A project on social inclusion of homeless people obtains the 16th Peace Research Award
Andrea Muñoz, student at Escola Pia Balmes in Barcelona, won the sixteenth edition of the Peace Research Award given to projects in upper secondary education schools, held every year by the University of Barcelona with the support from UB Solidarity Foundation and the Institute for Professional Development (IDP-ICE). Her project is La reinserció de les persones sense sostre a la societat, and it studies the situation of homeless people in Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, as well as the different programs, projects, services and entities that help them and contribute to their social inclusion. The jury, formed by teaching staff of the University, decided to award the prize to this research study “for the approach of a close reality in a difficult context, with a clear support of the topic in the local field, through the radiography of different districts of Barcelona”. The jury has also praised the rigour and critical reasoning in the project, the pertinent use of graphics that provide quality data and the way in which the study contributes to provide with content the professional and citizen involvement in favour of social inclusion.
Andrea Muñoz, student at Escola Pia Balmes in Barcelona, won the sixteenth edition of the Peace Research Award given to projects in upper secondary education schools, held every year by the University of Barcelona with the support from UB Solidarity Foundation and the Institute for Professional Development (IDP-ICE). Her project is La reinserció de les persones sense sostre a la societat, and it studies the situation of homeless people in Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, as well as the different programs, projects, services and entities that help them and contribute to their social inclusion. The jury, formed by teaching staff of the University, decided to award the prize to this research study “for the approach of a close reality in a difficult context, with a clear support of the topic in the local field, through the radiography of different districts of Barcelona”. The jury has also praised the rigour and critical reasoning in the project, the pertinent use of graphics that provide quality data and the way in which the study contributes to provide with content the professional and citizen involvement in favour of social inclusion.
The award, which aims to promote education for peace in upper secondary schools and to reinforce the culture of peace from the research perspective, was awarded on Wednesday, June 2, in a virtual ceremony on the Youtube channel of the University of Barcelona. Both the awarded student and her high school received, respectively, an prize accounting for 500 euros.
The jury also awarded seven special mentions to the projects: Genocidis, by Laura Sánchez, from Institut Pere Ribot in Vilassar de Mar; Casa nostra és casa vostra, by Andrea Chavarri, from Institut Manuel de Montsuar in Lleida; L'actuació policial en les protestes post-sentència, by Arnau Plana, from Institut Salvador Espriu in Salt; El papel de la interpretación lingüística en conflictos, by Irene Gartziandia, from Institut Ernest Lluch in Barcelona; Aproximación a las culturas del África negra a través de sus literaturas, by Manep Tchoumo-Nounjio, from Escola Pia Balmes in Barcelona; Capitalismʼs incompatibility with human rightsʼ compliance, by Bianca Carrera, from Institut Santa Eulàlia in Hospitalet de Llobregat, and Inclusió social: realitat o utopia?, by Roger Tordera, from Institut Antoni Pous i Argila in Manlleu.
Also, the Joan Gomis Prize, given by the City Council of Santa Coloma de Gremenet to the top peace research study in this city, has been given to Integració dels indígenes canadencs a la societat contemporània, by Maria Martínez, from Institut Numància. Moreover, the special award by the Regional Council of Garraf, which awards the top peace research of this region, was declared null.
The Wednesday ceremony was presided by the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia. Other participants were Montserrat Puig, vice-rector for Equal Opportunities and Gender of the University of Barcelona, representing the UB Solidarity Foundation; Maria Rosa Buxarrais Estrada, director of IDP-ICE; Carme Panchón, tenured lecturer at the Department of Methods of Research and Diagnosis in Education of the UB, representin the jury, and the awarded student.
In his speech, the rector of the UB highlighted the importance of “joining in the same event the two great university concepts: research and peace”, while the vice-rector Puig noted that “the award is decided by an interdisciplinary jury built by the teaching staff of the UB, since the culture of peace involves all branches of knowledge”. On behalf of IDP-ICE, Buxarrais noted that this award stresses how “girls and boys are aware of several social factors that condition the human race; for instance, the privileges we citizens from the north live, and that we should consider the value of human dignity over any material and individual interest”. The director of IDP-ICE added that “research on education for peace has been underestimated compared to research on war, but it is basic if we want to scrutinize in the origins of conflicts and their potential solutions”. As a representative of the jury, Carme Panchón highlighted the “recognition to the teaching staff, tutors of these research projects, who are a role model for the students and the families, who are in charge of the emotional support and value the effort of their sons and daughters”.
Also, the awarded student of the 14th Peace Research Award, Andrea Muñoz, noted that “there are more and more people without economic and social resources and they are living under inhuman conditions in the street”. “We need, in Spain, Catalonia and in Barcelona city, prevention measures, information, training and solutions” on this reality, as the student said. She believes that “the governments, the power and the society have to think whether we fight and stop homelessness from the root or whether we just manage it”.