Editorial

This issue of our journal is an open one and offers a broad variety of contributions. However, one can see similarities that allow for some lessons to be learnt about the future of Europe.

Bengs and her colleagues are concerned with the potential to promote the integration of immigrant women. In her view, the understanding of cultural diversity is key. The authors report on their experiences with the design of a digital service supporting social inclusion among immigrant women in an ethnically and socially diverse neighbourhood of a small Finnish town. The success of such a service depends mostly on a user-centred approach.

Longares and her colleagues look at the various arrangements in same-sex couples and more precisely the issue of abuse in these relationships from a psychological perspective. The study investigates the prevalence of psychological abuse victimization in same-sex couples and the relationship between being a victim and a perpetrator of these negative behaviours.

Isabel Crowhurst and May-Len Skilbrei look at a quite controversial topic. In their contribution they compare two different prostitution regulations. The authors co-designed and coordinated two comparative projects on prostitution policies in Europe. For the authors, research strategies are in the centre of their interest. For a knowledge-based policy, excellent research is needed for policy formulation and implementation, particularly in such a contested field. A core question is, whether “one-size-fits” strategies can meet the challenge: what is h best prostitution policy strategy in given contexts? The authors plead for politics and policies that reflect the context for which the policies are designed.

Monika Verbalyte and Christian von Scheve look at the role of emotions, knowledge and the attitude towards Europe or, more specifically towards the EU and the EU policies. Based upon Eurobarometer data and a literature survey the authors suggest that feelings are for the attitudes more important than the information provided by the use of EU related sources.

Finally, Kawaljeet Kapoor, Vishanth Weerakkody & Antonius Schroeder look at the relation between the professional skills, social innovation in education and unemployment. In their analysis the authors discover around thirty social innovations in (professional) education, which they expect to have a strong impact into the labour market.

All these articles prove that careful scientific work can improve policy-making in the EU and are, hence, of high policy relevance for Europe. Currently, the future of the EU is quite unclear and and knowledge-based policy-making improves the democracy quality of the EU as a whole.

ORCID

Ronald Pohoryles http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5072-673X