The first stage of the FAMILYPLATFORM project is to chart and review the contemporary field of comparative family research in the EU.

About

Using existing research, the aim is to identify major trends with respect to the needs of families and family policies, cultural differences, and specific developments of member states. This will provide an overview of studies on changing family structures, developmental processes in the family, and family policies in the EU-Member states.

Consortium members have conducted a systematic literature review on European comparative research published since the mid-1990s in the 8 existential fields of the family using existing scientific and statistical databases, reports from the previous EC funded research projects, and other relevant publications. The results of the review have been published in both Summary and Full Report formats. A joint report summarising all of the trends in all of the existential fields will be completed by the end of June 2010; this report will then function as a basis for the following stages of the project.

Meeting in Jyväskylä

The first drafts of the Summary reports were discussed at a meeting at the University of Jyväskylä Finland 24-26.2.2010.

Summary Reports

Summary Reports have now been published. Stakeholders have been invited to critical review the reports; these critical reviews form the basis of the Critical Review stage of FAMILYPLATFORM.

Final Report

Research on Families and Family policies in Europe: State of the Art has now been published. This report concludes the work of Major Trends.