"CELSI is excited to partner with the ETUI to establish the ETUI-CELSI COVID-19 Observatory. Facing a surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe and with an effective vaccine or treatment still afar, enhancing our understanding of the causes and impacts of the pandemic, producing policy-relevant evidence, and disseminating this knowledge to the relevant stakeholders through the Observatory is an important step towards effective policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis," says CELSI's co-founder and Scientific Director Martin Kahanec.

CELSI team started to implement BARMIG, a project shedding light on constraints, opportunities and challenges for industrial relations actors stemming from the increased presence of migrant workers in the CEE countries.

We are delighted that Brian Fabo, CELSI Research Fellow and former Senior Researcher, and his colleagues have published their study on "Fifty Shades of QE: Conflicts of Interest in Economic Research" in the prestigious NBER Working Papers series. The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and other prominent media outlets have covered the study extensively.

What is the current structure of trade unions, professional associations and NGOs active in labour rights in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine? What are the steps to avoid fragmentation of the labour movement in these countries?

Today the CELSI team said goodbye to our colleague Mária Sedláková and wished her good luck in her new job at the ILO in Geneva.

While a part of the CELSI team continued working on research projects or enjoyed a new life in the family, the rest of us took a trip to Bradlo and honored the memory of M. R. Štefánik with a bouquet with the tricolor.

Yesterday, with the SGI Institute team, we closed a series of regional round tables with a webinar on the work integration of the disabled, during which we presented research findings from the project ´I want to work, who can help me ?.

On Tuesday, we moved from Košice 🚘 to Banská Bystrica, where we again presented the results of the project ´I want to work, who can help me?´ to the representatives of the state sector, local and regional self-government and the non-governmental sector on the employment of people with disabilities in Slovakia, referring to the experience in Norway. The discussion on this topic was lively again, where participants pointing to the need to strengthen the cooperation between actors, both in the area of information exchange and more effective coordination of services, which is particularly crucial for the integration of people with multiple disabilities.

Earlier this week, the CELSI team together with the SGI Institute team, presented the findings from our project ´I want to work, who can help me?´ on the cooperation of organizations in the integration of people with disabilities into the labor market. In the discussion, regional actors from trade unions, the non-governmental and state sectors of the Košice region pointed out the need to strengthen the transition of disadvantaged workers from sheltered employment to the open labor market, for example by strengthening supported employment agencies.

CELSI´s research team gathered to discuss the mission, vision, and work plans of CELSI.