Calitatea Vieții: Announcements

Call for the Special Issue on „Policy and Programme Effectiveness for Adolescents, Youth and Young Adults: Insights and Evidence", Issue no. 3/2025

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 18:13:22 +0000

Quality of Life Journal announces a special issue together with PROFEEDBACK COST Action CA20112, titled „Policy and Programme Effectiveness for Adolescents, Youth and Young Adults: Insights and Evidence". The journal seeks articles for a special issue on the evaluation of programs, policies and measures targeting adolescents and youth, to be published in August 2025. The main objective of this special issue is to present high-quality scientific evaluations of the impact and outcomes of programmes or policies and actions targeted at young people.

The deadline is: 31 March 2025

Young people in Europe face many challenges and numerous programmes, policies and actions aim to assist them, whether at local, national or European level. This special issue aspires to show how evaluation and impact assessment can support evidence-based policies to promote better policies for young Europeans. It intends therefore to provide a forum to discuss the way European countries are addressing the young people`s condition. In order to meet the objective of the special issue, contributions must meet the following criteria:

Present the results of an evaluation or impact assessment;
The evaluation must focus on one or more measures, policies or programmes targeting adolescents and young people (aged 12-30);
Focus on one or more European countries. Comparative papers focusing on at least three countries are particularly encouraged.

We give priority to submissions focusing on employment, fair working conditions, social protection and inclusion. The measure, policy or programme evaluated can be at local, national or EU level, must aim at the integration of adolescents and young people (aged 12-30) and can be in the field of youth work, employment or social services, formal or non-formal education.

The guest editors kindly request to the interested scholars to send papers (4,000 – 8,000 words in length including references), together with an abstract of no more than 250 words through the journal submission system available at https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions (with the mention special issue on „Policy and Programme Effectiveness for Adolescents, Youth and Young Adults: Insights and Evidence") until 31 March 2025.

All the papers will be evaluated following a double-blind peer review procedure according to the policy of the Quality of Life Journal. Prior to submission, please check the author’s guidelines - https://www.revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions.

All the articles should be submitted in English. Please note that only proposals in English are accepted for evaluation.

Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

The selected authors will be invited to present their results at the PROFEEDBACK event Evaluation on Public Education, Youth Policy on 2025

Guest editors:

Claudia Petrescu (The Research Institute for Quality of Life, Bucharest)
Luca Koltai (HÉTFA Research Institute, Budapest)
Antonella Rocca (University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples)
Jaroslav Dvorak (Klaipėda University, Klaipėda)

Submission process:

The selection will be based on the Quality of Life Journal editorial policy, available at: https://www.revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/ethics-statement
The submission of articles should comply with the following guidelines:

Articles should be in English.
Articles should contain 4000 - 8000 words, including notes, appendices and bibliography.
Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long, containing the following elements: introduction/context, research question(s), data and methodology, and preliminary findings.
Authors are invited to send the full paper through the journal submission system available at https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions

Deadlines:

Manuscript submission (open): December 2024 to March 2025
Final manuscript submissions to the publisher: June 2025
Editorial foreword and Publication: August 2025

CfP Special Issue 1/2025 “Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the digital age: new roles and responsibilities in preparing young people for the jobs of the future”

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 23:52:57 +0000

Guest editor(s):
Gabriela Neagu (gabi.neagu@iccv.ro) - Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for Quality of Life (ICCV), Romanian Academy specializing in sociology and education sciences. She has a Habilitation in Sociology and a PhD in Sociology with works focused on equal access and success in education, social, and professional trajectories. In more than 20 years of research activity, she has worked in national and international research projects as a member of management teams and as a project manager. She is an evaluator of European and national projects. The publishing activity includes articles in specialized journals, books, and scientific reports.
Maria Potes Barbas (mariapbarbas@gmail.com) - Full Professor for more than 30 years, Head of the Research Unit Department since 2016, and Pro-President for Innovation for four years at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal. She holds a PhD in Communication and Education Multimedia from The Open University (UAb), a Pós-Doctorate by Universidade de Aveiro (UA), and an Aggregation in Education with a specialty in eLearning from the UAb. Maria also heads the Scientific Board at IPSantarém, teaches as an Associated Professor at The Open University (UAb), is an EU evaluator, as well as she is the Coordinator of the Research Unit Digital Literacy and Social Inclusion (LD&IS), due to her experience of being the initiator and Coordinator of the unique course for People with Disabilities in Portugal - Digital Literacy for the Labor Market - at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém.

