Educational Research Lab

The Educational Research Lab is one of UniCredit Foundation’s most innovative initiatives, created to proactively and concretely address global educational challenges, with a special focus on young people living in vulnerable contexts.

By combining academic research, educational innovation, and field interventions, the Lab develops solutions to tackle educational poverty and promote high-quality, inclusive education.

A distinctive feature of the Lab is its close collaboration with prestigious universities and research institutions, along with other leading academic and institutional partners. Thanks to the contributions of experts in pedagogy, social sciences, education economics, and psychology, each project is grounded in solid evidence and rigorous scientific methodologies.

The Lab’s activities focus on key issues such as preventing early school leaving, strengthening the skills of students and teachers, increasing youth employability, and promoting access to higher education for those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The goal is to help build a fair, sustainable educational system that offers equal opportunities to all young people, regardless of their starting point.

Thanks to our network of prestigious partners, we are working to turn this vision into a concrete reality.

The Educational Research Lab is one of UniCredit Foundation’s most innovative initiatives, created to proactively and concretely address global educational challenges, with a special focus on young people living in vulnerable contexts.

By combining academic research, educational innovation, and field interventions, the Lab develops solutions to tackle educational poverty and promote high-quality, inclusive education.

A distinctive feature of the Lab is its close collaboration with prestigious universities and research institutions, along with other leading academic and institutional partners. Thanks to the contributions of experts in pedagogy, social sciences, education economics, and psychology, each project is grounded in solid evidence and rigorous scientific methodologies.

The Lab’s activities focus on key issues such as preventing early school leaving, strengthening the skills of students and teachers, increasing youth employability, and promoting access to higher education for those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The goal is to help build a fair, sustainable educational system that offers equal opportunities to all young people, regardless of their starting point.

Thanks to our network of prestigious partners, we are working to turn this vision into a concrete reality.

Our research reports

Through in-depth analysis of educational contexts, our Research Reports provide a critical understanding of the challenges limiting access to and quality of education for young generations, especially in vulnerable settings. By examining economic, cultural, and institutional factors, they identify both best practices and weaknesses within the education system. These insights form the foundation for designing targeted, sustainable interventions aimed at building a more equitable and inclusive education system.

Our collaboration
with OECD

The Foundation has partnered with the OECD’s Director for Education and Skills – Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) – to launch a groundbreaking initiative aimed at facilitating access to research findings in the field of education and promoting the exchange of ideas and best practices.

Our experimental
research

Our experimental research combines theory and practice to test innovative solutions directly in educational settings. We put theory into practice by observing the real impact of interventions on the ground and adapting them based on results, with the goal of developing effective and sustainable approaches to improve access to and quality of education for new generations.

From research to
implementation: Uni.On project - Light Up Your Future

Taking the “Beyond Compulsory Education in Europe” report’s evidence, the Foundation launched “Uni.ON – Light up your future”: an initiative to encourage highly motivated but less affluent students in their fifth year at Italian high schools to pursue STEM degree courses.