EURECO is a European collaboration platform of academic researchers and service providers working on inclusive community planning and development in the perspective of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The platform originated from a joint initiative of the European Association of Services Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) and the University of Siegen’s Centre for Planning and Evaluation of Social Services (ZPE), University of Siegen (Germany) to foster European theory-practice cooperation in the disability service sector. It was intended to develop a network of academic researchers and research affined service providers specifically interested in developing inclusive communities. Furthermore, regular meeting for platform members in a format mixing elements of academic conferences and project development workshops were to be organized. In the following years, the partnership grew to include the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) and ZonMw. EURECO is led by an internal steering group that is chaired by Prof. Dr. Johannes Schädler (University of Siegen).

Since 2017 the EURECO platform has organised yearly European forums in Brussels or online-events to discuss current trends and problems relevant for European research activities concerning disability, inclusive communities and service delivery. The forum meetings not only resulted in productive debates and concrete ideas for European project activities but also led to valuable networking among participants from all over Europe. The EURECO platform is open for further participants.

For more information: schaedler@zpe.uni-siegen.de