Open Access - Highly Cited Articles - Evidence and Policy

Evidence & Policy achieved an impact factor of 1.453 in the 2019 Journal Citation Reports. It has created a free collection of highly cited articles. This collection features papers which have contributed to our 2019 Impact Factor and more recent papers. All of the articles below are free to access until 31 August:

Link:
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/evidence-and-policy/highly-cited

Webinar: Small States and COVID-19

Join us on 02 September between 17:00h and 18:00h CEST (Malta) for a webinar on "Small States and COVID-19", held on Zoom and also live-streamed on this Facebook page.

The webinar is jointly organised by the  World Health Organization (WHO)
 Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Policies in Small States and the Small States Health Platform (SSHP), which are both hosted by the  Islands and Small States Institute - University of Malta.

Speakers will be Professor  Lino Briguglio, Director of the ISSI and world-renowned expert on islands and small states; Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies & Systems at the WHO and Coordinator of the SSHP; and Dr Stefano Moncada, Director Designate of the ISSI and Coordinator of the  Climate Change Platform - University of Malta
.
 30 minutes of presentations will be followed by another 30 minutes where you can share your questions and comments on Zoom with the panel.

 Registration for the limited spaces on Zoom can be made until 12h noon (CEST) of Friday, 28th: http://bit.do/ISSI-Webinar-SEP2020.

 For further information, please contact us on islands@um.edu.mt

 You can also visit our website to learn more about our Institute: www.um.edu.mt/issi

Webinar - The Sociology of Belarusian Protest

Thursday, 20 August 2020, 1700-1900 CET

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/300133044394676/

Organisers:
- Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany (www.einsteinforum.de)
- Ukraine in European Dialogue Program at IWM, Vienna (Chronicle from Belarus: https://www.iwm.at/closed-but-active/chronicle-from-belarus)
- Democracy Seminar (Public Seminar / Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, New School for Social Research, New York)
- Research Committee 47 Social Classes and Social Movements, International Sociological Association (www.isarc47.org)

Belarusian voices are few and far between in international debates about the ongoing protests in Belarus. In this webinar, Belarusian sociologists will share their views and analysis of the current protest wave. Among other things, they will discuss the role of striking workers; class, gender, and violence; patterns of mobilization and self-organization; the mobilizing effects of trauma; the impact of urban space; the legacy of previous protests; the role of protest in forging different types of communities; and the ways in which the post-industrial shift and other long-term transformations in Belarusian society have affected its political economy. This webinar will take place in English.

Participants:

Nelly Bekus, sociologist, University of Exeter, UK

Elena Gapova, sociologist, Western Michigan University, USA / European Humanities University (Vilnius, Lithuania)

Aliaksei Lastouski, sociologist, Polotsk State University, Belarus

Alena Minchenia, gender scholar and social scientist, Lund University, Sweden

Andrey Vozyanov, social anthropologist, European Humanities University (Vilnius, Lithuania) / Minsk Urban Platform

Moderator: Mischa Gabowitsch, sociologist and historian, Einstein Forum, Potsdam, Germany

Registration required at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_23nuZRqITKukfFyWsmw-bA 

Free webinar on environmental, social, governance performance and impact assessment

Major corporations are increasingly paying attention to their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance—and so are the institutions that invest in them. An interview with an ESG expert will help us unpack what ESG is and what impact assessment professionals should know. Presenters: Marla Orenstein is Past President and President-Elect of IAIA. She is also the Director of the Natural Resources Centre at the Canada West Foundation, a public policy think tank. Marla has led projects for both the public and private sector, on behalf of government, Indigenous government, industry, and community organizations. Her focus has been on ensuring the wellbeing of communities in the context of development and change. Jamie Bonham is Director of Corporate Engagement at NEI Investments, where he is responsible for managing the ESG program. He has over thirteen years of experience in researching and engaging with companies - and specifically for the extractive industry - on ESG issues. His philosophy is that companies can take advantage of emerging business opportunities by integrating best ESG practices into their strategies and operations. This webinar is being co-sponsored by IAIA and IAIA-WNC.

Link ↘️
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1203909566108083472?source=IAIA+Home+Page+Slider

Free webinar on finding and understanding Eurostat data

🆓 Free webinar on finding and understanding Eurostat data 🖥️

🗓️ Takes place on 24 September 2020 at 11:00 CET (in English) 🗓️

➡️ If interested, please contact: Eurostat.helpdesk_EN@sogeti.lu

Sign up to the #VirtualIslandSummit

Sign up to the #VirtualIslandSummit to meet guests and experts from 100+ island communities from across the globe:

Link: https://kingsumo.com/g/dwjv0u/virtual-island-summit-2020/lgynvnp

POSTPONED - Summer Get Together - Malta Sociological Association

The event is being postponed until further notice due to the Covid-19 situation. 

