Mission and Vision
The need to carry out this research was identified starting from an initial investigation into what already existed regarding research focused on young people. We realised that there was no project that studied young people from an international point of view (the vast majority of projects are at national level) and with a broad perspective to try to understand, with the openness and hope from a Christian anthropological vision, the young people, their desires, values, expectations, etc.
This multi-annual project called Footprints. Young people: Expectations, Ideals, Beliefs (8 years) and multi-phase research project is based on continuous listening to young people in order to try to better understand their values, expectations and hopes.
Without aiming to be exhaustive, some of the areas of research of this "continuous listening" to young people are outlined: their priority values, the reasons for their decisions, their expectations for the future, their ideals for society, the hopes they place in the family and in friendship, the examples they admire, their vision of work, their concerns for solidarity, their religious experience, their perceptions of the Church, etc.
The project involves surveys are submitted to young people. The questionnaires are prepared by the research team with the help of all the partners involved in the project, while implementation is carried out by a qualified and internationally renowned polling company.
The aim of the research
The objectives of the research are descriptive, evaluative and have an educational and/or training purpose. The results may be of interest to those who directly or indirectly deal with the character formation of young people in its various dimensions: affective, relational, human and/or spiritual.
The research is aimed at a general audience, it is opened to anyone, no matter their religion or beliefs.
Also, there are other objectives like:
Uniqueness
In relation to other pontifical universities, this is the first continuous research project on youth, apart from being a competitive advantage it also provides the opportunity of establishing relations with some Vatican offices working on the same issues.