Background and outline:
The documents of the World Economic Forum[1] (2023), Eurostat[2] data (2023), and analyses carried out by McKinsey & Company[3] (2022) or UNESCO[4] (2022) warn that the next decade will bring significant changes to the labor market and to the type of skills that young people must acquire to integrate professionally. The conclusions drawn from the data and analyses of these institutions claim that: more than half of the current workforce will require retraining to remain on the labor market; Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and advanced programming skills are expected to increase by up to 90% by 2030; basic digital skills have become the second most important skill category, with the fastest growth in recent years (65% in Europe alone) and continue its upward trend. The ability to use and apply digital information is one of the key skills necessary for young people to have access to the labor market, for future socio-economic mobility, in all countries, but especially in developing countries. Also, another aspect pointed out is the need to eliminate the digital gap between young people in the TVET system, thereby ensuring sustainable socio-economic development. The importance of the relationship between education and ICT is also recognized by the fact that it occupies a special place in the Sustainable Development Goals[5] (SDGs) in particular Target 4.4. (”By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship”).

To respond to these challenges, all countries seek to provide valuable tools and curricula adapted to the development of digital skills to the young generation, but also to those who need or face the need for retraining, but a limited number of them have developed institutions to support the achievement of this objective. The lack of support makes it difficult to develop specific policies and measures on digital skills development, appropriate curriculum design, and adaptation of skills training and active labor market programs (ALMP) to current and future demand. Also, where there is an important share of the disadvantaged young population (NEETs, young people with special needs, young people from disadvantaged socio-economic, family, and cultural backgrounds), the interventions must lead to the development of holistic measures that promote social inclusion and professional, mentoring programs proven to be crucial for the future of this category of young people. Also, not only students need guidance and support, but also teachers who have to identify the most suitable ways to prepare young people for the future, and for this the development of continuous professional training programs that include ICT becomes a priority.

Through this special issue, we aim to support the exchange of ideas, solutions, and measures regarding the importance of ICT in the future preparation of young people in the TVET system, stimulate discussions, and present new research directions regarding the use of ICT in the learning process to understand and responds to current challenges on the labor market, and to the problems related to the process of social and professional inclusion of young people.

At the same time, we dedicate this special issue to the promotion and dissemination of the results obtained through the project PREDICT - Jobs of the future with AI 4 VET Inclusion (Erasmus+ 2022-1-PT01-KA220-VET-000085485 https://predict.ipsantarem.pt/), a project implemented by: IP Santarém (Portugal), ICCV (Romania), Endurae Voice Technology (Estonia), ShipCon Limassol Ltd. (Cyprus) and Aintek Symvouloi Epicheiriseon Efarmoges Ypsilis Technologias Ekpaidefsi Anonymi Etaireia (IDEC) (Greece).

Scientific contributions characterized by originality or innovation regarding the approach to the relationship between ICT and TVET are encouraged, which aim to answer questions related to the type of knowledge and skills necessary to be transmitted to young people from TVET education to ensure their integration into a labor market profoundly transformed by the current forms of work organization and technological development. Last but not least, we will appreciate analyses regarding the cooperation between TVET and other institutions and organizations public or private at the national and international levels with competencies in validating the professional knowledge and skills needed by young people for successful professional integration.

We welcome theoretical and empirical articles on the application of new sustainability analysis and assessment techniques in thematic areas (not limited to) such as:

Labor market and occupational conditions
Digitalization
Poverty, inequality, and social and professional exclusion
Education quality
Sustainable Development
Globalization
NEETs

Submission process

The selection will be based on the Quality of Life Journal editorial policy, available at: https://www.revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/ethics-statement
The submission of abstracts should comply with the following guidelines:
- Abstracts should be in English, French, or Spanish.
- Abstracts should be no more than 250 words long, containing the following elements: introduction/context, research question(s), data and methodology, and preliminary findings. Abstracts must be sent to gabi.neagu@iccv.ro and mariapbarbas@gmail.com indicating “Special Issue: TVET in the digital age: new roles and responsibilities in preparing young people for the jobs of the future” in the subject of the email.
- Authors whose proposals (abstracts) are selected by guest editors taking into account the specifics of the special issue will be invited to send the full paper through the journal submission system available at https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions

Deadlines

Abstract submission: January 2024 to April 2024
Manuscript submission (open): May 2024 to October 2024
Final manuscript submissions to the publisher: December 2024
Editorial foreword and Publication: March 2025

Notes

[1] Future of Jobs Report 2023, INSIGHT REPORT MAY 2023, World Economic Forum, https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023.pdf

[2] Eurostat database 2023, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/digital-economy-and-society/data/database

[3] McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2022, Report, August 2022, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/the%20top%20trends%20in%20tech%202022/mckinsey-tech-trends-outlook-2022-full-report.pdf

[4] Transforming technical and vocational education and training for successful and just transitions: UNESCO strategy 2022-2029, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000383360

[5] Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations, https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/publications/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf

CfP Special Issue of Quality of Life Journal “The role of leisure activities and leisure time in quality of life (subjective well-being, life satisfaction)”

Wed, 24 May 2023 08:13:04 +0000

Guest editors: Michala Lustigova, Anna Altova, Charles University, Faculty of Science, Research Centre on Health, Quality of Life and Lifestyle in a Geodemographic and Socioeconomic Context (GeoQol)

Timeline:
Deadline for manuscript submission: 1 July 2023
Publishing of the Special Issue: December 2023

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite researchers from different disciplines, such as social epidemiology, health geography, (health) demography, sociology, social sciences, social anthropology, psychology and other related disciplines, to submit papers to this Special Issue on “The role of leisure activities and leisure time in quality of life”. Multidisciplinary research that addresses multiple cultural-social-environmental-economical aspects, with regard to different roles of leisure activities and leisure time in QoL is particularly welcome.

Quality of life (QoL) is determined by objective factors that influence human life, and also by their subjective perception. Once individuals meet their basic biological needs, they also seek fulfilment of their psychological needs. The leisure activities and leisure time play an important role in fulfilling these needs and hence they have a major role in QoL. Through participation in leisure activities people build social relationships, experience positive emotions, acquire additional skills and knowledge, and therefore improve their quality of life.

However, participation in and opportunities for leisure activities that influence quality of life vary across regions, cultures, populations, cohorts and over time. In this Special Issue, original research articles based on empirical evidence are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

The effect of different types of leisure activities on QoL
Age, period and/or cohort effect of leisure activities (types of activities) on QoL
The role of satisfaction with leisure time/activities in QoL
Monetary constraints as restricting factors for some types of activities and their impact in QoL
The role of place-centred leisure characteristics (leisure resources and environment) in QoL
Leisure as a QoL indicator
Leisure time, social interaction & QoL
Gender differences in leisure activities & QoL
Life-course effects of leisure activities on QoL
Time spent on leisure & QoL
Parenthood, leisure & QoL
The different effect of individual, partnership, and family leisure activities on QoL
COVID-19 effect on leisure activities and leisure time management

Interested authors should send their contributions to the guest editors (michala.lustigova@natur.cuni.cz) and to the publication’s editorial office (redactia@revistacalitateavietii.ro), mentioning in the subject of the email For the QoL Special Issue 4/2023.

Instructions for authors

We strongly encourage authors to submit papers between 4000 and 6000 words. For further details, please check the guidelines for authors on the website of the journal (https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions).

"Youth and Sustainability of Rural Areas", Special Issue of Quality of Life Journal, Volume 34, Issue 2, 2023

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 12:08:45 +0000

The Quality of Life Journal has opened the call for the Special Issue on “Youth and Sustainability of Rural Areas” (vol. 34, issue 2/2023).

The deadline is: 15 March 2023

Papers must be written in compliance with the Quality of Life Journal Ethics Statement, using the recommended paper template. Authors should send their manuscript/s to Quality of Life Journal submissions platform system.