Public Platform: Solidarity and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Solidarity and Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic is a public platform supported and produced by The Sociological Review that documents and reports on the lived experiences, caring strategies and solidarity initiatives of diverse people and groups across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Link: https://www.solidarityandcare.org/

Renew your membership with the Malta Sociological Association!

Dear Members,

We encourage you to renew your membership with the MSA. This will enable you to

Form part of Malta’s only independent sociological organization.

Help in the promotion of sociological research.

Cooperate and network with other sociologists worldwide.

Contribute to the understanding and analysis of social issues and problems.

Help improve people’s quality of life.

Participate in meetings, seminars, and workshops organized by MSA.

Have the possibility to participate in sociological research.

Form part of an online database with access to sociological news and updates around the world.

Membership fee: 12 Euro. Full-time students/unemployed and retired persons are entitled for the 6.00 euro membership fee

The following options may be used to pay: 

(1) cash to anyone of the MSA committee members;

(2) by cheque to the address address below

(3) using the MSA IBAN No. MT41VALL22013000000040025018192  BIC: VALLMTMT

Postal Address: Malta Sociological Association, Room 130, Old Humanities, Department of Sociology, University of Malta, Msida MSD2080, MALTA.

For more information please email maltasociologicalassociation@gmail.com 

Sociologists and/or other social scientists, that is, persons with a recognized qualification in the field of social science, as well as other persons interested in this field, are eligible for membership. MSA is a registered voluntary organisation in Malta (VO 1323)

Webinar: Digital Acitivism in Time of Pandemic

International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Classes & Social Movements (RC-47)& Centre for Digital Culture Webinar

You can register through this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-activism-in-times-of-pandemic-tickets-104312682040

#EUvsVirus hackathon

We encourage sociologists to participate in the #EUvsVirus hackathon organized by the European Commission to contribute to covid-19-related challenges. Europe should be aware how much needs sociology and sociologists in this situation.

Link: https://euvsvirus.org/challenges/#social

Online in the time of Covid: London Migration Film Festival

It is always a good time to engage with issues of migration and mobility, but especially so when the world is coming to terms with border closures, separation from loved ones, and social restructuring. London Migration Film Festival is coming to you at this time with a platform hosting a retrospective of some of our favourite films presented in our programme over the past four years.

More information can be obtained from this link: 
https://www.migrationcollective.com/lmff-online-retrospective

#Covid19 - Invitation to contribute in the Thematic Issue of the Sociology and Space journal

The Sociology and Space journal invites authors from various branches of sociology, psychology and related disciplines to submit their research and/or insights on various aspects of the interaction between the social, psychological, health-related, economic and global consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

More info here: https://www.idi.hr/en/poziv-za-tematski-broj-casopisa-sociologija-i-prostor/

#Coronavirus: Social science research tracker, learning from past pandemics and the importance of effective risk communication

Chris Burnage, Communications Manager, SAGE Publishing, writes about the Covid-19 social science research tracker, learning from past pandemics and the importance of effective risk communication.

The article is of interest to sociologists and other social scientists. You can read it here: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/impact-and-society/social-science-research-tracker-learning-from-past-pandemics-and-the-importance-of-effective-risk-communication

Freely Accessible Public Books Database

In response to the COVIC-19 crisis, many academic presses have made hundreds of their titles freely accessible online. The Public Books Database aims to catalogue such resources in a single location and to highlight titles of particular interest

Access the database from this link: 

https://www.publicbooks.org/public-books-database/

Webinar series: Universities building a better Europe

EUA is pleased to present a webinar series starting on Friday, 17 April. Each webinar will last one hour and include an opportunity for Q&A. Registrations for the first webinar on 17 April (see further information below) are now open. Further information on the other webinars will follow from 23 March onwards.

Registrations are open until the start of the webinar. Participation is free of charge and open to all EUA members as well as other stakeholders with an interest in higher education institutional policy.

More information and programme can be accessed from this link:  https://eua.eu/events/122-2020-annual-conference-webinar-series.html

Webinar: Changing solidarities and collective action in times of pandemic

Date: Thursday, April 2, 2020

Time: 10 a.m. (New York Time), 11a.m. (Brazilian Time), 4 p.m. (Central European Summer Time & South Africa Standard Time), 7:30 p.m (Indian Standard Time).

