COHESIFY is a major new study to understand whether and how EU Cohesion policy influences the European identity of citizens across the EU was launched on 3-4 March 2016 at a meeting in Glasgow. Led by Professor John Bachtler and Dr Carlos Mendez of EPRC, and involving colleagues from EPRC and the wider School of Government & Public Policy, the € 2.4 million study is funded by the Horizon 2020 programme of research excellence from the European Commission. Against stiff competition from 28 other consortia across Europe, the winning EPRC-led consortium comprises 8 universities and 2 SMEs from 10 EU Member States with complementary disciplinary backgrounds and applied and creative expertise in communication, branding and citizen engagement.
COHESIFY will focus on four inter-related issues:
(a) how European identity and perceptions of the EU and Cohesion policy vary at national, regional and local levels;
(b) the impact of Cohesion policy on citizens’ perceptions of the policy and identification with the EU;
(c) whether and how Cohesion policy communication strategies affect perception and identification; and
(d) what is needed to make Cohesion policy more effective in terms of people’s perceptions of the policy and the EU more generally.
The study will employ an innovative mixed-methods design including an original and representative survey of citizens in a sample of EU regions, quantitative and qualitative analysis of EU-wide data and of programme implementation and communication strategies in a sample of regions, framing and sentiment analysis of online and offline media and focus groups with citizens. Apart from advancing the scientific state-of-the-art on the impact of EU policies on regions, COHESIFY will deliver creative communication practice to disseminate its results through awareness-raising and outreach activities targeting policymakers, stakeholders and the public at large.