Submission deadline: 15 March 2023
Further details: www.revistacalitateavietii.ro
Contact: redactia@revistacalitateavietii.ro

Call for Papers: "Youth and Sustainability of Rural Areas", Special Issue of Quality of Life Journal, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2023

Guest editors:

Štefan Bojnec (University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia)
Claudia Petrescu (The Research Institute for Quality of Life, Bucharest)

Quality of Life Journal (www.revistacalitateavietii.ro) seeks articles for a special issue on Youth and Sustainability of Rural Areas, to be published in June 2023. The main purpose of this special issue is to approach and discuss the situation of young people living in rural areas, particularly those youth neither in employment nor in education or training (NEETs) and their role in ensuring sustainability from different perspectives such as economic, social, and environmental.

The rural population in several European countries is aging due to both low fertility rates and the out-migration of young people from rural areas. The issue of how to retain or attract young people in rural areas is a difficult and challenging one for new policy approaches and measures, especially in terms of the transition from education to employment, maintaining livelihoods and the sustainability of rural areas. Among rural young people, NEETs are facing many challenges. This special issue “Youth and Sustainability of Rural Areas” focuses on the following four thematic issues:

Rural NEETs social networks and social inclusion.
Rural NEETs and formal and non-formal education.
Employment and employment services in rural areas for rural NEETs.
Rural NEETs and sustainability.

Therefore, we invite researchers to submit original papers on completed studies/analyses that are focused on youth and sustainability in rural areas. Quality of Life proposes a special issue for the month of June this year, launching here this call for academic papers, by encouraging submissions also on other similar themes that are corresponding to the general topic described in the call title.

The guest editors kindly request authors to send papers (6,000 – 8,000 words in length including references), together with an abstract of no more than 200 words through the form that could be found on the platform at https://www.revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions, (with the mention special issue) until March 15, 2023. All the papers will be evaluated through the double-blind peer review process following the journal’s standard procedures. Prior to submission, please check the author’s guidelines.

All the articles should be submitted in English.

The Quality of Life Journal is issued four times a year and is being indexed in several international publications databases.

Deadline extension for Special Issue: Social and online media use, in the context of recent crises (with Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on focus)

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 06:45:54 +0000

CfP Special Issue “The role of leisure activities and leisure time in quality of life (subjective well-being, life satisfaction)”

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:16:35 +0000

***Extended deadline for abstract submission: 20 February***

Dear colleagues,

The effect of different types of leisure activities on Qol
Age, period and/or cohort effect of leisure activities (types of activities) on Qol
The role of satisfaction with leisure time/activities in QoL
Monetary constraints as restricting factors for some types of activities and their impact in QoL
The role of place-centred leisure characteristics (leisure resources and environment) in QoL
Leisure as a QoL indicator
Leisure time, social interaction & QoL
Gender differences in leisure activities & QoL
Life-course effects of leisure activities on QoL
Time spent on leisure & QoL
Parenthood, leisure & QoL
The different effect of individual, partnership, and family leisure activities on QoL
COVID-19 effect on leisure activities and leisure time management

Timeline
Abstract submission deadline: 1 February 2023
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 March 2023
Full manuscript deadline: 1 June 2023
Publishing of the Special Issue: December 2023

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (michala.lustigova@natur.cuni.cz) or to the publication’s editorial office (redactia@revistacalitateavietii.ro), mentioning in the subject of the email For the QoL Special Issue 4/2023. Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purpose of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue.

Instructions for authors
We strongly encourage authors to submit papers between 4000 and 6000 words. For further details, please check the guidelines for authors on the website of the journal (https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions).

Social and online media use, in the context of recent crises (with Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on focus)

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 15:27:00 +0000

The pandemic context has created the prerequisites for the development of social media and online medium utilizations. Digital solutions were largely used in various activity domains, especially during the pandemics time. Accordingly, the perspectives of such a theme approach in academic research could be very diverse.

Therefore, Quality of Life proposes a special issue for the month of December this year, launching here this academic papers call, by encouraging approaching from various domains, looking openly towards a multitude of themes, e.g.: the topics that are debated through sm, who are the users, concepts defining, information vs. disinformation (both during pandemics and in present times which are under the sign of the war in Ukraine and of the Ukrainians refugee crisis), positive vs. negative aspects of sm in societies, how the pandemic changed the `look` of sm, content writer vs. receivers, the answer of various institutions and actors to the opportunities that this medium offers in times of specific crisis in which physical contact meant a real social and public health problem. Also, the concept of disinformation, the potential social perils/ disturbances (fake-news, deep-fake, etc.) that can be generated via sm, and so on. Other themes that weren’t listed here, and are corresponding to the general topic described in the call title, are also welcomed.

