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Description:
RISE (Engaged Research in the Social Economy) aims to build the skills of social economy organisations to partner in projects with research institutes. This will enable more engaged research, a practice that creates more socially impactful projects through collaboration between researchers and communities.
Partners:
Diesis Network, The Wheel, ECSA, Science for Change
Partners:
European Citizen Science Association (ECSA)Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)Fondazione Centro Internazionale in Monitoraggio Ambientale (CIMA)ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH (ICLEI Europasekretariat GmbH) (ICLEI)Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE) Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE)Internationales Institut für Angewandte Systemanalyse (IIASA)Stiftelsen The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI HQ), Athens Technology Center (ATC),Université de Genève (UNIGE),Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford Office Ltd. (SEI Oxford),CMCC Euro-Mediterrenean Centre on Climate Change,Fundación Ibercivis (IBE),Stockholm Environment Institute, Tallinn Centre (SEI Tallinn)
Adaptation AGORA supported the objectives of the Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change by leveraging and step forwarding best-practices, innovative approaches, policy instruments and governance mechanisms to meaningfully and effectively engage communities and regions in climate actions, accelerating and upscaling adaptation process for building a climate resilient Europe.
Partners:
CEDRA (Croatia), Bosnia & Hercegovina CDP Globus & LDA Prozor Rama (Bosnia & Hercegovina), Centre for Vocational Education (Serbia), Association for Democratic Prosperity – ADP Zid (Montenegro), Diesis (Belgium) and The Hub Nicosia (Cyprus)
Description:
BC4ESE, or Building capacities for innovation in the eco-social entrepreneurship education, is a transnational project that strengthens eco-social entrepreneurship by combining research, participatory analysis, and co-creation with young people, educators, and community organisations. Through needs assessments, mapping of obstacles and good practices, collaborative workshops, and co-designed learning materials, the project generates shared knowledge about eco-social enterprise development while simultaneously building the capacities of those involved. Its approach blends applied research with hands-on educational activities, ensuring that insights on sustainability, social responsibility, and circular-economy opportunities are developed with participants rather than delivered top-down.
The BluePrint project engaged flood-affected communities, in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area, from villages Eglinton and Newtownstewart, in an artistic co-creation process to share and exchange their lived-experiences around flooding and climate adaptation. A social engaged artist creatively engaged communities to co-create an artwork to communicate their lived experiences and support wider climate resilience outreach, engagement and policy in Derry-Londonderry and beyond. Experiences from the co-creation process in Derry-Londonderry were shared in Mayo through an All-Island two-way learning and exchange bringing together communities and other artists, government actors and scientific partners working on, or interested in, creative co-creation processes for engaging communities around climate adaptation and resilience. Research and evaluation activities during the co-creation process in Derry-Londonderry and the learning exchange with Mayo will result in a creative co-creation toolkit targeting local governments and other professionals working with communities adapting to climate change across Ireland. Outputs include performances, poetry, music, videos and a co-creation toolkit.
Partners:
Derry City and Strabane District Council area, from villages Eglinton and Newtownstewart, Northern Ireland, UCC
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Partners:
Údarás na Gaeltachta, Climate Action Unit in Galway County Council
Clean Energy for EU Islands - 30 Renewable Islands for 2030. The Aran Islands have been selected as one of 30 islands in the EU who receiving technical assistance spanning over three years. The projects supports include technical assistance which relate to a) a solar PV plant on the islands b) further rooftop solar PV c) options for the insulation of stone buildings d) plans for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure e) an assessment of greener mobility options for islanders using road transport on the mainland.
MaREI researchers at UCC are working across a number of EU projects which support citizen engagement with EU Mission Ocean. These include PREP4BLUE where we led a work package on Citizen Engagement, focused on enabling stakeholders to empower citizen and community-led action in support of the Mission, through broadening citizen engagement using participatory methods. Outputs included a toolkit and capacity building webinar series. UCC was also a partner on BlueMissionAA, building a connection hub to support the Mission Implementation in the Atlantic and Arctic Basin. These projects led onto our involvement in the EU project TIDAL ArtS which is a project offering grants to artists, collectives, and creatives to support the European Union’s Mission to Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030. We support co-creation activities between artists, scientists and citizens.
Partners:
European communities and artists, UCC
Partners:
Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (Austria), Universität Wien (Austria), Fachhochschule Potsdam – University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (Germany), Universidad Nacional de General San Martín (Argentina), Federació Salut Mental Catalunya (Spain), Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Argentina), Open Knowledge Foundation (United Kingdom), Global Innovation Gathering e.V. (Germany)
Description:
CoAct (2020–2022) was a Horizon 2020-funded initiative that developed and applied the concept of Citizen Social Science (CSS) — meaning research that is co-designed and directly driven by citizen groups sharing a social concern, who serve as co-researchers alongside academics. It tackled four social issues (mental health care, youth employment, environmental justice and gender equality) across multiple local and global settings, and sought to build a methodological framework, open toolkit and knowledge-coalitions for bottom-up, participatory research and concrete collective action.
Description:
COESO addresses specific challenges that hinder the development of citizen science in the social sciences and humanities by building a comprehensive framework
Partners:
Babel International, