This (secondary) school-based project seeks to create a multi-player ‘serious’ game to educate and train the next generation of responsibly enabled consumers. This will enhance the social and civic competences of those between the ages of 12-14, helping them better understand the consequences of their actions, both for themselves, their local and national communities, and examine the influence consumers have internationally.Gameplay will enable pupils/players to investigate how their individual and collective behaviours affect issues such as plastic pollution, by engaging in clearly visible and easy to discern behaviours. This includes, for instance, making choices around the purchases of products with different forms of packaging. It will also encourage them to evaluate the outcomes of more subtle choices, such as the purchase of clothing with different fibre compositions and their choice of laundry routine. These actions will then have spill-over effects and inter-relationships with social and trade issues. For example, the movement of waste to be recycled, the development of fast-fashion manufacturing cycles, and the movement of goods and money across the globe to support consumers requirements for product choice and variety.The action of making game-based consumption choices also offers opportunities to help pupils/players comprehend data privacy and security issues, as well as modelling the potential for the accumulation of debt and material goods. This then develops player knowledge surrounding issues that will affect them personally, both in the short and long-term, but again have social and economic consequences.The application of serious games also provides a learning environment that is familiar to many of those between the ages of 12-14 and offers both complex and simple game mechanics to be deployed - for instance, the accumulation of points and the creation of league tables. These league tables can initially be attached to the individual player, but also aggregated to offer opportunities to play at the level of the ‘group’ - including classes, schools, extra-curricular clubs etc. These can then also be developed to provide regional or national positions, and the tracking of the influence of multiple individual decisions to these aggregated outcomes offers a powerful learning opportunity to explore how personal choices shape wider social and planetary outcomes - mirroring metrics such as the Consumer and Consumption Footprint (EU, 2019).Outputs:- Serious game: RESPECT - two key focuses: i) Planet, Society and Trade; ii) Privacy, Security and Technology.The game will offer a multi-player experience that engages with different inter-related and connected consumption choices - for instance, food, fashion and personal transport, to engage with social and planetary issues. It will also enable interaction and choices to be made that have consequences for privacy and security - particularly in increasingly digital consumption environments.- Online interactive learning materials to support and explore issues raised by the game - acting as a resource for pupils/players and teachers etc.- Training materials to support teachers on how to implement the serious game in schools/classes.- Case study materials.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

European crop production is to remain competitive while reducing environmental impacts, requiring development and uptake of effective soil improving cropping systems. The overall aim of SOILCARE is to identify and evaluate promising soil-improving cropping systems and agronomic techniques increasing profitability and sustainability across scales in Europe. A trans-disciplinary approach will be used to evaluate benefits and drawbacks of a new generation of soil improving cropping systems, incorporating all relevant bio-physical, socio-economic and political aspects. Existing information from literature and long term experiments will be analysed to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing performance of cropping systems at multiple levels. A multi-actor approach will be used to select promising soil-improving cropping systems for scientific evaluation in 16 study sites across Europe covering different pedo-climatic and socio-economic conditions. Implemented cropping systems will be monitored with stakeholder involvement, and will be assessed jointly with scientists. Specific attention will be paid to adoption of soil-improving cropping systems and agronomic techniques within and beyond the study sites. Results from study sites will be up-scaled to the European level to draw general lessons about applicability potentials of soil-improving cropping systems and related profitability and sustainability impacts, including assessing barriers for adoption at that scale. An interactive tool will be developed for end-users to identify and prioritize suitable soil-improving cropping systems anywhere in Europe. Current policies and incentives will be assessed and targeted policy recommendations will be provided. SOILCARE will take an active dissemination approach to achieve impact from local to European level, addressing multiple audiences, to enhance crop production in Europe to remain competitive and sustainable through dedicated soil care.

“True youth engagement requires a fundamental shift. Young people must have an authentic voice in the design, development and day-to-day functions of activities. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this shift from adult-directed to youth-owned.”“Engaging youth in community decision-making”Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington DC, 2007Young EuropeansCountering increasing disinterest among the young generations in politics, democracy and European values through the creation of innovative ways of fostering early politics interest and engagement in school - based on an open schooling approachMISSIONYoung Europeans will, through innovative work methods, address the urgent challenge of young Europeans’ increasing disengagement in politics. The project asks: how can open schooling in secondary schools contribute to engaging young people in politics, democracy and European values? Co-driven by young students themselves, the project will create innovative open schooling guidelines to secondary schools on how to organise engagement in political initiatives.A SCHOOL PROJECTDespite a longstanding commitment to citizenship education in secondary schools, this has not resulted in the widespread political engagement of young people. It is understandable that those working in the formal education sector will have some reticence about using the term ‘political’ so we must be clear that this is not an issue of party politics but it is in line with European Commission calls for systematic initiatives to re-engage young people in politics based on their own understanding and their own voices.The only context in which young people can be systematically re-engaged in politics is in school. Few young people are engaged in non-formal youth activities that address various forms of politics. Engagement in politics and global challenges should take place as early as possible, and certainly in secondary school, as these are the years in which young people form their identity – and can also develop a resistance to traditional politics.Young Europeans is consequently not a non-formal Youth project but a school project, engaging young students systematically in politics.CHALLENGETo tackle this challenge, the traditional understanding of politics, democracy and European values must be fundamentally questioned and deconstructed (as strongly recommended by state of the art critical research). The young students themselves must be allowed to take the scene and co-create what politics, democracy and European values mean in their world and how schools can provide the necessary space for such youth-driven innovation.RATIONALEYoung Europeans will invite secondary students to co-create attractive and practically useful guidance to secondary schools on how to prevent disinterest, and foster engagement in politics, democracy and EU values.The guidance will be developed through real-life and real-time open schooling and will therefore be based on practical experience, not on theoretical assumptions.METHODOLOGICAL There are 3 fundamental conditions for preventing disinterest and fostering engagement in politics in education in general:1. DIDACTIC METHODOLOGYTraditional didactics in secondary school must be supplemented with innovative open schooling approaches to generate interest and engagement.2. CO-CREATION METHODOLOGYThe potential issues or areas of interest that can foster a motivation for learning and political engagement, must be identified by the young students themselves and the means by which political engagement is developed will also be co-created by them.3. SUBJECTIVE ENGAGEMENT METHODOLOGY21st century youth is characterised by a number of subjective engagement conditions and criteria (e.g. immediacy, online presence, emotional engagement), often different from earlier generations; if those engagement criteria are not met, they will not engage.WORK PROGRAMME OVERVIEW Phase 1: CAPACITY - 3 monthsPhase 2: DECONSTRUCTION - 3 monthsPhase 3:A: OPEN SCHOOLING / COMMUNITY - 4 months+B: OPEN SCHOOLING / VIRTUAL - 4 months+Phase 4: CONSTRUCTION - 4 monthsPhase 5: CONSTRUCTION+ - 2 monthsPhase 6: PRODUCING & SHARING - 4 monthsOUTCOMESIO1 The Ngager! (working title)The radical school guide to engagement of young students in politics and democracy, including virtual scenariosIO2 Why they (should) disengage?Study of the reasons for the lack of interest in politics and democracy among young peopleIO3 The Ngager! The videoStudent teams explain their engagement in the politics detectives missions and how they, during the project, developed an alternative understanding of and language for politics, democracy and EU values.IO4 Stiffened and cracked Europe (working title) – policy paperA reflection, based on project activities, on why Europe and the European Project are losing young people’s interest.

Global levels of financial literacy vary and are negatively associated with the main element of inclusion and growth such as poverty, inequality, social exclusion and social mobility. In Europe, objective measures of financial literacy have reported above average achievements in countries such as Sweden and Denmark and below average levels in some countries such as Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Portugal. Financial institutions and the products they create are becoming complex whilst individuals are increasingly required to make personal financial decisions, which affect their quality of life over an increasing length of life. Financial illiteracy is highlighted among young people and initiatives to provide financial literacy have been promoted by the OECD, EU, national governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. However, the provision of financial literacy for young people has primarily focused on children of secondary school age (11 years and above). A comprehensive solution to the problem of financial illiteracy in Europe calls for the need to commence learning this essential skill earlier in childhood. Lack of age-appropriate teaching and learning resources makes it difficult for teachers who are often not subject specialists to provide the right quality of financial literacy. The ProFiLE project brings together eight partners located in four European countries (UK, Hungary, Croatia and Italy) which have obtained below average scores in recent financial literacy surveys (OECD/INFE & PISA 2015). In each country a HEI/NGO partner will work with a school partner. Project outputs will strengthen the provision of financial literacy in the participating countries and beyond through the development of age appropriate learning outcomes in financial literacy, teaching materials, learning tools, integrating toolkits and an academic publication on financial literacy for pupils in the target age group (7-11 years). Each of these outputs will target providing support to educators in formal and non-formal learning institutions on how to begin and/or sustain effective financial literacy programmes. Direct beneficiaries will be teachers in schools and home schooling set-ups, parents, learning support staff in schools, clubs, societies and other institutions supporting learning. Such individuals and institutions have struggled with the development of appropriate resources as financial products and institutions require specialist technical knowledge to understand. The outputs will be translated into four languages (English, Hungarian, Croatian and Italian). Mainstreaming and multiplier events, a project website and media outlets will be used to disseminate the learning outcomes, learning materials, learning tools, integration toolkits and research findings. Using these resources, it is anticipated that educators will be able to confidently support 7-11 year-old learners in gaining requisite financial concepts and skills. With lifelong skills in financial literacy, these children will transition into later stages of their life equipped to become competent financial decision makers. The project will contribute to finding a solution to the problem of unequal access to financial literacy.