"The Sustainable Use of Pesticides Training (SUPTraining) project aimed at developing and demonstrating an innovative e-learning platform to train professional users, advisors and distributors of plant protection products (PPPs) to a sustainable use of it in the framework of the 2009/128/EC Directive.According to the European Commission (Regulation n°1107/2009, art. 6), the use of PPPs is ""one of the most important ways of protecting plants and plant products against harmful organisms, including weeds, and of improving agri­cultural production"". However these products could have negative impacts on environment, users and consumers if not used correctly.In this context, the EC has adopted a Directive (2009/128/EC) to ensure that every professional user, distributor and advisor has access to an appropriate training after which they can be certificated.The issue of Vocational Education Training (VET) is always complex and the needs and expectations of professional workers may vary a lot depending on their profiles and local contexts. That's why different complementary training supports have to be created to train the largest audience to sustainable use of pesticides. The main objective of the SUPTraining project was to develop an innovative training support for a sustainable use of pesticides in accordance with the Directive requirements. Partners collaborated to create an e-learning platform in 3 languages (English, French and Italian) adapted to National regulations. This training material is completed with an attestation tool that allows any users to validate their knowledge. The project aimed also to close the gap between VET system and professional world by developing a platform adapted to the real needs of practitioners. To reach its objectives, SUPTraining project gathered 5 partners from 3 EU MS (France, Italy and Bulgaria). The project was coordinated by Bayer CropScience (BCS). As European leader regarding crop protection BCS has specific skills and expertise regarding the safe and sustainable use of pesticides and training notably. Because of its international reputation, BCS was and will be able to widely promote the SUPTraining tool all over Europe. BCS benefited from the collaboration of training centres in France (SEPCO) and in Italy (CESAF) to develop the training content. An Italian research centre, UCSC, brought its support for the co-creation of training content and brought some concrete examples of best practices in order to raise the interest of professional workers. Finally, an experimented consultancy company (Europroject, Bulgaria) supported partners in the administrative and financial management of the project. This company was also responsible for the IT development of the platform.To reach the project objectives, partners have implemented a precise methodology that will be replicable by any interested organisations. First, training centres defined the methodological and pedagogic approaches. UCSC participated in this activity by closing the gap between the training and the users needs previously identified in a European project. Then training centres developed a basic training content in English, adapted to European standards and transfered it in Italian and French contexts and languages. The training is adapted to the different kind of targeted stakeholders and fit the requirements of the Directive. The platform has been evaluated at different levels before the official launching of the SUPTraining e-learning tool.Then an experimentation phase took place, where training centres involved end users and monitored their progress and results.The SUPTraining project has resulted in the development of several products that will have an important short term impact:- An innovative methodology for training the targeted audience to the Directive.- An e-learning platform containing 3 versions of the training in English, French and Italian including an attestation test.- At least 300 actors will be trained to the Directive.- An important number of European stakeholders will be informed.Partners want to provide to the 28 EU MS a suitable and relevant tool to help them to implement the Directive 2009/128/EC. The SUPTraining methodology and platform will be easily transferable to any European contexts and should, in that way, improve the level of knowledge of European agricultural practitioners. In that way, the SUPTraining project will participate, in long term perspective, in the development of a sustainable agriculture. By disseminating practices for a better use of PPPs, SUPTraining project will result in an improvement of both the quality of our environment and public heath."

