Summary

The Infra4NextGen “Make it Healthy” workshop is an interactive event exploring how social science research can deepen our understanding of health and wellbeing among young people in Europe. While many young Europeans report good physical health, rising levels of stress, anxiety, and life dissatisfaction point to growing challenges in mental wellbeing, highlighting the need to look beyond individual behaviour.

Description

Speakers:

• Professor Terje Eikemo (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
• Dr. Insa Backhaus (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
• Dr. Francisco Rodríguez Rasero (Joint Research Centre, European Commission)
• Dr. Celia Burgaz (Joint Research Centre, European Commission)
• Dr. David Consolazio, EVS, University of Milan
• Dr. Ruxandra Comanaru, ESS, City St George’s, University of London
• Dr. Yuliya Kazakova, GGP, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute

The workshop focuses on how broader social and economic factors – such as working conditions, access to healthcare, and material living standards – shape health outcomes across the life course. Drawing on cross-national European survey data, participants will analyse how inequalities influence wellbeing and how these patterns vary across countries and population groups.

Combining short expert lectures with guided, hands-on activities, participants will work in small groups to explore key concepts, analyse comparative datasets, and develop policy-relevant research questions. This collaborative format encourages exchange between researchers and policy-oriented participants while building practical skills in identifying suitable data sources and analytical strategies.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have strengthened their ability to analyse European social data, interpret patterns in youth health and wellbeing, and contribute to evidence-based policy discussions. The workshop brings together expertise from academia, European research infrastructures, and policymaking, offering a comprehensive perspective on health, resilience, and inequality in contemporary Europe.

Agenda

Morning Session 1 | 9am-12pm

• Exploring health inequalities in Europe (Terje Eikemo & Insa Backhaus)
• Data sources overview
• Infra4NextGen data
• The role of JRC for supporting policies to prevent non-communicable diseases (Francisco Rodriguez-Rasero & Celia Burgaz)
• Q&A

Afternoon Session | 1-4pm

• Hands-on work with real data and tools from the morning
• Develop individual or group research questions
• Conduct preliminary analyses
• Reflect on research design, findings, and next steps
• Collaborative discussion and feedback

Learning Outcomes

• Understand health and wellbeing as multidimensional, shaped by social, economic, and behavioural factors
• Use cross-national European survey data (e.g. ESS, EVS, GGS) to analyse health patterns and inequalities
• Identify key psychosocial and structural determinants of health, including stress, living conditions, and employment
• Develop policy-relevant research questions linking data to public health and social policy challenges
• Translate data into clear, evidence-based insights for policymaking
• Collaborate in small groups to design and present applied research projects
• Critically assess health inequalities across European countries and populations

This event is organised by ADP – Slovenian Social Science Data Archives.

Register now

About the speakers:

Professor Terje Andreas Eikemo is one of the academic experts for the Make it Healthy theme of the Infra4NextGen project. Since 2017, Eikemo has led ​ CHAIN – Centre for Health Equity Analytics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). CHAIN brings together researchers from all global regions and different research disciplines to advance the current state-of-the-art by offering new insights from social, laboratory-based and natural experiments into the causal mechanisms linking socioeconomic status and health. Eikemo has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health since 2016.

Dr. Insa Backhaus is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Political Science at NTNU. Backhaus holds a PhD in Public Health and is a social epidemiologist whose work examines how social, economic, and political conditions shape population health across Europe. Her research focuses on understanding and reducing health inequalities, with particular attention to the role of psychosocial working conditions, social capital, political ideology and education. Her scientific interest is multidisciplinary incorporating perspectives of Sociology, Political Sciences, Social Epidemiology and Public Health.

Dr. Yuliya Kazakova is a research fellow for GGP based at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI KNAW). Her work centres on the Make it Equal and Make it Strong pillars in the Infra4NextGen project. This involves close collaboration with leading European academics, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre experts, and the Youth Board to engage young Europeans in data-driven discussion on key issues for future generations. Yuliya’s research interests lie in the field of health economics together with the evaluation of public policies with a particular focus on childhood health, childhood poverty and maternal employment.

Dr. Ruxandra Comănaru is a research fellow at the European Social Survey HQ based at City St George’s, University of London. She is primarily working on the Make it Green pillar within the Infra4NextGen project, as well as coordinating the collaboration between the other strands of the project. Ruxandra’s research interests include the design and adaptation of surveys for mixed modes of data collection, with a focus on enhancing the methodological accuracy of self-completion methods. She is also interested in questionnaire design, translation and cultural equivalence of research concepts.

Dr. David Consolazio is Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Milan. Within the Infra4NextGen project, he works mainly on the Make it Digital and Make it Healthy pillars. David’s research interests lie at the intersection of sociology, epidemiology, and urban studies, focusing on the interplay of individual and contextual-level factors in shaping health and social outcomes, with particular attention on the social determinants of health and residential segregation phenomena.