The main objective of INCASI is to create and consolidate a network of research and postgraduate training between Europe and Latin America related to the analysis of social inequalities in a comparative perspective and to derive elements of reflection, social innovation and recommendations for social policies.

The project will allow the mobility of pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research staff with the aim that the exchanges generate a consortium of research centers of the universities. Initially, the network consists of 10 European and 9 Latin American universities, is made up of more than 130 researchers and is led by the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona through the Institut d’Estudis del Treball (IET), the project headquarters, and the Grup de Recerca en Educació i Treball (GRET).

The project entitled “Global Trends in Social Inequalities in Europe and Latin America exploring innovative ways to reduce them through the research of educational, occupational and life trajectories to deal with uncertainty” is developed by establishing 8 main objectives:

  1. Develop a general framework of collaboration for the creation and consolidation of a research and training network among research centers of European and Latin American universities.
  2. Analyze the trajectories that the citizens have followed in the labor market, identifying their results in terms of mobility and social inequality. With this knowledge, the objective is to develop a model that explains these trajectories in comparative terms between Latin America and Europe.
  3. Identify and understand the different strategies that are developed and how resources and capacities have been mobilized to identify, classify and compare patterns of social behavior adopted to address the uncertainties in each region.
  4. Specifically study these trajectories and strategies by analyzing the relationship between work, training and employment, and connecting the life trajectories of citizens, including the productive and reproductive spheres.
  5. To examine the social policies that have tried to address inequalities in different areas, focusing the interest in the participating countries and more generally addressed in a comparative context between Europe and Latin America.
  6. Develop models of macro and micro analysis and comparative methodologies adopting dynamic and longitudinal perspectives. A mixed-methods approach will be adopted by combining qualitative and quantitative techniques.
  7. Draw practical conclusions that help to inform the design of innovative public policies to deal with situations of social inequality, particularly in relation to employment and education policies.
  8. To project the INCASI network by establishing the conceptual and methodological bases for, on the one hand, the development of an international comparative program in the longer term, and, on the other hand, to design an international master program that analyzes social inequalities in a comparative perspective.