27 february 2026
Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), Department of Psychology, has become an official partner of a prestigious international consortium supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the Multilateral Academic Projects (MAPS) initiative. The other partners include the University of Zürich (UZH, Switzerland) and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (UMK, Poland). The innovative research proposal was among the 29 projects to win the highly competitive funding and one of the 20 selected projects with a Romanian partner (6% success rate for funded projects with a Romanian partner in this competition). The project “Children’s Honest and Deceptive Behaviour during School Transitions: Developmental insights from three European educational systems (CHOICES)” has a duration of 4 years (2025-2029), with a total funding amount of CHF 1.027.488
The project charts developmental trajectories for children’s behaviours during educational transitions (moving to primary and secondary schooling), following three main goals across the two age cohorts (6-10 years and 10-11 years at the first measurement). Firstly, to identify developmental patterns in different settings (such as competitive, prosocial, and academic). Secondly, to identify and assess individual (language exposure, theory of mind, and executive functions) and contextual factors (school well-being, parental practices) that could serve as predictors of their behavioural choices. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness of training socio-cognitive skills in modulating honest and deceitful behaviours.
Another important point of this proposal is to account for the differences across educational systems and language exposure (e.g., growing up monolingual or multilingual, type of language exposure) as well as the cultural and social values promoted in each of the partner countries. Beyond advancing developmental research, this project makes significant social contributions: enhancing educational policies aligned with children’s moral growth pathways and guiding parents toward practices that foster honest behaviour in their children.
The consortium’s on-site kick-off meeting took place at Babeș-Bolyai University, Department of Psychology, February 11-13, 2026. The three teams, coordinated by Prof. Moritz Daum (UZH), Prof. Laura Visu-Petra (BBU) and Prof. Marta Białecka (UMK) discussed the outline of the longitudinal research project, the aims and goals of each stage, and fostered innovative ideas while clarifying the project timeline.
To demonstrate the commitment to participatory research that UBB promotes, a significant part of the meeting was dedicated to interacting with beneficiaries and participants: school counsellors and teachers from three partner institutions from Cluj-Napoca: “Mihai Eminescu” Theoretical Highschool, “George Coșbuc” National College, and “Apáczai Csere János” Theoretical Highschool that would be involved in this longitudinal research. The findings will assist parents, teachers, and policymakers in fostering children’s social-cognitive development and moral integrity.
For more details and updates about this project, please follow: https://choices-project.org/
Tradition and Excellence with Culture-Science-Innovation since 1581
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (UBB) is the university with the most complex academic profile in the country (by its number of programmes and multicultural profile featuring three official academic languages: Romanian, Hungarian, and German), and with the oldest academic tradition in Romania (established 445 years ago – 1581), accounting for the largest academic community in the country (with a staff of more than 55,000 people, from 15 cities and 12 counties). Ever since its establishment, UBB has been one of the most prestigious and influential universities in Romania; for several years now, UBB has consistently ranked among the top 5% of the world’s universities (out of approximately 30,000), with an advanced academic infrastructure (e.g. RDI units integrated into European networks, up-to-date teaching laboratories integrating virtual/augmented/mixed reality through the UBB-EON-XR Centre, etc.). Recently (2021), following the international QS STAR audit, UBB was officially ranked as the first world-class university (QS*****) in Romania, and in 2020 UBB was included in the GUILD, the organisation of the most prestigious European world-class/research-intensive universities, it was awarded the European HR Award for Excellence, and as of 2021/2022 it is a member of the EUTOPIA alliance of European universities.