Traditional models of agriculture are facing ruthless competition from modern industrial agriculture. The price war and the many intermediaries along the food supply chains are squeezing the margins of small producers and have a strong impact on the environment. This, together with a growing mistrust of European citizens for processed food products and the development of particular concern for the environment, is leading more and more consumers to turn to local producers to supply themselves with fresh, quality food products. These alternative short food chain models have shown strong promise to increase the revenue and place of the farmers in society, but their uptake remain marginal and often limited to small initiatives. One of the main reason behind this lackluster adoption is that the EU producers already in activity often have limited training in logistics and customer relations but also limited time available for education. They have neither the up-to-date knowledge nor the tools to set up, maintain and develop sustainable short food chain models. The FOOD IMPROV'IDERS project thus aims to bring these tools and knowledge to farmers through fit for purpose educational content and adapted learning methodology.The objectives of FOOD IMPROV’IDERS are thus to:1- Investigate innovative food supply chain best practices to rebalance the producers’ position in the food chain and enhance consumers’ satisfaction.2- Design, develop and test learning materials conducive to the integration of producers in fairer food chain models and improved understanding of consumers’ needs and expectations3- Develop a tailored e-learning platform and adapted pedagogical content for wider dissemination amongst stakeholders.4- Promote the content developed to stimulate uptake by producers of innovative food chain models. To achieve these objectives, the project will adopt a producer-centric approach by keeping in mind the needs and requirements of producers in term of knowledge and training preferences. FOOD IMPROV'IDERS will study innovative food chain models that result in a fairer position for producers and develop fit-for-purpose educational material identifying the determinants and key levers behind successful practices to facilitate the replication of fairer food chain models (WP1). Develop an e-learning platform tailored by the needs and feedback of the target audience and adapt the educational content developed for online self-learning (WP2). The developed pedagogical content on short food chains will be implemented and refined during blended-learning training sessions in the second and third year of the project training 360-480 EU producers (WP3, WP4). The project will ensure a wider uptake of the project results via a strong communication and dissemination strategy (WP5) supported by efficient project management (WP6).The expected impacts of FOOD IMPROV'IDERS are:1-Increased knowledge and pedagogical resources available to support producers in the development of innovative foods chains models 2-Involvement of trained producers in SFSC models providing them with higher revenue and enhanced customers’ satisfaction.3-Wider dissemination and uptake of knowledge in EU farming communities via tailored content on an e-learning platform.4-Support for the future CAP key pillars.

Today, the question of renewable energy should permeate all types and sizes of organizations and more specifically emerging structures that are composed of dynamic and engaged team members. At the same time, the progress in terms of developing the use of renewable energy depends on the possibility to formulate a vast scope of questions, objectives, and business answers. This only can take place in an agenda that fully integrate all the potentials of the EU entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore, this project aims at promoting a dynamic interdisciplinary perspective that articulates the corporate, scientific, and pedagogical skills and knowledge that characterize the two fields of renewable energy and entrepreneurship.EntRENEW project brings together 5 leading universities and 1 technical company from 6 EU MSs to achieve the following specific objectives:SO 1: FACILITATE THE EXCHANGE , FLOW AND CO-CREATION OF NEW KNOWLEDGE -Bringing together partners from top EU universities in the field of innovative and sustainable entrepreneurship and energy studies in order to create a trans-disciplinary innovative content tailored to deepen the technical knowledge of students with business background and strengthen the entrepreneurial mindset and skills of students from engineering majors.SO 2: ENABLING PROFESSORS TO TEACH TRANS-DISCIPLINARY STUDIES THROUGH INNOVATIVE METHODS AND IT TOOLS-Develop a new teaching course content on Entrepreneurship in renewable energy (ERE) being interdisciplinary and cross sectoral topic fostering direct link of HE to innovation and business world-Develop an Innovating Teaching Methodology through Blended Learning, Trans-Disciplinary Approach to content design and Applying the Principles of GamificationSO 3: STIMULATE SYNERGIES BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT EUROPE-Improve future integration to the labour market;-Stimulate self-employment prospects of MA graduates by granting them training and access to networks for business purposes in Europe (startup hubs in climate change and entrepreneurship);-Increase of entrepreneurship initiatives in Europe in the field of Renewable energyThe project will last 36 months and will be divided in 6 WP, 5 Intellectual outpus (IOs), management and implementation activities and 5 national multiplier events with prominent international guests and short demo sessions. The EntRENEW methodology aims at i) specifying the blended-learning pedagogical approach (WP1 – IO1), ii) developing training contents for the EntRENEW course (WP2 – IO2), iii) developing the technical platform and implementing these contents on innovative LMS designed for the needs of EntRENEW project (WP3 – O3), and iv) testing the blended-learning course with students, optimisation and integration in the MA programmes of consortium HEIs (WP4 – O4). The final result from EntRENEW project is the development of a trans-disciplinary HE blended-learning course at the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology (smart, sustainable and renewable energy applied studies) addressing students enrolled in MA programmes in both business schools, engineering and design schools and joint study programmes and potentially being replicated in other educational contexts. The long-term impact will be to create a new generation of decision makers who will explore concrete entrepreneurial solutions in support of EU countries facing the important challenge of maintaining their social and economic performance and being more eco-responsible, especially in terms of energy.

