An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Warsaw, London School of Economics and University of London will examine the impact of national and European Union strategies to combat the coronavirus pandemic on skeptical attitudes in Europe, European solidarity and the outcomes of EU skeptics. Amsterdam and Pompeu Fabra University.

Researchers representing political science, sociology and economics from a consortium of five European universities have received €1.5 million for this purpose as part of the Europe Challenges grant from the Volkswagen Foundation. The COVIDEU research project will begin in January 2022 and will run until 2026.

As reported by the University of Warsaw on its website, as part of the project, economists from the University of Warsaw will examine the impact of fake news on the attitude towards the European Union in a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic.

“Now there is a lot of misinformation on the internet about the pandemic. Some of it has to do with the EU – the EU’s response or lack of response to the coronavirus pandemic. With the help of computer tools, including .AI, we will find and analyze fake news on the internet. We will examine their sources and domains and then We use this material in field experiments conducted using social media, “- said the professor. Michał Krawczyk from the Faculty of Economics, University of Warsaw, adapted from the university website.

In this way, scientists want to know the impact of this type of crisis on EU support and how such a crisis should be managed.

“EU stability is not guaranteed and is granted once and for all. We have experienced Brexit, and it is possible that in the future we will see other departures or exceptions. The pandemic is not the first or last crisis the Union faces – the climate crisis, the migration crisis – There have been and will be new crises.Krausek.

In his opinion, “monitoring EU support and its determinants may be very important in the future.” “We hope that what we learn will help in the upcoming crises that undoubtedly await us,” – adds the professor. Krausek.

The Volkswagen Foundation has been funding research projects in all disciplines since 1962.

PAP – Science in Poland

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