Education and Research Policy
The Education and Research Policy thematic group originates from a small team of social scientists at CASS, who were interested in the organisation of education, the particularities of the scientific world, and the behind-the-scenes of policy decisions. Over time, this developed into a distinct research direction, expanding from an interest in the organisation of the general education system to studying the broader landscape of education and science. Today, the Education and Science Policy team has grown and contributes not only through applied research in the education sector but also by creating substantive training materials on violence prevention.
We carry out both national and international projects. Our work informs, for example, the activities of the Ministry of Education and Research, the Education and Youth Board, the Ministry of Social Affairs, local authorities, and educational institutions. At the international level, our work has been funded, among others, by the European Commission.
Key topics
In the field of applied research:
- Youth participation and leisure time – engaging young people, evaluating the accessibility and satisfaction with extracurricular and leisure activities, and providing recommendations for improvement.
- Lifelong learning and self-development – analysing the accessibility, quality, and flexibility of learning opportunities throughout life; the role of continuing and retraining in strengthening work and social competitiveness; assessing learner motivation and supportive policy measures to ensure continuous skills development and adaptation to societal changes.
- School network development and analysis of educational accessibility – recommendations for optimising the school network to ensure equal opportunities for learners and sustainable education provision; evaluating the efficiency, regional accessibility, and quality of the general education school network.
- Equality and diversity in the research landscape – analysing equal treatment, including structural gender balance, harassment, and bullying, with recommendations for improvement in higher education and research institutions.
- Research ethics and academic integrity – ensuring the reliability, transparency, and accountability of research; analysing the implementation of ethical requirements and supporting researchers in adhering to good scientific practice, including preventing ethical risks and developing internal regulations of research institutions.
- Prevention of and response to intimate partner violence – analysing Estonian and international practices in dealing with intimate partner violence cases; providing recommendations and training materials to enhance prevention and response.
- Social and education policy analysis and policy recommendations – evaluating the social and economic impacts of policies and supporting evidence-based decision-making.
Creating trainings and materials:
- Supporting victims of intimate partner violence through specialist training (prevention, recognising violence, solutions).
We develop and provide digital training materials, including open online courses (MOOCs), to support first-line responders (e.g., police and healthcare professionals) in the conscious recognition of signs of intimate partner violence, victim-centred response, and effective support for individuals who have experienced IPV.
Our work has been the basis of:
- Promoting gender equality in the research and higher education sector
Recommendations based on analyses of the gender equality situation have been implemented in the equal treatment policies of research institutions, in improving management practices, and in developing diversity. - Supporting education and school network planning decisions
Analyses of the accessibility and quality indicators of the education sector have provided input for discussions on the school network, shaping regional education decisions, and efforts to reduce educational inequalities. - Shaping lifelong learning policy and increasing the role of continuing education
Research analyses on learner motivation, training needs, and skills development are used in updating lifelong learning strategies and improving the flexibility of continuing education provision. - Enhancing first-line responders’ competence in handling intimate partner violence cases
Digital training materials and e-courses developed support the professional preparedness of police, healthcare professionals, and other specialists for victim-centred action and early recognition of cases of violence.
Thematic group members
Thematic Lead
Helen Urmann
MA (Democracy and Governance)
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Head of Centre, 0.8 p
Faculty of Social Sciences
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
Teacher of Comparative Politics, 0.2 p
Lossi 36–312
+372 737 6377
Helen has a Master's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Tartu, and holds two positions in CASS – she is the Thematic Lead for Eduation and Research Policy, and is a Project Manager and Analyst. Her interests revolve around state, education system and the relationships of its participants, and the impact of science-based decisions on the development of institutions. Helen teaches qualitative and quantitative research methods at the University of Tartu, and has given presentations and led panels in a number of interntional education science conferences.
Marvi Remmik
PhD (Educational Science)
Viljandi Culture Academy
Academic Staff
Associate Professor of Educational Science, 0.9 p, Programme Director
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Methodologist-Analyst, 0.1 p
+372 515 5395
Marvi has a PhD from the University of Tartu, and is a Project Manager-Analyst at CASS, and Docent at UT's Viljandi Culture Academy. Her longtime practical experience as a vocational and higher education lecturer, as well as researcher, give valuable input for tematic research, helping understand, e.g. student and teaching motivation, and the role of teaching practices in measuring teaching quality. Marvi teaches social science and humanities' research methods at UT, and has been a member of multiple international education specialist associations, including EARLI and ICED. Her academid works have been published in a number of local and international academic journals (e.g. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Education Sciences, Estonian Journal of Education).
Ene Tubelt
MA (Applied Behavioural Science)
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Analyst
Ene holds two Master’s degrees from the University of Tartu: one in Applied Behavioural Science and another in Semiotics and Culture Studies, and she works at CASS as an Analyst. As a researcher of Behavioural Sciences, her work focuses on the connections of human behaviour and interventions (incl. policy interventions). Ene specialises mostly on quantitative research, including data collection through questionnaires, and data analysis through statistical methods, but as a versatile analyst, she often also conducts interviews with research subjects.
Mary-Ann Kubre
MSc (Neuro-cognitive Psychology)
Institute of Computer Science
Chair of Data Science
Junior Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience, 0.8 p
r 3077
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Analyst, 0.2 p
Mary-Ann has a Masters in Neuroscience from Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. She is UT's Junior Researcher of Computational Neuroscience, and an analyst at CASS. Mary-Ann supports the thematic group's work by researching the pshychological dimension of human behaviour. She is a member of several international associations in her field. Amongst others, Mary-Ann has been on the board of the European Federation of Psychology Students' Associations (EFPSA), member of the Clinical Neuropsychology Working Group, and the editor of the Journal of European Psychology Students.
Mari Puniste
MA (rahvusvahelised suhted)
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Project Manager
Lossi 36–418
Mari has a Master's Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Tartu, and first and foremost works with projects that are directed at preventing and acknowledging the issue of domestic violence. Additionally to project management, her project outputs also include developing teaching materials. Mari's day-to-day work is driven by her desire to raise societal awareness and support for violence-free relationships. She has been a part of a number of international consortia (MARISSA, OPEP-DV, TACTICS, FREE-DVV, RE-ABILITY, ENCLAVE) as a project manager, expert and material co-author.
Triin Taal
MA (õigusteadus)
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)
Analyst
Triin is an Analyst at CASS, who has over a decade of experience from social work and child protective services. Supported by her law degree, her supreme vision and psychological trauma training, she combines a people-centred view with analytical thinking, and thus suporting the team in creating a deeper understanding of social processes and human experiences, particularly in the contect of interpersonal violence relationships. Triin develops training materials and gives classes through projects dealing with violence prevention.
