winzen, 2020). While the former “adjusts integration to the heterogeneity of economic preferences and capacities, particularly in the context of enlargement” the later offers nationally oriented governments in member sates opt-outs from the integration of core state powers, by which it accommodates concerns about national self-determination (ibid. 2020). These dynamics influence creation and maintainability of European multilevel political order and has eventually important effects on the nation states. Proposed project will seek to answer following questions: which processes contribute to / refrain from channelling organizational and institutional change; how is the stability/change of institutions maintained/achieved and eventually, in what ways the EU’s DI governance regime shape Slovakia’s position in EU's political order. 

Programme: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project number: APVV-22-0078
Coordinator: Pavol Jozef Šafárik University of Košice
Investigator from FSES UK: doc. Mgr. Lenka Sokolová, PhD.
Year of approval of the project: 2022

Abstract: The current generation of adolescents faces multiple socio-economic challenges and crises that impact their mental health. The project aims to examine adolescent mental health by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, using a participatory approach and multidisciplinary international cooperation. Psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of adolescents contributing to their mental health, as well as changes in these characteristics, will be examined using four cross-sectional questionnaire studies conducted as part of an international study Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children in years 2014, 2018, 2022 a 2026 on nationally representative samples of 11- to 15-year-old schoolchildren. Qualitative methods will be used to map key factors influencing mental health, with an emphasis on experiences in the school environment from the perspectives of both adolescents and teachers and practitioners. At the same time, these methods will be used to interpret findings and identify new research topics and priorities with the involvement of key players from the legislative, executive and researchers from relevant fields. The project aims to bring up-to-date knowledge about the state of mental health of the current generation of adolescents, which can also be used in the preparation of various preventive and support programs and interventions aimed at promoting health in adolescents.

Programme: VEGA – Scientific Grant Agency of Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Academy of Sciences
Type of research: basic
Implementation period: 2024 - 2026
Funding: 9 888 € (2024)
Principal Investigator: Ing. Lukáš Vartiak, PhD.

Abstract: The current post-pandemic situation is taking shape and stabilizing over time as the next normal state, the so-called next normal. The research concerns the post-pandemic era, which, due to the restructuring of society and its reorientation towards new societal values, is causing changes in consumer preferences, patterns of social behavior, and thus the essence of social marketing. The main goal of the project is to create a proposal for a model of effective social marketing in the Slovak Republic. In the process of fulfilling the project goal, knowledge regarding the role of social marketing in marketing theory and practice will be respected.

Programme: VEGA – Scientific Grant Agency of Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Academy of Sciences
Investigators: Mgr. Danijela Jerotijević, PhD., Mgr. Andrej Mentel, PhD.

Abstract: The project aims to examine how or through what mechanisms conspiracy and supernatural ideas and world-views get interwoven. Topics of alternative spirituality and conspiracy theories are usually examined separately in the social sciences. The project will examine how supernatural and conspiratory beliefs can complement each other in creating a personal and group world-view or philosophy of life. The partial goals of the project can be divided into two levels or phases: Our primary goal will be to identify factors and topics that are considered a threat in an environment of conspiritual supporters; identify the sources of information to which informants refer; and also to find out how the authority and credibility of these information sources are shaped and justified. We will also explore to whom responsibility is attributed for events and situations that are perceived as threatening. In the second phase, we will focus on the specific narratives that those inclined to conspirituality themselves construct or take over from others to identify and explain the anticipated threats or, conversely, to prevent them. The aim is to find out how these narratives are formed under the influence of the teachings and philosophies of these conspiritual groups and how they are formed by group consensus and interaction between individual members of these groups and copying group-specific cultural schemes. In this case, we want to find out to what extent the process of creating and transmitting these narratives corresponds to the general psychological and social factors of cultural transmission and to what extent (and if at all) the combination of supernatural and conspiratorial explanations brings about certain specifics.

The project is supported by VEGA grant 1/0724/23 and is implemented in cooperation with the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in the role of co-principal investigator.