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RUSTIK

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RUSTIK

Rural Sustainability Transitions through Integration of Knowledge for improved policy processes

Program and call for proposals

Horizon Europe, Research and Innovation Actions, Action “Resilient, inclusive, healthy and green rural, coastal and urban communities” call 2021

Active project

Brief description

RUSTIK is a transdisciplinary research project that aims to enable rural community actors and policy makers to design better strategies, initiatives and policies, to facilitate transitions towards rural sustainability through an advanced understanding of the diverse functionalities, characteristics and future of rural areas, their potentials and challenges. To prepare for the growing social and ecological challenges, the project includes an analysis of current adaptation requirements and support for effective rural policy-making processes.

InEuropa srl supports OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia in management activities.

Objectives

The objectives of the project are:

  • To provide a sound methodological framework for functional rural areas;
  • To define databases that integrate data of different types and from different sources;
  • To devise better strategies and governance approaches for policy makers and rural stakeholders;
  • To develop better approaches for rural impact assessment and decentralized rural proofing.

Actions

Starting from the basic idea that practical solutions must be collaboratively created in real-world settings, the project’s main activities involve Living Labs in 14 European Pilot Regions in the 10 European countries involved. They are the main tool for collaboration with stakeholders, and serve as a platform for implementing, evaluating and understanding social and technical innovations in a real-world context.

These are the key elements of an action-oriented multi-actor approach to researching rural diversity and social transformation, used to bring stakeholders together to develop and test new ways to solve problems in their regions.

All project activities are supported by a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy to maximize the impact of RUSTIK.

Results

The main results of the project are:

  • The implementation of 14 databases at the regional level and 1 RUSTIK information system at the European level.
  • To improve the knowledge and capacity of stakeholders by disseminating innovative methods of data collection and analysis to ensure understanding of the diversity and dynamics of rural areas.
  • To devise innovative methods and processes for designing and evaluating policies and strategies, e.g., a standardized model for decentralized rural proofing, approaches for designing interventions, improving the policy governance framework.

Lead partner

Institute for Rural Development Research (DE)

Partnership

  • Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics – IT
  • MCRIT – Multicriteria Planning – ES
  • University of Gloucestershire – UK
  • University of Eastern Finland – FI
  • Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research – AT
  • Galician Enterprise-University Foundation – ES
  • Euromontana – FR
  • University of Ljubljana – SI
  • Faculty of Agriculture- University of Belgrade – RS
  • Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences – PL
  • European Leader Association for Rural Development – BE
  • Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski – BG
  • GAL MontagnAppennino- IT
  • Regional Development Agency Eastern Serbia – RS
  • Allium, Employment Centre, Zoo Soc. Ent. – SI
  • Association of the city of Troyan, Apriltsi and Ougarchin – BG
  • OI Pomodoro da Industria Nord Italia – IT
  • Regional Council of North Karelia – FI
  • University of Santiago de Compostela – ES
  • Rhein-Hunsrück Regional Economic Council – DE
  • Spittal-Millstättersee-Lieser-Malta-Nockberge Regional Association – AT
  • Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture – PL
  • Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce – PL
  • Decentralized Municipal Entity of Sant Miquel de Balenyà – ES
  • Galician Agency for Rural Development – ES
  • University of Strathclyde – UK
  • Gloucestershire Rural Community Council – UK
  • MapitaOy – FI
  • Monmouthshire County Council – UK
  • Ersilia Foundation – ES

Duration

The project has a duration of 48 months (September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2026)

Total budget

The total budget is €5,886,818.88, 100% subsidized by the EC. It is supplemented by a Research and Innovation fund earmarked for the participation of United Kingdom entities amounting to €1,099,629.70

Funding body

European Commission – EuropeanResearch Executive Agency

SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

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SHINE – mainstreaming Systems tHinking In Natural sciences and Environmental education

Agreement number: 2023-1-DE03-KA220-SCH-000158255

Program and Call

ERASMUS PLUS – Call 2023 Round 1 KA2

KA220- SCH – Cooperation partnerships in School Education

Ongoing project

Short description

Education for sustainable development gives learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change. The call for teachers is to develop strategies, tools and methodologies to achieve such key competencies to address the required complexity. Managing and solving sustainability problems require people with systemic competences who are able to see the whole in the individual, presenting a breadth of vision for a complex world. Since Systems Thinking (ST) is one of the key competencies in the education for sustainable development, it is crucial to train in-service teachers on the ST approach to give them the possibility to implement ST at school in science education classes. The SHINE project aims at bringing the ST approach in Natural Science education involving in-service teachers and students in the target age of 8-16 years old. SHINE aims at introducing the ST approach at school by training in-service teachers and by developing, validating and testing innovative didactic tools to effectively introduce and practice ST with students in natural science and ecology education. ST offers a new language in understanding how the world works, it enables students to see the parts of the whole and the network of relationships simultaneously, and consequently it tries to reveal the structure that creates change by questioning how events occur over time.

Objectives

SHINE’s overall objective is to prepare future citizens to face climate change challenges by promoting the introduction and mainstream of ST skills in natural science education. To reach this objective, SHINE sets 5 specific sub-objectives:

  1. Educate in-service teachers on ST principles and how to apply them in natural science;
  2. Support students in developing ST approach by introducing game-based learning and innovative didactics approach in science education;
  3. Sustain scientific skills and the deep learning of complex topics such as ecosystems and climate change;
  4. Promote collaboration among different school grades (8-16 y.o.)

Main activities

–  Development of a training course for in-service teachers replicated in each partner’s country and involving at least 25 natural science teachers.

– Design of a serious game (digital/board with different levels of difficulties accordingly with target age) to support students in practicing and experimenting ST applied to climate change issues.

– Creation of a digital toolkit containing specific didactic modules to introduce ST at school in natural science classes, assessment tools to evaluate the students’ improvement in ST reasoning in a long term perspective;

– Organisation of a set of digital and in-person transnational events to boost both students and teachers from partners’ countries to cooperate in understanding and finding possible common answers to the climate change effects occurring now and in a future perspective.

Expected results

  • Effectively supporting teachers in implementing and assessing ST at school with students of different ages by training them on the approach and co-producing specific didactic tools.
  • Applying ST in natural science and sustainability disciplines for assessing the student’s progress in a long-time perspective.
  • Enhancing the promotion of more engaging didactics and boosting the active involvement of students by cooperation “inter pares”
  • Facilitating and mainstream the introduction of ST into education as a way to deepen science principles and especially as a lens for understanding problems such as climate change and environment protection.

Coordinator

Hochschule RheinMain (DE)

Partnership

– InEuropa Srl (IT)

– Libera Università di Bolzano (IT)

– Tallin University (EE)

– Virtual Campus Lda (PT)

Duration

The project will last 36 months (1st October 2023 – 30th September 2026)

Budget

The grant is € 400.000,00