This study explores the (characteristics of) social relationships and coping efforts that protect emerging adults from feeling lonely. The research question is ‘what do emerging adults need in order to not feel lonely?’. Semi-structured interviews with university students from the Netherlands (N = 29; 20–26 years) were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. All participants had experiences with loneliness. In order to not feel lonely, participants needed functional, available social relationships with specific others. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of social relationships were discussed. Furthermore, participants needed to know and accept themselves and to have realistic expectations about others. In terms of coping, participants made active efforts to improve social relationships and altered expectations about others. The results are discussed in line with social discrepancy theory, coping theory, and characteristics of the life phase of emerging adulthood. Implications for loneliness interventions are discussed.
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This study explores the (characteristics of) social relationships and coping efforts that protect emerging adults from feeling lonely. The research question is ‘what do emerging adults need in order to not feel lonely?’. Semi-structured interviews with university students from the Netherlands (N = 29; 20–26 years) were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. All participants had experiences with loneliness. In order to not feel lonely, participants needed functional, available social relationships with specific others. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of social relationships were discussed. Furthermore, participants needed to know and accept themselves and to have realistic expectations about others. In terms of coping, participants made active efforts to improve social relationships and altered expectations about others. The results are discussed in line with social discrepancy theory, coping theory, and characteristics of the life phase of emerging adulthood. Implications for loneliness interventions are discussed.
LINK
In most models on terrorism, interaction with other radicals is a key factor. However, systematic empirical evidence that radical ties affect behaviour is scarce. Our access to detailed police information allows us to apply Social Network Analysis (SNA) on a Dutch Salafi-Jihadi network and analyse the social relationships and network positions of 80 actors, out of whom 20 turned to terrorist acts. The results suggest that ties to leaders and terrorist offenders, co-attendance of radicalising settings and greater structural embeddedness relate to the likelihood of individual actors turning to acts of terrorism. However, we also find some individual attributes that may offer competing explanations. In this paper we discuss our findings and address how future research may provide further insights into an important issue for agencies involved in countering terrorism: which radical actors, if any, are more likely to turn to acts of terrorism?
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The main aim of the project is to provide new research in the arts by focusing on the concept of the inter-sensorial as an essential text for the creation of art and culture. It is designed to foreground the role of the sensorium as an underpinning source for many aspects of thought and cultural heritage. This project will blend visual arts with applied arts and traditional local traditions, revealing new light on the artistic facets and customs which are usually overlooked.The extended residencies will promote transnational mobility for emerging artists, facilitating international relationships between different artistic and cultural contexts within the EU. This will promote transnational interconnectivity between artists and cultures, creating a resourceful intercultural fertilisation, endorsing cultural diversity, social inclusion and most of all, further research on the intercultural facets.Through the various side-activities to take place during the mobilities of the artists, the project aims to strengthen and develop diverse audiences by producing the necessary elements for a dialogue, illustrating interpretations of rich layers of tangible and intangible heritage and legacies of European countries related to the tradition of sensorial experiences and how they evolved around traditional customs. Furthermore, it also aims to rethink and project new and innovative ways for documenting, preserving and communicating data to different audiences.
Connecting Otherwise is an artistic/design research project initiated by The Hmm and the research department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Instituut, alongside a consortium of invited stakeholders from the creative industries and research institutions such as Small File Media Festival, Hackers & Designers, and Stichting LINK. It focuses on the development of interdisciplinary workshop formats exploring regenerative aesthetics and the materiality of digital technologies through hands-on and collective research approaches. Drawing on feminist and decolonial hacking principles and critical making, the project's aim is to make tangible and reimagine digital materiality while resisting extractive tendencies. Promoting regenerative design principles, it addresses the environmental impact of digital technologies and resource depletion, emphasizing art and design’s role in tackling these challenges. We believe the intersectional character of such challenges requires collective and interdisciplinary approaches to design and art making, which are rarely fostered conceptually and practically within the creative industries and educational institutions. The workshops build upon the expertise of the collaborating partners, who bring together art, design, technology, and education and have been instrumental in bridging art and science, supporting artists and designers in contributing to interdisciplinary research environments. Via a series of interconnected workshops the project will engage art and design professionals, educators, and students in material-based research around the social and environmental impact of digital technologies. Participants will explore circuit-making through community craft traditions, embrace ‘slowness’ and ‘lowness’ as frugal and regenerative principles for digital design and art making, and use weaving as a framework for exploring interconnected digital and territorial relationships. The aim is to creatively and critically examine the challenges that (future) art and design practitioners in the creative industries face when building and participating in contemporary digital culture in ways that are both sustainable and equitable.
Psychosocial problems related to social isolation are a growing issue for wellbeing and health and have become a significant societal problem. This is especially relevant for children and adults with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and those spending extended periods in hospitals or permanently living in assisted living facilities. A lack of social relationships, social connectivity, and the inability to travel freely leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness interventions often use mediated environments to improve the feeling of connectedness. It has been proven that the utilization of haptic technologies enhances realism and the sense of presence in both virtual environments and telepresence in physical places by allowing the user to experience interaction through the sense of touch. However, the technology application is mostly limited to the experiences of serious games in professional environments and for-entertainment-gaming. This project aims to explore how haptic technologies can support the storytelling of semi-scripted experiences in VR to improve participants’ sense of presence and, therefore, the feeling of connectedness. By designing and prototyping the experience, the project aims to obtain insights and offer a better understanding of designing haptic-technology-supported storytelling and its potential to improve connectedness and become a useful tool in isolation interventions. The project will be conducted through the process of participants’ co-creation.
