BrainMap

Jozsef Benedek

- UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Researcher | Teaching staff | Scientific reviewer | Consultant

Expertise & keywords

Earth Observations-based Analysis and Modeling of Urban Growth in Large Urban Areas Call name: P 4 - Proiecte de Cercetare Exploratorie, 2020
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0920 2021 - 2022

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: https://eolua.granturi.ubbcluj.ro/

Abstract:

Internal spatial inequalities in Romania have increased significantly in parallel with the increase in the economic growth following the EU accession. Large urban areas have an important contribution to the increasing spatial inequalities through the concentration of growth in few urban areas.

There is currently no empirical research on the interrelationship between the economic and spatial dynamic of the urban areas and the diffusion of growth to their influence zone. In this context, the proposed project draws together research capacities on spatial dynamics, territorial inequalities and satellite earth observation solutions. This includes research on spatial analysis and modeling of urban growth, determining economic specialization and economic complexity, as well as the measuring territorial inequalities between and within the large urban areas.

Understanding and modelling time-space patterns of psychology-related inequalities and polarization Call name: P 4 - Proiecte Complexe de Cercetare de Frontieră
PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0084 2018 - 2022

Role in this project: Partner team leader

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); ACADEMIA DE STUDII ECONOMICE (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://ropsy.granturi.ubbcluj.ro/

Abstract:

Romania is the most unequal country in the EU since 2007, with a current Gini coefficient of 37.8. In 2013 the income quintile ratio (S80/S20) ranked Romania first in the EU. Such inequalities have fuelled concerns about further polarization of economic development. As such, there is a high demand for a more comprehensive understanding of uneven geographical development. Although the economic literature emphasizes the important role of personality traits like creativity, intelligence, and/or openness/flexibility in economic performance, the empirical research of the interconnectedness between personality traits and the economic performance of regions remained poorly researched. Against this background, the proposed project draws together social sciences (i.e., psychology, economics, sociology, human geography) research capacities on socio-economic inequalities and the modelling tradition (in physics). This includes research on psychological characteristics (e.g., personality traits), social and economic disparities, as well as the logics of modelling social and economic processes. With its interdisciplinary layout and the spatial focus, the project also contributes to the emerging supra-disciplinary field of econo-physics. Classical research in the field is interested in how psychological characteristics are related to various political, economical, social, and health (PESH) indicators. Our approach here is radically different. The core frontier idea of the project is that the aggregated psychological characteristics should not be only related to PESH indicators in various geographical regions, but (1) they should be expressed in psychological maps and then (2) they should be conceptualized as mechanisms behind individual-level behavior that in the end is expressed in terms of macro-level PESH indicators. Therefore, creating the first psychological-geographical profile of Romania help us to better understand and model the “causal nexus” of spatial inequalities.

Democratic citizenship, inequalities and social polarization: a longitudinal and multilevel study Call name: P 4 - Proiecte de Cercetare Exploratorie
PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0729 2017 - 2019

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://www.democracycenter.ro/deminpol

Abstract:

A near consensus has emerged that Europe has slipped into a “democratic recession” in which new and old democracies alike have fallen victim to a “powerful authoritarian undertow”. At the same time, a growing gap between the rich and the poor has become a pressing global challenge.

This project considers the facts of democratic recession and rising income inequality to be interdependent and aims to strengthen the models used to discern these interrelated phenomena and to inform public policy makers in diagnosing and proposing solutions to some of Romania's most pressing problems.

This project has three main interrelated aims: (1) to reevaluate which attitudes and norms matter for democratization, (2) to assess the effects of several types of inequality and polarization on democratic culture, (3) to identify policies that are effective in reducing inequality and polarization.

The research design, based on panel survey data, experimental data and semi-structured interviews, seeks to triangulate the data in order to establish causal direction between democratic attitudes and inequality and polarization. Additionally, the research will capture detailed information both at the individual and intermediate (mezzo) levels, such as locality and region, and in the case of youth, at the school class level and school, by combining survey data with census data at locality level, and with a comprehensive database of the Romanian schools.

Academically, the project aims to plug a substantial gap in conventional approaches to democratic stability by testing for the effects of polarization on the suspected causal generators of de-democratization. In terms of its impact on policymakers, the project will provide systematic answers to a pressing policy issue: How can de-democratization be prevented by feasible and affordable public policies?

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects