Engineering has always been central to society’s progress. Today, the role of engineers has become more critical than ever: with population growth our planet’s ecosystems must cope with an ever-increasing, energy-consuming population. This will have a significant impact on the employment market across Europe as there is a growing demand for Engineers and associated occupations. Society needs engineers who are adequately trained with the knowledge and skills to provide a secure, sustainable and successful Europe. Engineers will be critical to the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Why then, despite these diverse career options and good salary prospects, are there not more young people choosing engineering as a career?Too many young people reject it because engineering degree studies are considered intellectually challenging and difficult to attain. This decreases the diversity of our student body as young people are wary of joining a degree course considered difficult for success. How therefore, do we increase the attractiveness of both the profession and the engineering educational experience to encourage young people to be enthused about an engineering career?The main objective of the project A-STEP 2030 (Attracting diverSe Talent to the Engineering Professions of 2030) was to develop new and innovative teaching approaches relevant to learners’ values yet appropriate to teach a new set of skills and competencies needed for the future. Our goal was to create an attractive and fascinating learning environment thereby encouraging young people with diverse backgrounds to engage in engineering studies and the profession as a whole.The aims of this project was developed within the framework of the following three activities:1. Determine future roles and skills requirements of engineers to enhance the sustainable development of society. 2. Investigate the values and motivations of young people, students and adult learners to determine how this influences their future career choices and use this knowledge to make a career in engineering more attractive to all young people.3. Develop new and innovative teaching and learning practices to respond to these findings.The project consortium had 7 members from six EU countries (France, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Belgium) and 9 associated partners. It is based on the expertise and motivations of each partner organisation and includes four different European HEIs all involved in Engineering Education Research. They have worked together previously and are actively involved in the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) Attractiveness and Lifelong Learning Working Groups. The team are complemented by representatives from SEFI and BEST (Board of European Students of Technology) which represents HEI students in STEM, and Universum - experts in research relating to student motivations and career choices.A-STEP 2030 will bring long-term benefits to the participating organisations in addition to the 8 other project target groups at the local, regional and European level. It provided numerous local, national, international and online events, conference and journal articles, workshops, webinars, webcasts, a webpage, studies and reports. In the short term we highlighted the skills and competencies required of future Engineers, together with a learning activity for broad dissemination to teach high quality skills and competencies relevant to the labour market and societal needs.In the longer term, we contributed to increase awareness of the Engineering profession in Europe, highlighting the critical part that Engineers will play in solving global challenges. We also promoted excellence in high-level skills and competences development as per the renewed EU agenda for higher education. We showcased Engineering as a valuable and rewarding career, to encourage more diverse students to engage in engineering studies. This project achievement is considered as the first step in an ongoing collaboration between the consortium partners, one which we hope will continue beyond 2030, when we can show progress on meeting some of the SDGs.

Stroke is one of the most severe medical problems with far-reaching public health and socio-economic impact, gathering momentum in an ageing society. PRECISE4Q sets out to minimise the burden of stroke for the individual and for society. It will create multi-dimensional data-driven predictive simulation computer models enabling – for the first time – personalised stroke treatment, addressing patient’s needs in four stages: prevention, acute treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration. Heterogeneous data from multidisciplinary sources will be integrated: genomics, microbiomics, biochemical; imaging including mechanistic biophysiological models of brain perfusion/function; social, lifestyle, gender; economic and worklife, requiring substantial efforts for information extraction, semantic labelling and standardisation. Novel hybrid model architectures, structured prediction models, complex deep-learning and gradient boosting models will form the Digital Stroke Patient Platform including a Stroke Risk CDSS (Clinical Decision Support System), Treatment Outcomes CDSS, Rehab Programme, Socio-Economic Planning Tool and New QvidLab. The decision support will be tailored to the patient's current life stage thus enabling clinicians to optimise prevention and treatment strategies over time, and will include personalised coping strategies, support of well-being and reintegration into social life and work. The predictive capability and clinical precision will be validated with real clinical data generated by (i) prospective clinical studies and (ii) retrospective analyses of big data sets: health registries, cohort studies, health insurance data, electronic health records. PRECISE4Q will have a clinically measurable and sustainable impact leading to better understanding of risk, health and resilience factors. In contrast to current schematic therapy guidelines, it will support patients throughout their life-long journey by personalised strategies for their specific needs.

Driven by the ratification of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2008, the European Commission and national governments are planning for guidance and legislative actions to follow up. The goal of the UNCRPD is an inclusive society in which persons with disabilities have equal rights and equal access to education, built environment and information and communication technology (ICT). However, there is a great lack of knowledge and expertise on accessible design of professionals in the ICT domain across Europe. Therefore, one of the recommendations of G3ict's CRPD 2013 ICT Accessibility Progress Report is to build capacity, e.g. through training programs for future professionals about digital access for Persons with disabilities. The purpose of the MOOC Accessibility Partnership (MOOCAP) was to implement a sustainable strategic partnership between European universities that excel in both teaching accessible design in ICT and providing an inclusive learning environment to students with disabilities. From Sep 2014 until Aug 2017, the following 9 European universities worked as partners in MOOCAP:- Stuttgart Media University (HDM)- Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU)- Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis (UP8)- Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)- University of Southampton (UoS)- University of the Aegean (UAEGEAN)- University of York (UoY) - only until May 2015- Technische Universität Dresden (TUD)- Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA)MOOCAP has designed and implemented a “joint curriculum framework on accessible design in ICT”, by means of open online courses (including MOOCs) directed to the registered students of the partnering universities, as well as to professionals in the field in the form of vocational and educational training. The project has caused a new accessibility capacity to be built in Europe as a joint effort of European universities. By the end of MOOCAP, this capacity building is still going on as a sustainable effort by means of a diverse set of publicly available online courses on digital accessibility, maintained by the project partners. As a result, the following public online courses are now publicly available (see also appendix C):- Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society (joint MOOC on FutureLearn)- Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments (MOOC on FutureLearn by UoS)- Design Innovation - Inclusive Approaches (MOOC on Open eClass by the UAEGEAN)- Accessible Mobile Apps (public online course on Moodle by JKU & UP8)- Accessible Web (public online course on Moodle by TUD & JKU)- User-Centered Design for Accessibility (MOOC on Canvas by HiOA)- User Interface Personalisation (MOOC on edX by HDM)- Assistive Technologies (public online course on Moodle by UP8 & JKU)- Intellectual Disability and Inclusion (MOOC by CourseSites/BlackBoard by DIT)- Accessible Documents (public online course on Moodle by TUD)- Accessible Gamification (MOOC on edX by HDM)In addition to these courses, MOOCAP has brought about the following results:- The contents of all courses (texts, images, videos, quizzes) are available publicly as Open Educational Resources under the CC-BY 4.0 license through the MOOCAP website (see http://gpii.eu/moocap/?page_id=839). Some OERs have already been picked up by the project partners in the pursue of other projects and initiatives.- A sustainable and ongoing network of European higher education institutions devoted to accessible online teaching on a broad range of topics on digital accessibility (see appendix A).- Insights into the actual educational needs of professionals in the field, with regard to accessible design in ICT (see public deliverables O5+O10).- Experience and knowledge on new online teaching methods for internal teaching and vocational training (see public deliverables O5+O10).- A roadmap for a common certification scheme for the MOOCAP courses and other courses on digital accessibility (see public deliverable O11).- 9 Multiplier Events, and numerous other dissemination events (see appendices A+B)- 6 publications in journals and on conferences, and over 20 presentations at various events (see appendix A)During its 3-year lifetime, the MOOCA partnership has been recognized widely as the first MOOC network on digital accessibility in Europe. Dissemination activities have taken place at national and international levels, even beyond Europe. Many informal dissemination networking activities are still ongoing, even beyond the project’s lifetime. Among them, the inventory of OERs will be available to the public for years to come through the MOOCAP website. We will only see the project’s real impact some years from now.

"Сontext/background of the project:The background of this project originally derived from a strong and current working relationship between two members of staff, Dr. Luca Longo at Dublin Institute of Technology and Dr. Manuel Mazzarra at Innopolis University which has led to the School of Computer Science in DIT and IU working together since March 2016. Both DIT and IU set the following objectives of the project: - Develop a curriculum mapping exercise/workshop between DIT and IU's undergraduate and postgraduate degrees to determine appropriate pathways for future student exchanges. - Conduct a mapping exercise between Irish and Russian Federation computer science curriculum. - Carrying out a number of workshops on pedagogical approaches/teaching methods. - Running research workshops to determine common areas for collaborative research, joint PhD supervision, and postgraduate mobility. - Explore the development of a ""Joint Research Lab"" which to leverage EU and Russian Federation funding. - Administering workshop on industry engagement approaches (How we work with ICT industry).Number and type/profile of participants:Allocated staff mobilities were also exhausted with a total of 8 mobilities taking place (3 incoming and 5 outgoing) and involved both academic and administrative staff from different seniority levels across various units.Description of undertaken activities: - Delivering a public lecture to staff and students in the host institution - Organising teaching material and real-world case studies for internationalised computer science curriculum - Organising workshops on the objectives (e.g. curriculum comparison, student development/affairs etc). - Participating in industry engagement activities (e.g. visits to major companies such as Huawei in Dublin and IU) - Meeting with researchers in related areas, delivering research seminars etc. - Joint publications.Results and impact: - The project helped to extend ties between the largest Schools of Computer Science in Ireland and one of the main IT Hubs in Russia. - IU staff were able to learn new teaching techniques and workload approaches. - Staff at Innopolis University and other Russian universities were able to improve their knowledge and understanding on the student development/affairs sphere, which will have an influence and impact on thousands of Russian students. - Staff were able to experience teaching in different cultures and compare didactic methods and student performance across the globe. - Students, staff and faculty members were able to benefit from joint research activities between DIT/IU and the seminars done by DIT at Innopolis University - DIT and IU selected students and academic areas (AI, software engineering, robotics) for further joint supervision and research."

Population ageing in Europe will continue with accelerating pace in the next decades. This trend requires societal adaptations regarding education and training, work, family life and social protection. One such adaption is intergenerational learning (IGL), which brings people from different generations together, to share activities, learn and understand each other better. Together Old and Young Project or TOY (www.toyproject.net) (2012-2014) was unique amongst European IGL projects with its focus on including children in the early childhood years (0-10 years) in IGL activities with older adults (65 +). TOY research and pilot actions demonstrated that intergenerational facilitators are crucial to the success of intergenerational projects and initiatives. However, to date IGL involving the youngest and oldest members of our society is not a strategy or approach or formally recognized and validated in adult education, nor in pre-service and continuing professional development (CPD) of professionals working with these age groups. Neither is this kind of IGL recognized in the field of Lifelong Learning. The objectives of the TOY-PLUS project are to develop, test and disseminate an innovative online curriculum and methodology in IG work for practitioners in early childhood education and care (ECEC), social care and community work. Specific modules in the curriculum will focus on including newly arrived and resident migrants and Roma in IG practice, as a means of fostering intercultural dialogue, participation and social inclusion. We also will develop and test an IG certificate of quality (TOY Quality Stamp) with agreed standards for local authorities and educational institutions. TOY-PLUS will forge a cross-sectoral and a community approach stimulating collaborations across the fields of adult education and training, health, community development, ECEC and care for older people.Participants in TOY-PLUS will be ECEC and Social Care practitioners and community development workers from 5 countries: Italy, Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and the UK. They will participate in a multi-faceted training and education experience which will incorporate workshops, international training involving study visits, joint reflection and exchange of good practice in IGL, piloting of a massive open online course (MOOC) and creating a peer learning community for IGL. At the end of the project the TOY-PLUS MOOC will be publicly available on open online learning platforms. Other participants in TOY-PLUS will be staff of local authorities and ECEC, and Social Care services, young children (0-10 years) and older adults (65 years +) all of whom will participate in the development and testing of a TOY Quality Stamp. The TOY Quality Stamp will be awarded to local authorities and service providers meeting the quality standards in IGL. The impact of TOY-PLUS will be that ECEC and Social Care practitioners will develop skills and competences to deliver successful IGL activities involving young children and older adults, paying particular attention to social integration and intercultural dialogue. IGL will be a powerful tool to foster inclusion of migrant and Roma children and older adults. The TOY-PLUS MOOC, designed to reach hundreds of practitioners internationally from 2018, will result in increased skills to develop, manage, deliver and monitor IGL practices Europe- and even world-wide. The TOY Quality Stamp process combined with the TOY-PLUS training will result in improved quality of IGL practice. Finally, researchers and trainers in partner organisations will become experts in designing and implementing accessible and flexible training curricula for practitioners in IGL. They will also be competent in developing content for digitalization in massive open online courses. We also expect synergies and cooperation between the partner organisations with respect to cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary adult online education in general, and in IGL in particular.