Emergency Smile Research Project 2025/2027

Beneficiaries (throughout the duration of the project)

Direct Beneficiaries*Y

• 1 Lead Researcher;
• 2 Research Assistants on the field.

Indirect Beneficiaries*Y

• Stakeholders and partners on the field (collaborating on the research project):
  • approximately 150 minors and youth on the move and 150 UAM (8-17 ages);
  • approximately 100 parents/caregivers;
  • approximately 400 adults (Single Men and Single Women, mothers/fathers on the move);
  • approximately 100 Field-Workers, volunteers, medical staff from humanitarian aid organizations.
• International Scientific Community (at the end of the research project).

The Emergency Smile Research Project 2025/2027, also with Alta Mane support, foresees the following activities:  

Y1 – 2025: Project Set-up and Initial Data Collection

• research onboarding process and engagement, and Desk Review;
• research proposal and data collection plan, approval by an independent ethical board;
• training of 2 Research assistants on the field in conducting data collection with children and adults living and working in migration crisis settings;
• Emergency Smile Mission to Lesbos;
• inception of the Data Collection Activities.

Y2 – 2026: Continued Data Collection and Preliminary Analysis

• Data Collection and Preliminary Analysis;
• Emergency Smile Mission to Lesbos.

Y3 – 2027: Final Data Collection, analysis, and dissemination of findings 

• finalization of the process of Data Collection and Analysis;
• Emergency Smile Mission to Lesbos;
• draft of one or more academic papers based on the findings of the research;
• submission for publication of at least one academic paper on academic journals and international share of findings.

In 2025, the researcher (Eliala Salvadori), in collaboration with the RNI Research & Development Department, prioritized the strategic planning of the research project. On the one hand, she worked closely with a broad and multidisciplinary academic network to ensure the project’s alignment with the main research international frameworks. On the other hand, she formalized key collaborations with 3 local partners to support and assist Data Collection and dissemination activities on the field. For scientific and operational efficiency, as well as methodological convenience, the research project has been structured into two different studies: Study 1, to assess the impact of healthcare clowning activities on Field-Workers (2025/2026); Study 2 (2026/2027), to assess the impact of healthcare clowning activities on unaccompanied minors.
With regard to Study 1, the Data Collection Activities, approved by the Ethics Committee of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, have been launched in September 2025 in partnership with three local implementing partners (Iliaktida, Paréa, and Yoga and Sport with Refugees), reaching 48 Field-Workers from 9 NGOs operating daily in Lesbos in several migration contexts. In parallel, the partner participated in four dissemination activities, further consolidating its role in promoting scientific evidence-based best practices in humanitarian settings, reaching 203 experts in the field.
During the same period, the partner organized an Emergency Smile Mission on the Island of Lesbos (October 13 – November 7, 2025) during which 7 clown-shows, 13 Circus Smile Sessions, 4 Community Building Activities, and 4 Humour Relief Workshops have been organized, reaching 141 unaccompanied minors; 10 minors/youth and 387 adults with a migration background; and 153 Field-Workers (Staff and volunteers). The mission also provided an opportunity to harmonise and align pre-post intervention Data Collection processes with the artistic and healthcare clowning interventions in the field. In addition, it has allowed to lay the groundwork for Study 2, through the launch of a Pilot Focus Group that reached 3 unaccompanied youth (18-19 ages).

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