<< Background >>Differentiated patterns between civic participation and service-learning engagement with HE students have been observed among EU member states. Yet, increase in citizenship competences among HE students has multiple benefits including better critical thinking, social skills and appreciation of diversity (Randolph, 2019). EC’s Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education (2017) also outlines community and civic engagement as a mechanism via which European universities can strengthen and promote their societal purposes – they can integrate those issue within their curriculum, build links with and involve the local community and NGOs. This is what the Map4Accessibility project addresses via its Service-Learning approach. On another side, one in six people in the EU, or 80 million, have a “long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment…” (EC, 2019). At the tertiary level 36% of persons aged 30-34 have completed tertiary or equivalent education with the rate among people with disabilities being 27% with the number of people with disabilities being comparatively small in countries such as Bulgaria (EU-SILC Survey, EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). The Map4Accessibility project gathers 7 partners from 5 different EU Member States (Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Bulgaria) having complementary profiles allowing them to have the ideal competence-based mix to design and implement a truly impactful collaborative project. Jointly, they have identified three urgent needs in the European Union and its higher education sector: -Low levels of civic engagement among HEI students, -Low awareness and the need for better understanding and empowerment of students to co-create solution for inclusivity and accessibility through service-learning approaches, -The need to create more socially inclusive and accessible HEIs and EU cities by improving their accessibility and inclusivity policies and practices.<< Objectives >>By blending social inclusion, disability accessibility, civic engagement and ICT-enabled solutions the idea for the Map4Accessibility project was born. The main objective of the project is to civically engage HEI students through service-learning, ECTS recognised activities in the co-creation of a pan-European PWA highlighting both digital and physical accessibility at the urban level. The project’s specific objectives include: oTo promote and increase Service-Learning, community engagement and strengthen civic skills among HEI students by offering ECST credits for students’ involvement in the project S-L activities, oTo gather and share best practices and expertise on digital and physical accessibility for HEIs and cities at large, oTo design a Pan-European accessibility mapping tool built based on an existing mobile application which enables people with disabilities to be better informed on the accessibility of public spaces and be able to influence both HEIs and a variety of institutions for an improvement in accessibility levels, oTo promote the inclusive education agenda – including but not limited to HEIs.<< Implementation >>The project is defined in five work packages distributed in terms of leadership and participation on a competence basis, each led by a WP leader. Each WP is then separate into different tasks, each task led by a different task leader. As the consortium gathers both educational entities, NGO community organisation and SMEs they will collaborate for the design and development of the service-learning community tools, the mapping app, the accessibility-related PRs: HEIs will bring their student cohorts and expert knowledge, methodology and will elaborate the pedagogy to be utilised, NGO community organisations will provide the tools and the networks, while SMEs will provide practical experience for web design and development and project management. The work package and tasks, including the leads, have been elaborated below: WP1: MULTI-STAKEHOLDER CO-DESIGN PROCESS – LEAD – UNITUST1.1. Benchmarking: Service-Learning Practices and Accessibility Mapping – lead - UNITUST1.2. Partners’ internal feedback: Analysis of needs and requirements – lead – UNITUS T1.3. Multi-stakeholder external feedback – lead – ARFIET1.4. Service-Learning Pedagogical Approach and Community Mapping Methodology – lead – UNITUSWP2: ITERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PHASE – LEAD – AST2.1. Technical Specifications and User Interface Design – lead – AST2.2. Content Development Integration – lead – EPT2.3. Initial testing and first release – lead – AST2.4. Testing analysis, content integration and final release (PR3) – lead – AST2.5. Guide on Digital Accessibility for HEIs (PR2) - lead - EPWP3: Local civic engagement – HEI Case Studies – lead – UNICTT3.1. Exploratory Walks and Participatory Community HEI Student Training – lead - UNITUST3.2. Local Case Study in Catania, Italy – lead – UNICT T3.3. Local Case Study in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria – lead – SWU T3.4. Local Case Study in Berlin, Germany – lead – ESCPT3.5. Local Case Study in Lisbon, Portugal – lead – AST3.6. Applications of Service-Learning Handbook: an Innovative Pedagogical Approach to engage students and teachers for accessibility and inclusivity – lead - SWUWP4: Stakeholder engagement, book release and replicability – lead – ARFIE T4.1. Creation of a sharing and promotion plan and project website – EP T4.2. Map4A11y Local Workshop Sessions – ARFIE T4.3. Local Mapping Projects – Mapping Party – lead – SWUT4.4. Stakeholder engagement, networking, and replicability – lead – ARFIE T4.5. Final “Towards Accessibility4All” conference – lead – UNITUS T4.6. Open Access Map4Accessibility book – Co-design for Accessible Institutions and Cities – lead – UNICT WP5: Project Management – lead – UNITUS T5.1. Reporting and communication with INDIRA, the Italian National Erasmus+ Agency – lead – UNITUS T5.2. Quality Plan and Monitoring – lead – EP T5.3. Internal Project Management and management tools – lead – UNITUS Refer to Annex I. Work Plan for an in-depth overview of activities.