The FP7 Summer School on Local Welfare Systems and Social Cohesion was a very fruitful, enjoyable and successful event for all participants. Between the 10th and the 12th of June 2013, 18 PhD students and five senior researchers from the FP7 projects COPE, WILCO, FLOWS and LOCALISE had the pleasure to meet at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Each PhD student had the opportunity to present a paper, which was discussed by another PhD student and extensively commented by two seniors. Papers  covered a broad range of topics in the context of social cohesion, local welfare systems and social innovation.

Among the contributions were articles such as Work on young unemployed peoples’ education (Gunilla Müllen),  Local welfare systems in Hungary (Agnes Orosz), The labour market behaviour of older women (Nicola Schwindt) or How does globalization influence the development of national welfare states? (Christoffer Grages). In addition to the excellent feedback opportunitiess, the participants could benefit from highly informative lectures, very inspiring discussions and good networking chances. Moreover, lovely weather and the beautiful city made the meeting a full pleasure.

From LOCALISE, Clara Bourgeois, Vanesa Fuertes and Katharina Zimmermann participated. As senior researcher, Ron McQaind and Martin Heidenreich (as well on behalf of the COPE project: www.cope-research.eu) attended the summer school.