Researches, micro-researches, analyses, case studies, literature reviews, essays, book reviews will be all well received in this special issue. The articles dimensions should be between 2500 (book reviews, essays, etc.) and 8000 words (articles, studies, research results, etc.), written in Romanian, French or in English.

Deadline: 15^thSeptember 2022. Submission: via e-mail, at redactia@revistacalitateavietii.ro or through the form that could be found on our platform at revistacalitateavietii.ro, with the mention special issue).

The Quality of Life is issued four times a year, and is being indexed in several international publications databases.

For additional information we could be contacted at: monasimu@yahoo.com (Mona Simu, Scientific Sesearcher, RIQL, Romanian Academy, Bucharest), and horeabadau@gmail.com (Horea Bădău, PhD, Lector, FJSC, University of Bucharest).

Call for workshop & Special Issue - Domestic Objects: The Transformation of Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Era

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 21:37:12 +0000

Call for workshop & Special Issue

The idea of material culture was present from the inception of social sciences as a way to somehow mark the distinction between what people do, what people believe, what they say they do and believe, and what people have. Various instances of this effort to circumscribe materiality are revived in a ritual way, either as a generator of new theoretical frameworks, or just as an effort to reconnect with a particular set of artifacts that are central for the understanding of a subject matter. However, the stark distinction between the symbolic and the material occasionally fades out when it comes to some very humble and not so humble, everyday objects.
Contemporary domestic objects underwent dramatic transformations in physical and symbolic terms in the past 30 years. This has a particularly vivid dimension in Eastern Europe because of the huge, still extant frustration born in the years of penury before the crash of the Soviet Block regimes.
We are looking for a material culture informed perspective on the quality of life, especially in the former socialist countries but not only, through the looking glass of the objects and materials that shape our everyday existence, our domestic universe, our house cosmo-reality.
We are interested in the culture of domesticity as it was and continues to be embodied in the everyday objects that were adopted and adapted into the life of families, and how these objects changed their status in the symbolic economy of a population that lived through a transition time. The multilayered dynamic of objects implies both rapid transformations and insidious metamorphoses. A first approach is to unveil some recent archeological layers of everyday life and, in this respect, ethnographic, anthropological, sociological approaches on consumption and material culture, both qualitative and quantitative, are equally welcome.
Possible objects for thinking may include, but are not limited to: soap, toilet paper, kitchen paraphernalia, vacuum cleaners, hangers, bread, glue and sticking materials, the shower head, the remote control, the light bulb, etc.

Call for Workshop

The Quality of Life Journal (Romanian Academy, Bucharest) organizes an international workshop on the topic of Domestic Objects - The Transformation of Everyday Life in Post-Socialist Era. Prospective participants are invited to send a proposal in the form of 500 words abstract with keywords by April 05, 2021.
The selected participants will be invited to send a 2000 words paper by the 1st of June, that will be circulated among participants and discussed in the workshop. The admission to the workshop is conditioned by the submission of this paper.
We plan to organize the workshop on the model of “world cafe” conversations in order to further ferment the thinking on the topics of interest for the participants. There are no participation fees. The workshop will be organized online, potentially in a hybrid formula at the Research Institute for Quality of Life in Bucharest (RIQL), according to anti-pandemic regulations and the availability of the local participants.

Call for papers

The Quality of Life Journal will publish a Special Issue on the topic of Domestic Objects in the first semester of 2022. Prospective authors are invited to send a 500 words abstract, followed by five keywords by April 05th, 2021. Selected papers from the workshop as well as other contributions are welcomed. Authors are expected to deliver a final paper of around 8000 words by the 1st of October. Submission guidelines for the manuscript can be accessed at: https://www.revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/instructions.

Registration

Please send an email to catalinberescu@gmail.com and alec.balasescu@gmail.com by the 5th of April with a title, an abstract of around 500 words followed by five keywords and your contact and affiliation details. Also, please mention if you plan to attend the workshop or only submit your paper for publication.

Calendar:
05 March Call for workshop & special issue
05 April Registration deadline
01 June Submission of draft
15-16 June Workshop RIQL
1 October Final paper submission