Summary
The foundations for Futures Project engaged 941 people across 5 European countries over a period of approximately 18 months.The project had 3 main objectives namely the developments of a cross sectoral online and physical platform focused on European citizen participation and policy engagement, a suite of tools and resources to engage citizens in discussion and debate on Europe and the development of an online open research space on European social, economic, environmental themes. Each partner was responsible for an individual event (work programme) and there were an additional 3 joint events including an opening symposium, mid project seminar and closing conference. As the project was launched during the Covid 19 pandemic the launch and preparatory activities took place online. Individual partner themes were as follows: FFUNS - European identity, cultures of Europe, role of university in a society, digital inequalities and European public sphere, social enterprise, cultural participation of marginalised groups. HAN - Participative Democracy events on designing the social Europe of the future, workshops on migration, a participation toolkit and communications work. URKRAFT - Seminars, workshops, roundtable discussion about Europe and focusing on disabilities, migration and migrants and asylum seekers experience. European symposium with partners focused on educational and employment challenges in Sweden - green economy, social enterprise, digital capacity and disaffected learners. EAPN IE - Capacity building with people from marginalised communities. A series of workshops focused on the understanding of the EU and its relevance to communities. UP - Series of workshops, internal university and external community engaged events focusing on European identity, active citizenship, employment in future Europe. MU - Open learning programmes based in libraries working with marginalised communities under the theme of "Europe's Future". Seminars, discussion groups with local and community development organisations. The opening FFE conference included contributions on equality and diversity in European education, Climate change and the future of Europe, The European Social Charter along with participant workshops across 6 themes relating to European policy. (Disability, Employment, Climate, Poverty, Migration, Nationalism and Cohesion) The closing Conference included interactive workshops using digital tools for the engagement of citizens in discussions on Europe, contribution on the current challenges for Europe focused on the energy crisis and war in Ukraine and participative workshops on the themes of public health and citizen wellbeing, sustainable environmental practice and climate justice, poverty and inequality, digital futures and employment. Through its public events and activities the project also had impact on the wider community including students and academic staff and the wider community (approx. 1177 indirect participants)With the closing of the final event in October 2022 the project has now established a fully operational online platform and built a strong network . The project has been particularly successful in strengthening connections with local European bodies, schools and universities, arts and cultural groups and local development organizations including new Erasmus partnerships. Partners have continued to build on the digital and physical tools and resources created during the events and have taken responsibility to manage the FFE website and associated social media channels going forward. The members are currently co-authoring a number of blogs and short papers, which will form the basis for the further development of the cross sectoral open research space during the next phase of the project's work.
