Ilze Trapenciere

Ilze Trapenciere is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia, and she has worked as Docent in the Latvian Christian Academy, at present she teaches at the University of Liepaja. Ilze’s academic career has spanned in the following countries – Latvia, USA (1992-3, 1995), Finland (since 1992, scholarship in 1997), Sweden (1993, 2006) and Norway (1997), UK (2007).
Ilze has worked as a head of the Latvian Eurydice, where she has participated in several European Eurydice studies since late nineties – general characteristics of the educational systems, study foreign languages, teacher training and others.
She won the tender and has evaluated the SOCRATES and Leonardo da Vinci Programme (both the midterm evaluation in 2003, and at the end of the Programme), she has also done the evaluation of the Comenius mobility within the MODE Project (2006), the evaluation of the 1st year of the National Life Long Learning Programme, and evaluation of the Study visits’ Programme (2008) and the Comenius mobility (2008).
She has participated in several studies on education: World Bank Study on the Quality and Effectiveness of education (2000), vocational education in Latvia, Latvian Education in comparison with the OECD countries (2003), ICT in education (2005), Academic Personnel in Latvia (2003), On the employment of University and VET graduates one year and three years after graduation (2007), and other studies related with education. At present she participates in ELFE 2 study (on pedagogical aspects of using ICT in education, financed by EC). Since 2004 she is a National Expert on Vocational Education and Training for the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training (ACVT for the EC).
Ilze is a National coordinator of the comparative international study “Eurostudent” (since 2003), coordinated by HIS (Germany) on students’ social, economical and living conditions of students and has supervised several Students’ Thesis on the basis of this study.
Much of Ilze’s earlier work is focused on youth research (she is a National Correspondent on youth research for the European Council and has been a National Correspondent on Youth Understanding and Knowledge, Council of Europe), poverty and social exclusion in relation to education. She has participated in the BASNET project „Women in science” (expert on Strategy; 6th Framework Programme; coordinated by Vilnius University).

At present she is a national principal investigator in an international comparative Study coordinated by Amici dei Bambini „Life after Institutional Care - Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion for Young People: Identification and Promotion of Best Practices” (Programme - Mutual Learning on Social Inclusion and Social Protection).
She is also a member of a European Network on gender and social protection and social inclusion (EGGSI) and a member of the European Network on gender and employment (EGGE), since 2004 (when there was only one network on gender and employment and social exclusion – EGGSIE).