Research framework

Programmes

Three long-term research priorities

Kantrapunkt’s research programmes define the long-term direction of our work. Each brings together research, projects and analytical work around a set of interconnected questions.

These programmes are closely connected. We are particularly interested in the relationships between human agency, power, inequality and public communication — and in how change at one level affects the others.

01 Human potential 02 Public communication 03 Gender inequality

Rebuilding Human Potential after Authoritarianism

What happens to human potential when authoritarianism, repression and forced migration disrupt people’s professional, social and life trajectories?

We study how authoritarianism, repression, forced migration and large-scale social change affect people’s ability to use accumulated knowledge and experience, sustain professional and civic agency, and build new trajectories.

We are interested not only in losses and barriers, but also in mechanisms of recovery: what helps people use accumulated knowledge and experience in new contexts, rebuild professional identity and social ties, and regain the capacity to act and shape their own lives and society.

Focus

human capital · professional agency · forced migration · professional trajectories · integration · social ties

Current project

“Underutilized Human Capital”

A pilot study of what happens to accumulated professional and civic capital among Belarusians aged 45+ following forced migration to Poland.

Project →

Resilience of Public Communication

What enables a society to sustain public dialogue about itself under authoritarianism, repression, propaganda, polarisation and exile?

We study the conditions under which people and groups have a right to a voice, can access and discuss information, represent different positions, disagree and maintain trust in the shared norms of public debate .

We are interested in who has the right to speak publicly and under what conditions, how trust and authority are built and eroded, what enables dialogue between different groups, and what turns disagreement into polarisation and communication breakdown . We study the role of media, political and institutional communication, propaganda and strategic narratives in these processes.

A separate focus is how Belarusian public debate changes when society is divided across state borders and a significant part of it lives under repression or in exile .

Focus

right to a voice · trust · dialogue · media · political communication · propaganda · polarisation · public accountability

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Mechanisms and Consequences of Gender Inequality

How do gender norms and structures shape the distribution of power, resources, opportunities and the right to a public voice?

We view gender as one of the mechanisms through which society is organised: it shapes social roles, relationships and inequalities and influences people’s capacity to act across different areas of life.

We study how gender norms are created and reproduced through media, political communication, social institutions and everyday practices; whom they afford greater opportunities and authority, and whom they place under additional constraints . We are also interested in how gender intersects with power, propaganda, forced migration, age and other dimensions of social inequality.

Focus

gender norms · power · inequality · media · social institutions · public communication · propaganda · forced migration

Research →

Cross-cutting perspective

At the Intersection of Programmes

Kantrapunkt’s research questions often emerge at the intersection of different problems and perspectives. We are interested in how power and communication shape people’s capacity to act; how social inequality manifests under conditions of migration; and how propaganda changes not only public debate, but also the ways people interpret their own experience and opportunities.

The three programmes are therefore not isolated thematic fields, but different perspectives through which we study transformations affecting people, society and public communication.

All research →