More than a dozen of new projects started over the past 12 months, covering a broad range of social welfare issues. The Work & Welfare Unit contributed policy recommendations and guidelines on the social dimension of the EU, the social economy and social innovation, labour migration and the improvement of employment services by comparisons and analyses based on microsimulation of social security reforms. In the Health & Care Unit the tradition of research and development on integrated long-term care, governance and quality development has been prolonged. Additional studies with a focus on inequality and inequity, health promotion and prevention, health economics as well as on rights-based approaches in ageing and long-term care have been started. The new strategic orientation towards building bridges with countries of the Eastern Partnership and potential EU Accession countries has led, apart from additional Memoranda of Understanding and promising projects, to innovative activities such as the establishment of the ‘Bridge Building Summer School on Social Welfare’ and the Eastern European Social Policy Network (EESPN).