<< Results >>In NUMERICAL TERMS via the project the following results will be achieved: o4 Universities in 4 countries (Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal) and their student organisations will be engaged in at least 20 distinct organised ECTS recognised Service-Learning Community Mapping Activities (exploratory walks, urban mapping walks, mapping parties) engaging 380 students or other stakeholders, o12 Multiplier events would be organised engaging more than 473 stakeholders, o181 HEI students or stakeholders with disabilities to be direct participants in the project activities, oMore than 2500 stakeholders will be made aware of the project and its results. o5 Project Results will be released as described below. All of them will be open access and available on the project’s website and distributed via own and partners’ networks. PR1: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE-LEARNING AND COMMUNITY MAPPING METHODOLOGYThe methodology will outline the service learning and community mapping methodology to be applied within the project. It will include the service-learning pedagogical approach to be applied within the project, an overview and application of community mapping practices with a specific emphasis on exploratory and urban walks as co-design community mapping methods, outline the gaps in current accessibility mapping tools, needs and requirements as regards both physical and digital accessibility and provide a facilitation guide on how to apply the methodology. PR2: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE ON INCLUSIVE DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITYBased on project partner’s experience in web and app accessibility an open access guide on web accessibility will be designed. Theoretical knowledge and practical tools will be provided to designers and developers both within and outside academic institutions enabling them to create a more accessible digital environment within campuses. A short visually attractive graphical reference guide will be included as part of the guide and available as a separate download.PR3: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY MAPPING WEBSITE AND PROGRESSIVE WEB APP (PWA)Based on the app +Acesso para Todos, an accessibility mapping website and app will be adapted, co-designed and co-developed through service-learning activities with HEI students. The mapping tools, embedding Universal Design Principles, will aim to provide accessibility information at the city level. PR4: APPLICATIONS OF SERVICE-LEARNING HANDBOOK: AN INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FOR ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITYWithin the project a best practice guide on how to implement ECTS recognised service learning as a pedagogical methodology in educational institutions (not limited to HEIs) will be compiled. It will focus on ways to engage students in real-life, community-based and community needs-driven projects in addition to theoretical knowledge gained within their academic degrees. The handbook will have as a focus disability and inclusivity service-learning experiences for students. PR5: OPEN ACCESS BOOK – MAP4ACCESSIBILITY – CO-DESIGN FOR ACCESSIBLE INSTITUTIONS AND CITIESThe final project result will be a digital open-access book including aspect related to: -identification of legally binding accessibility standards for buildings and within the city, -proposal of accessibility standards in the built environment which go beyond the legal norms, -proposal for urban planning on how to make key urban features more accessible, -best practices for digital accessibility. A key aspect in the book preparation will be given to the development of original infographic to make the book content easily accessible to all targeted groups. Distilled recommendations aimed at different target groups will also be available as a one-page printout which will be distributed via multiplier events.

The ColdSpark project will validate a novel non-thermal plasma technology to produce hydrogen at an industrial scale from methane, with a process energy efficiency of 79%, achieving a conversion rate of 85% with zero CO2 emissions. This will be achieved by designing an industrial relevant reactor that leverages the best features of the non-thermal plasma technologies, gliding arc and corona discharge, to ensure high efficiency and scalability. The innovation addresses for the first time the critical step of matching the reactor with a pulsed power supply. It enables a perfect fine-tuning of the cracking process parameters, to find the right electron density and energy distribution in the plasma reactor, to maximise energy efficiency. The up- and downstream gas management will be optimised to further contribute to the system’s compatibility to existing infrastructure. The project will develop and test a novel plasma reactor at lab scale and validate it in conjunction with the power supply at large-scale, pursuing the industry’s most power efficient generation of hydrogen alongside high-value carbon. The technology will assess its application for both, natural gas and biomethane producers. A low energy cost (< 15 kWh/kg H2 produced) without the need for catalysts and water, makes the proposed solution the most cost-competitive, environment-friendly, and less complex to implement. The reactor design and modularity bring lower CAPEX and OPEX and make it easily scalable and flexible. The project gathers the expertise of a mix of academic, research, and industrial partners from five countries, which bring both outstanding research and topic competence, as well as knowledge and access to the solution for end-user industries.