Results | Rezultate

The following results were obtained within the SKEPSIS project:

• 5 scientific articles published in prestigious academic journals (WoS-indexed journals)
• 3 scientific articles submitted to prestigious academic journals (WoS-indexed journals)
• 5 articles published in journals indexed in international databases
• 37 presentations at 17 national and international conferences
• 4 international research mobilities
• 4 articles dedicated to disseminating research results to the general public
• 5 interviews and news materials for the general public
• 3 video presentations dedicated to disseminating research results to the general public
• The series of interviews Discussions with SKEPSIS – 12 video interviews about the scientific truth behind current topics such as vaccination, climate change, or representations of women in science
• 4 presentations and debates on topics related to vaccination and climate change

The scientific contribution of the project consists of overcoming the knowledge deficit model, which is limited to advancing the lack of education and information as explanations for the rejection of science. The SKEPSIS project has led to the enrichment of the sociological theoretical framework, by identifying the processes of social polarization that result from people’s involvement in the social construction of controversies related to vaccination, climate change, and other current scientific topics.

În cadrul proiectului SKEPSIS au fost obținute următoarele rezultate:

• 5 articole științifice publicate în reviste academice prestigioase (reviste indexate WoS)
• 3 articole științifice trimise la reviste academice prestigioase (reviste indexate WoS)
• 5 articole publicate în reviste indexate în baze de date internaționale
• 37 de prezentări la 17 conferințe naționale și internaționale
• 4 stagii de cercetare internaționale
• 4 articole dedicate diseminării rezultatelor cercetării către publicul larg
• 5 interviuri și materiale de presă pentru publicul larg
• 3 prezentări video dedicate diseminării rezultatelor cercetării către publicul larg
• Seria de interviuri Discuții cu SKEPSIS – 12 interviuri video despre adevărul științific din spatele unor subiecte de actualitate, precum vaccinarea, schimbările climatice, sau reprezentările femeilor în știință
• 4 prezentări și dezbateri pe teme legate de vaccinare și schimbări climatice

Contribuția științifică a proiectului constă în depășirea modelului deficitului de cunoaștere, care se limitează la avansarea lipsei de educație și informare ca explicații pentru respingerea științei. Proiectul SKEPSIS a condus la îmbogățirea cadrului teoretic sociologic, prin identificarea proceselor de polarizare socială care rezultă din implicarea oamenilor în construcția socială a controverselor legate de vaccinare, schimbări climatice, precum și a altor subiecte științifice de actualitate.

Awards | Premii

The SKEPSIS project has received The Prize of the Senate of University of Bucharest, in 2022, for the most significant scientific contribution with impact in society [Diploma].

Proiectul SKEPSIS a obținut Premiul Senatului Universității din București în anul 2022 pentru cea mai mare contribuție științifică cu impact în societate [Diploma].

Publications | Publicații

• Rughiniș, Cosima, Mihai Dima, Simona-Nicoleta Vulpe, Răzvan Rughiniș, and Sorina Vasile. 2023. Patterns of protection, infection, and detection: Country-level effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing mortality worldwide. Public Health in Practice 6(27):100416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2023.100416 [Article]
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, and Sorina Vasile. 2023. Unvaccinated, Just Like Everybody Else. Vaccine Hesitancy in a Romanian Religious Community. European Review Of Applied Sociology 16 (26): 16–24. https://doi.org/10.2478/eras-2023-0003 [Article]
• Rughiniș, Cosima, Simona-Nicoleta Vulpe, Michael G. Flaherty, and Sorina Vasile. 2022. “Shades of Doubt: Measuring and Classifying Vaccination Confidence in Europe.” Vaccine 40 (46): 6670–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.VACCINE.2022.09.039. [Article]
• Rughiniș, Cosima, Simona-Nicoleta Vulpe, Michael Flaherty, and Sorina Vasile. 2022. Vaccination, life expectancy, and trust: patterns of COVID-19 and measles vaccination rates around the world. Public Health. [Article]
• Rughiniș, Cosima and Michael Flaherty. 2022. The Social Bifurcation of Reality: Symmetrical Construction of Knowledge in Science-Trusting and Science-Distrusting Discourses. Frontiers in Sociology. [Article]
• Hosszu, Alexandra, Cosima Rughiniș, Răzvan Rughiniș, and Daniel Rosner. 2022. Webcams and social interaction during online classes: Identity work, presentation of self, and well-being. Frontiers in Psychology 12. [Article]
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, and Cosima Rughiniş. 2021. Social amplification of risk and “probable vaccine damage”: A typology of vaccination beliefs in 28 European countries. Vaccine 39, no. 10 : 1508-1515. [Article] [Full-text preprint]
• Flaherty, Michael and Cosima Rughiniș, April 13. What do memes tell us about self and time during the pandemic? Contexts – Sociology for the Public, ASA. To be reprinted in Jodi O’Brien (Ed.), 2021, Production of Reality, Seventh Edition, SAGE Publications.
• Rughiniș, Răzvan, Cosima Rughiniș, Simona Nicoleta Vulpe, and Daniel Rosner. 2021. From social netizens to data citizens: variations of GDPR awareness in 28 European countries. Computer Law & Security Review 42 (2021): 105585. [Article] [Full-text preprint]
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta. 2021. Croyance et scepticisme. Les justifications religieuses de l’hésitation à la vaccination et du climato-scepticisme. Sociologie Românească 19(2): 69-88. [Article]

