WP 1 Sociologically-led user design
WP Lead: Sciences Po
The overall objective of WP1 is to develop a rich, deep and nuanced understanding of the experience of unemployment and of the context in which care and support is given to the unemployed by the state, private organisations and self-help strategies. This WP brings the vision of the user, at the heart of the system, to the entire development and implementation cycle from conception of the algorithm, the platform and the User Interface (UX) to their infield deployment and into finalising the project and preparing its legacy. This WP is at the heart of building a citizen-centric platform. It requires deep anthropological and sociological work in and around the experience of unemployment, the context at which the tool will intervene and the greater ethical dimension of such interventions to give the tool the best chance of being adopted, accepted and valued. This WP has the responsibility of carrying that vision throughout the project and is a key distinguishing feature on building a tool from the sociological imagination rather than from economic-imaginaries.
WP 2 Labour Market Metricisation
WP Lead: Copenhagen Business School
This work package draws on the extensive review on existing and discontinued profiling systems and links the sociological and ethical vision that emerges in WP1 with the big data content that feeds the algorithm and gives it is processing power. At the heart of this work package is a deep dive into the staticialisation and metricisation practices around the labour market and work in Europe with a view on desirable outcomes in terms of labour market integration from the perspective of the unemployed. The aim is to go far deeper than identifying the data sets and production rubrics around each dataset, into exploring the gap between what is currently measured and what should be measured, how things are measured and how they ought to be measured and the overall spirit and ethos of measurement in the labour market, so exploring the performative and recursive qualities around statisticalisation. This work package will take a starting point in existing comparative European datasets but will also draw inspiration from the datasets available in the pilot sites. A perspective on European data will ensure that the results of this project and the Hecat platform have the broadest possible reach and applicability beyond the specific pilot sites.
WP 3 Algorithm Development: Statistical Modelling and Data Processing
WP Lead: Institut Jožef Stefan
The objective of this work package is to specify the algorithms for assessing the likelihood of sustainable, good employment for each individual in the available registry based on the currently changes in the labour market as well as predictions of near-future changes in the labour market. The work load planned in this WP can be divided into two distinct groups:
- Development phase
- Implementation phase
For the development of the algorithms the crucial information will be the available data pairs of successful employment of a registered unemployed person, incorporating job quality as well as job quantity metrics in line with the user vision statement developed in WP1. We will use data collected from verified and publicly available sources along with investigations around algorithmic and technological techniques currently employed in PES across the EU that are identified in WP2 and explore incorporating national level data sets as identified in WP2 task 3. The goal is to model the dynamics of the labour market through the concepts of network theory. On the other hand, the job seeking applicants will act as agents that interact with the network. This will allow both simulation and gamification techniques to be applied. The network dynamics and the behaviour of the agents will include findings and feedback from WP1 and WP2 and the WP5 to make it an integrated tool that is relevant to the needs of unemployed people and to labour market metrics across economies in the EU as we seek to ever more sustainable, durable and transparent labour markets.
WP 4 Platform Development
WP Lead: Tecnalia
The WP4 objective is to transform the raw technology developed by WP3 into an effective, user-friendly and fully operative information visualisation tool ready for its use in piloting and final evaluation (WP5). An understanding of the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings and technical requirements of the whole project is necessary to achieve this WP goal, so for this reason, WP4 will start at the beginning of the project, in will run in parallel with the sociological and anthropological studies of the three pilot deployment sites. User-centred approaches will be followed to gather main stakeholders needs and requirements so as to create a highly usable and accessible platform for them. The resulting product will provide a personalised, powerful and intuitive user interface, and will be capable of becoming embedded in the organising practices of individuals and PES. Inclusive systems and societies can only be achieved when technological inspired methods of modelling and measurement are designed to work hand in hand with the needs of individual citizens, thus direct inputs from end-users are crucial (Bergvall-Kåreborn, B., & Ståhlbröst, A., 2010). User-centered design is an iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process. UCD calls for involving users throughout the design process via a variety of research and design techniques so as to create highly usable and accessible products for them
WP 5 Deployment and validation cycle
WP Lead: Roskilde University
WP5 draws together all the prior work to deliver and pilot the platform and its user expressions in the field, gather feedback to strengthen the algorithm and the user interface, and too offer an overall demonstration, validation and verification of the social and ethical life of this disruptive technology and identify and work towards its legacy after the project ends. A core task will be to ensure that the sociological vision for the platform articulate in WP1 and the limits and ambitions of the data that emerge in WP2 find fruition in the deployment. Another core task delivered throughout this WP is to maximise the quality and volume of the data (qualitative and quantitative) gathered in order to finally obtain a meaningful, easy-to-use and innovative ICT tools for PES. WP5 will deploy the Hecat platform in real life, study and evaluate the effects of the deployment as they unfold over time, provide a nuanced understanding of how the Hecat platform intersects with existing institutional context of the job-seeker, assess the social, political and institutional functionality of the Hecat platform and provide feedback for further improvement and generalization
WP 6 Communication
WP Lead: South East Technological University
The objective of work package 6 is to coordinate the communication of the research, its findings, activities and dissemination. This includes all aspects of publicity and marketing of the project through multiple media outlets. The work package is responsible for ensuring that all Horizon2020 publicity rules are maintained across all dissemination by the consortium, this includes communication requirements to members. This work package will coordinate any web site and social media presence and advertising of conferences, seminars, workshops and other public dissemination activities.
WP 7 Project Management
WP Lead: South East Technological University
The objective of work package 7 is to effectively manage the Hecat project. Tasks in this work package include overall management of the time line including deliverables, milestones, and delivery of reports. The project management lead will coordinate dissemination activities such as seminars, workshops and conferences as well as consortium meetings and provide a list of third party events that would be suitable for consortium members to attend. The project management lead will ensure the integration of all consortium members and mediate between SSH and STEM tasks to ensure the underlying interdisciplinary philosophy is maintained. The project manager will additionally work closely with the dissemination lead (WP6) to ensure that the project and any dissemination activities are promoted and marketed in a coordinated way. The project lead organisation will be responsible for ensuring all ethical and data protection activities are of a best practice standard and meet international data protection rules.
The HECAT Project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research & innovation programme under grant agreement No 870702