The TransSOL consortium held its third project meeting on 15th June 2016 at the University of Trento. The meeting was dedicated to our ongoing research activities. Consortium members discussed the initial findings of the project as well as our forthcoming research tasks. Currently our attention is focused upon innovative forms and practices of transnational solidarity in response to the economic crisis. The analysis is devoted to the comparative assessment of three fields of activity, namely: disabilities, unemployment and migration. In particular, the teams considered the preliminary results of the action case analysis of selected online media sources. These websites provide interesting insights into the activities of transnational solidarity initiatives in the eight European countries involved in the project. This web-based analysis is currently complemented by an online survey of transnational solidarity organisations and by qualitative interviews with civil society activists across the three fields. Preliminary results will be available by September 2016, with the final report on these analyses to be published in November 2016.
The consortium also discussed the research tasks of upcoming work packages. Here, the main focus was on the planning of the fourth work package which examines organisational forms of transnational solidarity at the national and European levels. The purpose of studying organised solidarity is to provide us with in-depth knowledge about collective actors that organise, promote and stabilise acts of solidarity within Europe. Moreover, the aim is to reveal and compare the main conditions and constraints, structures and dynamics of organised forms of transnational solidarity both across our three issue fields and the eight countries under analysis. On this basis, we will contribute to existing scientific debates about European civil society, identify practical toolkits and suggest potential policy recommendations.