The project examines intergenerational relationships, the role of digital media, and their impact on perceptions and experiences of citizenship in Portugal

The STORYline project, coordinated by Ana Filipa Oliveira, a professor at Lusófona University – Porto University Center and a researcher at CICANT, brings together citizenship, intergenerational relationships, and digital media in community contexts.

Based on the assumption that intergenerational relationships can profoundly influence the way young people understand and experience citizenship, the project’s main focus is to collect testimonies from young people, without neglecting the contributions of older generations. The goal is to identify points of contact between different generations and understand how citizenship is built from within communities.

The project also seeks to understand how these different generations create and preserve memories of citizenship and what “real impact social media” has on the creation and preservation of these memories and experiences.

As such, the study aims to combine interviews with experts—including youth workers and professionals who work with young and older populations—with practical on-the-ground activities, such as workshops and roundtables, where topics related to citizenship, media literacy, and the creation of digital narratives will be addressed.

Among the main objectives is the creation of a digital archive of memories of citizenship. This archive will be available on the project’s Instagram account, website, and podcast, which will serve as spaces for preserving and sharing the experiences gathered from the communities.

The project brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the study of citizenship in community and intergenerational contexts. Inês Amaral, from the University of Coimbra, Manuel Pita, Maria José Brites, and Sofia Caldeira, from Lusófona University.

The team also benefits from the contributions of international consultants Julian McDougall, from Bournemouth University, and Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, from the Open University of Catalonia, who bring a comparative and interdisciplinary dimension to the project.

In addition to the team’s contributions, Ana F. Oliveira considers the partnerships established with the Vila Nova de Gaia Youth Forum and Escolhe Vilar—one of the hubs of the Escolhas Program, also located in Vila Nova de Gaia—to be crucial to the research’s success. These partnerships have provided access to a range of communities that match the characteristics the team was seeking in project participants. Alongside the partnerships established in the north of the country, they are currently strengthening their network of partnerships in the south, specifically with the Islamic Community of Tapada das Mercês and a community center located in downtown Lisbon.

With an initial duration of 18 months, STORYline is positioned as an exploratory project, but one with the potential for continuity and expansion, including at the European level. More than just producing academic knowledge, the project seeks to leave a community legacy by promoting dialogue, empathy, and the collaborative construction of collective memory.