Dr Justyna Łukaszewska-Bezulska’s project, funded in the competition for research projects at CESS

11 10 2024

The project of dr Justyna Łukaszewska-Bezulska from the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies “The importance of social media use by Ukrainians immigrants residing in Poland from the perspective of relational integration theory” was funded in the competition for research projects at the Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences.

The project received funding in the amount of 80 000,00 PLN.

The aim of the project is to investigate, based on relational integration theory, how the use of social media affects the integration of different groups of Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. It will compare the online and offline activities of three groups of immigrants: labor migrants, war refugees without migration experience and war refugees with migration experience.

The project has three research goals: to explore and describe the ways and forms of social media use by Ukrainian migrants living in Poland, to assess how social media use by migrants and nonmigrants can affect their mutual integration process, and to examine the relationship between migrants and social media activities and their behaviour and attitudes in the real world.

The project aims to answer three main questions: What are the characteristics of social media use by different groups of Ukrainian migrants, e.g., their level of activity, their network of contacts, the topics they are interested in, their trust in different sources of information? How does social media use affect the integration of migrants and non-migrants? What are the relations between online and offline activities of migrants and non-migrants from the perspective of their integration?

The research will be carried out in Poland with the participation of Ukrainian immigrants and will focus on analysing the activity of Internet users on two social networks: Facebook and Telegram. The project is based on triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Its implementation will contribute to the development of theoretical concepts of digital diasporas and relational integration, showing how social media can facilitate or hinder transnational ties and the integration of migrants and non-migrants. The project will provide new and valuable knowledge that can help policymakers and practitioners working with migrant communities.