YOUNG_ADULLLT Second Consortium Meeting in Porto, Portugal

The Second Consortium Meeting of the project was held in Porto from November 23rd to 25th, 2016 under the motto "integrating the Work Packages" and sparked a lively discussion among the partners on how to lead the project into its second phase on data collection, treatment and analysis.

Enjoying a beautiful sunny scenery on Wednesday and weathering heavy rains on Thursday and Friday, the consortium started out with a WP5-workshop on qualitative analysis. In the workshop, the project members discussed methodological aspects and challenges related to conducting biographical narrative interviews. Main objective of the debates were related to preparing the interviewers for fieldwork.

A highlight of the programme was the keynote presentation by Prof. Dra. Fernanda Rodrigues who critically interrogated into "The effects of austeritarian policies on education and social policies", pointing out the repercussions of the recent financial crisis and the reaction of the Portuguese government. The topic proved of crucial importance to the research themes of YOUNG_ADULLLT. Member of the Porto team, Fernanda Rodrigues is currently Invited Professor at the University of Porto and the Catholic University of Lisbon. In 2016, she was awarded the Medal of Honour of Social Security of Portugal.

During the meeting, partners discussed the progress of the project – amongst other things reporting on LLL policies (WP3) and issues related to ethical requirements and documentation (WP10). Central to the discussions was the preparation of the second phase of the project and in particular designing a coherent and consistent integration of the empirical work packages (WPs 3 to 7).

In short, the meeting was a full success and paved the way for the project entering its second year early next spring.