Research Centers

To foster an environment where cutting-edge research can take place and flourish, UNYP operates four research centers. Individual research centers complement the research and teaching activities of UNYP schools. Innovative interdisciplinary research with its key pillars of critical analytical, reflective thinking and values of democracy and open society are cultivated and promoted. UNYP research centers also help raise UNYP’s international profile and visibility through building constructive, long-lasting partnerships with regional and international partners.

The School of Business and IT Research Centre (BIRC) focuses its research on a plethora of business-related issues in order to better understand key features, characteristics and workings of business administration. The main research concentrations are economics, management, marketing, information technology, and law.

Specific focus areas of research interest include:

Labor market, public sector, institutions, international trade
Human resources, motivation, sport, risk, innovation
Consumer behavior, neuroscience, sport
Neutral networks, wireless networks, beamforming
Business regulations, IFRS, international regulations

The School of Psychology Research Center’s (PRC) activity is centered around the core themes of cutting-edge research in psychology, often interlinked with other academic disciplines.

Main areas of the research at PRC include:

Child development Perceptions of otherness
Posttraumatic stress and growth
Comparative psychology
Ecopsychology
Social psychology
Personality (e.g., prejudice, behavior towards others)
Motivation and inhibition (e.g., preventing obesity)
Music psychology – cognitive and therapeutic applications
Positive psychology and wellness
Neuroscience and mental health (e.g., Alzheimers)

The Communication and Media Research Centre (CMRC) focuses on a variety of different areas in pursuit of contributing to the understanding of the impact of media on society. Recent initiatives have focused on the role of the mass media in democratization processes linguistic aspects of political speeches, characteristics of chain disinformation emails, and the impact of information and communication technologies on children.

General areas of research interest include:

Political communication
Political campaigning/campaign communications
New issues/values
Communication/media development
Media and democratic transition, media and democratization
Media reform movements
Civil society and media reforms
Strategic communication
Communication for social change
Media effects (cognitive, behavioral, attitudinal)
Sociolinguistics

The International Relations Research Center (IRRC) is a UNYP research center that pursues interdisciplinary research projects both within UNYP and with external partners. Its research is methodologically diverse and policy oriented and focuses on the core themes of political communication, international organizations and collective security, peace studies, conflict analysis, security policy and strategy development, international law.

Main areas of the current research at IRRC include:

Communication & media, propaganda, political communication
Democratization, ethics
Voting behavior, party politics, populism
American & world history, EU history, Cold War
African studies
International organizations, EU, NATO, collective security
Peace studies, peace operations, peacebuilding
Conflict analysis, conflict management and transformation, conflict prevention
Privatization of security
(counter)terrorism, (counter)insurgency, hybrid/irregular warfare, modern warfare
Environmental security
Strategy and defense policy planning and development
International law, international humanitarian law, human rights