SupervisoryTeam

Supervisor Photo

M.Àngels Balsells Bailón

Supervisor Details

Email: mangels.balsells@udl.cat

Organization Type: University

Organization Name: University of Lleida

Short Biography: M. Àngels Balsells is a Full Professor in the Department of Education Sciences at University of Lleida, specializing in research on adolescence, childhood, and families facing social risk. Her work covers family reunification, positive parenting, child and family participation, contributing to scientific frameworks and educational resources. She has led numerous competitive research projects’ and currently co-directs one. Balsells heads the Research Group in Childhood, Adolescence, and Families (GRIAF), recognized by the Government of Catalalunya in 2022. She leads the Chair in Education and Adolescence which is unique in receiving government funding for knowledge transfer in socio- educational practices with adolescents. Internationally, she has led the Groupe International de Recherche Enfants, Families et Vulnerabilitat (GIREFV) in Spain and contributed to the European Project Growing In Family Today (GIFT). She's been involved with the Childhood Observatory of the Government of Catalunya and the city of Lleida. She also participated in the National Group of the EurfamNet funded by COST-European Cooperation in Science & Technology. In nurturing young researchers, she has directed various predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, many of them competitively funded. From the beginning of 2021 oversees the Doctoral School at the University of Lleida.

Supervisor Photo

Joan Llosada Gistau

Co-Supervisor Details

Email: jllosada@gencat.cat

Organization Type: Non-academic institution

Organization Name: Direcció General d’Atenció l’Adolescència (DGAIA)

Short Biography: Dr. Joan Llosada currently coordinates the Observatory of Children's Rights in Catalonia (Department of Social Rights, Government of Catalonia). His research focuses on the study of the subjective well-being of children in public care. Other important areas in which he works are related to children's rights, child poverty and child participation. Dr. Llosada has been working in the Government of Catalonia for more than 15 years in positions related to child and adolescent care. He is the author of numerous articles published in indexed journals where he transfers his results of practice.

Added Value: Joan Llosada has been working for Direcció General d’Atenció a la Infància i a l’Adolescència for more than 15 years. In addition to his professional and practical experience, he is PhD and is the author of numerous scientific works and scientific articles. He is an active member of LIBERI group, which contributes through research and knowledge transfer to make possible the free status of all people and, in particular, to ensure that the rights and freedoms of children and young people are respected. That is why the work and action of this research group focuses on children and youth policies, focuses attention on the situations of vulnerability suffered by some children and young people and delves into the community development that can make the deployment of specific public policies possible.

Other Co-Supervisor Photo

Luisa Conejos Ara

Other Co-Supervisor

Email: lconejos@paeria.es

Organization Type: Non-academic institution

Organization Name: Ajuntament de Lleida (Lleida City Council)

Short Biography: Luisa Conejos is Head of Sector Programme Services in the Department of Social Action and Innovation of Lleida City Council. She is psychologist and works in the field of social services and Direct the Postgraduate course in Mindfulness and Compassion in the helping relationship at the University of Lleida.

Added Value: Luisa Conejos occupies a position within the Lleida City Council that allows the research group to maintain contact with the social workers. Lleida City Council has always been in favour of the change of perspective proposed by the FRAME+P model. Moreover, the Lleida City Council has trusted the research group to train professionals on the model as well as to offer them support during the implementation of the model.

ResearchGroup

Description: Research Group in Childhood, Adolescence and Families (GRIAF) -former GRISIJ-UdL (http://www.grisij.ub.edu)- is made up of 15 researchers from the Univeristy of Lleida and led by Dra. M.Àngels Balsells. The research group was recognized and consolidated by the Government of Catalonia in 2022. GRIAF works on positive parenting, rights approach and co-production of educational resources. The challenges planted are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and with the gaps identified by the international scientific community and the recommendations of national and international bodies of social and educational policies aimed at developing the improvement of socio-educational actions with children and adolescents and their families in situations of vulnerability. All GRIAF members are also members of Chair in Education and Adolescence (led by Dra. M.Àngels Balsells), which is responsible for promoting research, training and knowledge transfer in the field of education and adolescence. GRIAF is currently developing a national R+D+i project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. One of the challenges in the Project is the evaluation of the socio-educational action model for family reunification in the child and adolescent protection system from the positive parenting approach (named FRAME+P). The elaboration of FRAME+P is the result of the work, relationship and contact with similar international models such as PAPFC in Canada (Lacharité, 2017), AIDES in France (Chamberland et al. 2012) or PIPPI in Italy (Milani et al., 2013). The close contact and link between the research groups has allowed us to adapt the model to our child protection system. This contact is being applied abroad (i.e. University of Groningen and University College Cork).

ResearchLine

Description: Evaluation of FRAME+P and methodological complementarity resources developed for its implementation GRIAF is currently developing a national R+D+i project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. One of the challenges in the Project is the evaluation of the socio-educational action model for family reunification in the child and adolescent protection system from the positive parenting approach (named FRAME+P). In the PhD project includes the monitoring of programme's evolution, after training in this process by the supervisor of the research group. Furthermore, the FRAME+P model can be formulated to respond to different levels of family risk before reaching the severity of abandonment and the consequent foster care, as well as being adapted to other countries. The PhD student would work on the adaptation of FRAME+P model with the contribution of the intersectional perspective in the implementation and evaluation of FRAME+P and innovation resources. Likewise, the evaluation of the different innovation resources developed for methodological complementarity is also planned to offer society a family support programme evaluated and based on scientific evidence to promote positive parenting in families at risk and in situations of neglect.

Others

Description: The majority of the results of the previous R+D+i led by the research group are co-produced by families (children, adolescents and parents). Participatory peer research will facilitate the adaptation, implementation and evaluation of FRAME+P and methodological resources for its implementation from the participatory approach; co-design with families and children is feasible to achieve quality standards for programme design. In addition, the transmedia approach is also present in these tasks, providing the mastery of technologies for adaptations to the various media languages required. The aim is for the research to be applicable to society and to offer resources and strategies for working with vulnerable families. The results can be found in scientific publications and open access coproduction on the research project website (https://modeloframe.com).

CareerDevelopment

Objectives

  • Future postdoc employment at the University
  • International mobility
  • Building collaborative networks
  • Trainings to enhance career opportunities
  • Application of postdoctoral grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Application for projects and funding (Horizon Europe, national plans, etc.)
  • Involvement in teaching, supervision, or mentoring

Expected Outputs

  • PhD defense
  • Application of grants (MSCA, Juan de la Cierva, etc.)
  • Publication of articles
  • Attendance to international conferences

Other Outputs: Attendance to scientific conferences, scientific working meetings, meetings with institutions...

Training Skills

  • Open Science
  • Gender and diversity dimension of research
  • Ethics and Research Integrity
  • Research Valorization
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