SU’s Burton Blatt Institute partners with NOVA-Norwegian Social Research to enhance international disability rights

SU’s Burton Blatt Institute partners with NOVA-Norwegian Social Research to enhance international disability rightsOctober 11, 2007Jaime Winne Alvarezjlwinne@syr.edu

The Burton Blatt Institute: Centers of Innovation on Disability at Syracuse University (BBI) and NOVA-Norwegian Social Research — a leading research institute based in Oslo, Norway, under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research — have signed an agreement to work together to enhance their international research and development activities. The partnership is a first step toward a broader endeavor to build a global coalition of research and development on international disability rights policy and practice.

The BBI-Nova agreement pairs BBI’s global policy, research and outreach expertise, and institutional resources on disability policy and development with NOVA’s broad-based social science expertise and life-cycle perspective in the field of welfare policy. The partnership will broaden cross-national and international research activities and be relevant to international organizations and policymakers. Both institutes anticipate the exchange of post-graduate students, visiting fellows and staff to advance research and development expertise in both countries.

“The BBI-NOVA partnership is an important effort to further growth and advancement in international disability rights,” says Peter Blanck, SU University Professor and BBI chairman. “Together, we will enhance research capacities and professional expertise to organizations, governments and persons with disabilities all over the world to advance a common agenda of full citizenship, economic empowerment and independent living for persons with disabilities.”

“This agreement will pave the way for creative policy and broadening of the rights and services for people with disabilities, based on tangible research in the subject,” says Professor Bj?rn Hvinden, head of research and NOVA deputy director general.

The initial priorities of the BBI-NOVA partnership include international publication of findings from cross-national and comparative research, training and capacity-building seminars, and collaboration on select grants and foundation requests. These priorities reflect the common vision of both institutes to foster public-private dialogue that will explore and design 21st-century solutions to the challenges of access and inclusion of persons with disabilities in employment and the economic mainstream through research, knowledge creation, training and technical assistance.

NOVA conducts research on social problems, public services and transfer schemes, with an emphasis on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities. The institute collaborates with other research institutes and specialist environments both inside and outside Norway to maintain high professional standards. It is leading a Nordic Centre of Excellence: Reassessing the Nordic Welfare Model.

BBI fosters public-private dialogue to advance civic, economic and social participation of persons with disabilities in a global society. BBI takes its name from Burton Blatt (1927-85), a pioneer in humanizing services for people with mental retardation, a staunch advocate of deinstitutionalization and a national leader in special education. For more information, visit BBI at http://bbi.syr.edu.