The European Union
This book would not have been made possible without the generous investment provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 613256. Our project officers at the European Commission, Dr. Georgios Papanagnou and Marc Goffart, provided excellent support on many dimensions throughout the project.
The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained therein.
The contributions in this book are only a small part of the vast quantity of work produced over the course of the project. An extensive round of Working Papers, Policy Briefs and videos are available on the project website, Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (www.style-research.eu), via EurActiv, and in contributions to the forthcoming book Youth Labor In Transition (New York: Oxford University Press).
The partners
It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to work with so many intelligent, diligent and good-humoured people on this project from across Europe from 19 countries and 25 research partners, alongside external academic reviewers and policy stakeholders. The editors appreciate the contributors’ patience in responding to numerous requests for revisions to their original manuscripts.
Our support team
An enormous thank you to: John Clinton, Francesca Anderson, Chris Matthews, Alison Gray, Rosie Mulgrue, Andrea Mckoy and Prof. Aidan Berry from the University of Brighton Business School, who kept us all on track in the management and completion of the project. Niamh Warde provided outstanding English editing support going well beyond the call of duty. And, Mariette Jackson and Andy Bone added the final creative panache in designing the ebook website and print copy. Thank you very much – you have all made an invaluable contribution to this rich and varied project.
Critical reviewers
The editors and authors would also like to thank the following individuals for participating in STYLE project meetings and providing critically constructive feedback on earlier versions of these contributions that were part of the working papers series: Brendan Burchell (University of Cambridge, UK), Günther Schmid (Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), Germany), Colette Fagan (University of Manchester, UK), Maria Jepsen (ETUI), Glenda Quintini (OECD: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), Jochen Clasen (Hertie School of Governance, Germany), Mark Stuart (University of Leeds, UK), Bent Greve (University of Roskilde, Denmark), Marge Unt (Coordinator of EXCEPT, Tallinn University, Estonia), Chiara Saraceno (Collegio Carlo Alberto, Italy), Paweł Kaczmarczyk (Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw), Jan Brzozowski (Krakow University of Economics, Poland), Claire Wallace (University of Aberdeen, UK), Traute Meyer (University of Southampton, UK), Nigel Meager (IES, UK), Marc Cowling (University of Brighton, UK), Eskil Wadensjö (SOFI, Stockholm University, Sweden), Ute Klammer (University of Duisburg-Essen), Jale Tosun (Coordinator of CUPESSE, University of Heidelberg, Germany), Katarina Lindahl (European Commission, DG EMPLOY), Thomas Biegert (Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), Germany), Zeynep Cemalcilar (Koç University, Turkey), Torild Hammer (Norwegian Social Research, Norway), Agata Patecka (SOLIDAR, Belgium), Ramón Peña-Casas (OSE European Social Observatory, Belgium), Karen Roiy (Business Europe) and Giorgio Zecca (European Youth Forum).
We are also grateful for the further comments on earlier drafts provided remotely by: Jose Luis Arco-Tirado (University of Granada, Spain), Jason Heyes (University of Sheffield, UK), Anne Horvath (European Commission), Maria Iacovou (University of Cambridge, UK), Russell King (University of Sussex, UK), Bernhard Kittel (University of Vienna, Austria), Martin Lukes (University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic), William Maloney (Newcastle University, UK), Emily Rainsford (Newcastle University, UK), Bettina Schuck (University of Heidelberg, Germany), Peter Sloane (Swansea University, UK), Nadia Steiber (University of Vienna, Austria), Robert Strohmeyer (University of Mannheim, Germany), Mihaela Vancea (Pompeu Fabra University, Spain), Jonas Felbo-Kolding (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Mihails Hazans (University of Latvia, Latvia), Felix Hörisch (University of Heidelberg, Germany), Øystein Takle Lindholm (Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway), Magnus Paulsen Hansen (Copenhagen Business School), Tiiu Paas and Andres Võrk (University of Tartu, Estonia), and the Q-Step Team (University of Kent, UK).
International meetings
Earlier versions of these contributions were written as project deliverables and working papers, and they were presented and discussed at project meetings kindly hosted by the following partner organizations: CROME, University of Brighton (UK), Koç University (Turkey), Grenoble École de Management (France), Institute for Employment Studies (UK), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), University of Turin (Italy), and the Krakow University of Economics (Poland). Thank you for all the work you put in to making these events so convivial for some very serious discussions.
Some of these contributions have been presented at numerous international conferences including: the International Sociological Association in Yokohama, 2014; a mini-conference at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics held at the London School of Economics, July 2015, in conjunction with the EU funded cupesse.eu project; a special session at the Council for European Studies meeting in Philadelphia with the former EU Commissioner László Andor, 2016, and held in conjunction with the EU funded negotiate-research.eu and Livewhat projects; a special session at the Work, Employment and Society conference at the University of Leeds, 2016, held in conjunction with the EU funded except-project.eu and cupesse.eu; and a special stream at the European Social Policy Association conference (ESPAnet) at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 2016, held in conjunction with the EU funded negotiate-research.eu.
Local Advisory Boards
In addition to this expert academic advice, authors also benefited from discussing their early findings with Local Advisory Boards across Europe; these boards were composed of a number of NGOs, charities, public policy-makers and trade union and employers’ organizations. In particular we are grateful for the regular participation and discussions with Christine Lewis (UNISON), Katerina Rudiger (CIPD), Edward Badu (North London Citizens, UK), Menno Bart and Even Hagelien (EUROCIETT), Alvin Carpio (Young Fabians, UK), Abi Levitt and Ronan McDonald (Tomorrow’s People, UK), Liina Eamets (Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board), Tomáš Janotík and Mária Mišečková (Profesia, Slovakia), Aime Lauk (Statistics Estonia), Anne Lauringson and Mari Väli (Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund), Martin Mýtny (Oracle, Slovakia), Tony Mernagh (Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership). Supporting this communications platform, Natalie Sarkic-Todd and Irene Marchi have been wonderful partners in helping promote the results of this research through EurActiv. We thank you all very much for your participation in this project, it has really enriched our discussions.
Style babies
Last but not least the fecundity of our research team was evidenced not only in their numerous publications, but also in the arrival of eleven babies born to researchers on this project (2013-17): a vibrant testament to the youthfulness of our researchers, and their ability to combine academic careers with making transitions to having families of one, two and, in some cases, three children.
We hope that some of the findings from this research will be of benefit to young people making their way through the challenging transitions from youth to adulthood in Europe and further afield.
This has been an enormously rewarding project, and we feel very privileged to have had the opportunities to contribute some of our energy to understanding and explaining the problems that need to be addressed concerning youth employment.
Jacqueline O’Reilly, Clémentine Moyart, Tiziana Nazio and Mark Smith
Brighton, Brussels, Turin and Grenoble, August 2017