Duration: 1:15 h

Zoom Access:

Registration link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6vzU_iLQSJCQYdl3yIRg0Q

Each discussant will give a 5-minute presentation. The audience can ask questions via chat in the Video Conference Platform Zoom. If you only want to watch, you can also use the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements (ISA RC47) Youtube channel, live or afterwards: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr-0ie11P6GSQEs9KGFGawg 

About: The Covid-19 pandemic and the state of emergency it triggers is rapidly changing social life across the world and is bringing big challenges for the activists of progressive social movements. Protest events on public places, street protests, sit ins, or square occupations cannot take place. But also other forms of social movement solidarities, conviviality, cooperation and personal exchange cannot be lived and practiced at the moment. Isolation, social distancing and the rapidly growing economic crisis is also threatening basic resources of activists and the mental spirit and motivation one needs for creative collective actions. And the same time we are already observing many new forms of solidarities and activism as well as a rapid push in online activities. E-petitions, digital activism or evening pots-and-pans demonstrations, but also neighborhood support structures and help for people in need (from the elderly to the homeless and the migrants) are emerging as alternatives to in-person protests in all world regions. Furthermore, the current crisis reveals the centrality of other axes of conflict that in recent years have already mobilized diverse social movements, especially feminists, ecologists, youth and peasant-indigenous ones: care, the commons, eco-social transitions or food sovereignty. This webinar, jointly organized by the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM-Institute) and the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements (RC-47) discusses changing solidarities and collective action in times of pandemic crisis across countries, continents and world regions:

- How is the pandemic crisis and its social, political and economic implications affecting social movements, protest, and collective action today and in the near future?

- What new threats but also political and discursive opportunities arise for social movements?

- What new forms of national and transnational solidarities are emerging?

Please, join the debate with:

Donatella della Porta, Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy) and Director of Centre of Social Movements Studies (Cosmos)

Breno Bringel, Professor of Sociology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Social Classes and Social Movements (ISA RC-47)

Supurna Banerjee, Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata (India)

Kate Alexander, Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and Director of the Centre for Social Change

John Krinsky, Professor of Political Science, City College New York, (USA) and founding board member of the New York City Community Land Initiative and Director of the Program Community Change Studies

Geoffrey Pleyers, Professor of Sociology and FNRS Research at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and Vice-President for Research, International Sociological Association

Moderator:

Sabrina Zajak: Associate Professor at the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany), Head of Department Consensus and Conflict at the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM-Institute) and ISA RC47 Vice-President.

***

It is also possible to share questions to the debate using this e-mail: pandemic_solidarities@dezim-institut.de. Everyone is also welcome to read and contribute to the RC-47 series of articles on Covid-19 and the challenges it poses for social movements and resistances on Open Movements Platform at Open Democracy, edited by Breno Bringel and Geoffrey Pleyers. Please check the first articles:

- Boaventura de Sousa Santos:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openmovements/virus-all-solid-melts-air/

- Teivo Teivainen and Pauli Huotari: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openmovements/democratic-horizons-times-corona-governance/

- Donatella della Porta:  https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/social-movements-times-pandemic-another-world-needed/

New Committee for the Malta Sociological Association

The Malta Sociological Association elected its committee for 2020 during its Annual General Meeting.

The Committee comprises:

Chairperson - Bridget Borg
Vice Chairperson - Mariella Debono
Secretary - Jude Cauchi
Treasurer - Roberta Scerri
Public Relations Officer - Michael Briguglio
Events Coordinator - Valarie Visanich
Outreach Officer - Brian Chircop
International Relations Officer - Liliana Cumura

In the meantime, during the AGM the Association agreed on a plan of action for the year, including sociological outreach, education, training and collaboration with other organisations.

Details to join the MSA are available through this link:
http://www.maltasociologicalassociation.com/2019/10/join-malta-sociological-association.html

Michael Briguglio
Public Relations Officer

Annual General Meeting - Malta Sociological Association

Dear MSA Member,

The Annual General Meeting of the Malta Sociological Association will be held on Wednesday 24th February 2020 at 18.00, at Volunteer Centre, Rabat, Malta. The meeting is open to paid members of the MSA and those interested in joining the MSA.

Members may renew their membership before the start of the meeting. 

Nominations for specific positions on the Executive Committee may be sent to maltasociologicalassociation@gmail.com and addressed to the Secretary. The subject of the email should be: Nominations MSA Committee. Nominations will be received between the 11th and the 21st February 2020. Only members of the MSA may submit a nomination for the Executive Committee.

The positions that need to be filled are the following:

• Chairperson
• Vice Chairperson
• Events Coordinator
• Outreach Coordinator
• International Relations Officer
• Public Relations Officer
• Treasurer
• Secretary

Regards

Jude Cauchi

MSA Secretary