Outreach | Diseminare

• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, 2024, “Impfskepsis in Rumänien: Die Rückkehr der Masern”, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. [Online article] [Radio material]
• Seria de interviuri SKEPSIS, Universitatea din București, disponibile la https://unibuc.ro/skepsis/.
• Cosima Rughiniș, November 9, 2023, invited speaker at the Workshop „Are vaccines controversial? Debate on the social, political, economic and cultural aspects of global vaccine production and distribution in the post-pandemic era”, organized by “Francisc I. Rainer” Anthropology Institute, Romanian Academy.
• Simona-Nicoleta Vulpe, November 9, 2023, presenter at the book launch “Immunization. How Vaccines Became Controversial?” (translated version – Editura Prestige, Bucuresti), by Prof. Stuart Blume, Emeritus Professor of Science & Technology Studies, University of Amsterdam, organized by “Francisc I. Rainer” Anthropology Institute, Romanian Academy.

• Dima, Mihai, June 13, 2023, Conference at the Interdisciplinary School of Doctoral Studies: “Silent overpassing of climatic critical points towards irreversible transitions”.

• Rughiniș, Cosima, June 2022, Cei mai săraci bogați, cei mai fraieri șmecheri, Dilema veche.
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, May 5, 2022, Interview for Digi24. [Online article]
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, April 14, 2022, Interview for ZME Science. [Online article]
• Rughiniș, Cosima, April 6, 2022, Conference at the Interdisciplinary School of Doctoral Studies: “Anti/Vax: The Social Construction of Vaccination Trust and Distrust”. [Poster]

• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, 2021, Talk for Science Presented: Social Amplification of Risk and “Probable Vaccine Damage”, available on YouTube.
• Vulpe, Simona-Nicoleta, 2021, Interview for Novosti weekly Zagreb. [Online article]
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, Presentation in the University of Bucharest event “Information and Vaccination” (Facebook live, 12 November 2021).
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, October 28, Interview with Marius Popescu, Știrile TVR1.
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, October 28, Interview with Ingmar Neveus and Alexander Mahmoud for Dagens Nyheter, “That is why 70 percent of Romanians refuse to be vaccinated – despite record deaths”. Video available here. (Online article)
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, October 26, Vaccinarea și scepticismul la români. Universitatea din București – Doza de știință, YouTube video.
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, July 19, Vaccinarea anti-COVID – între tipic statistic și potențial național. Contributors.ro
• Rughiniș, Cosima, 2021, March 17, Astra Zeneca și coagularea: eternul conflict dintre imaginație și calcul. Contributors.ro
• Rughiniș, Cosima. 2021, March 7, Cum am ajuns să am încredere în vaccinurile anti-covid. Contributors.ro

Previous Team Publications | Publicații anterioare ale echipei

• Ciocănel, Alexandra, Rughiniș, Cosima and Flaherty, Michael G. 2020. Argumentative time work for legitimizing homeopathy: Temporal reasons for the acceptance of an alternative medical practice. Time & Society, p.0961463X20962663. [Full-text article]
• Rughinis, Cosima, Dima, Lorena and Vasile, Sorina, 2020. Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19: Lack of Efficacy and the Social Construction of Plausibility. American Journal of Therapeutics, 27(6), pp.e573-e583. [Article] [Full-text preprint]
• Toth, Cosmin, 2020. Repertoires of Vaccine Refusal in Romania. Vaccines, 8(4), p.757. [Full-text article]
• Toth, Cosmin, 2019. The rational, loving and responsible parent. A discursive construction of the identities of the parents that decided not to vaccinate their children. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 10(02), pp.1-14. [Full-text article]
• Vulpe, Simona Nicoleta, 2020. Cooling down the future. A discourse analysis of climate change skepticism. The Social Science Journal, pp.1-17. [Article]
• Vulpe, Simona Nicoleta, 2020. To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate against HPV? A Content Analysis of Vocabularies of Motives. Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, 22(3), pp.105-123. [Full-text article]
• Vulpe, Simona Nicoleta, 2020. Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy as Extended Attitudes. European Review Of Applied Sociology, 13(20), pp.43-57. [Full-text article]

Research project implemented in the University of Bucharest and funded by the Ministry of Innovation, Scientific Research, and Digitalization, Romania, project PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1589

Proiect de cercetare implementat în Universitatea din București și finanțat de Ministerul Inovației, Cercetării și Digitalizării, România, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1589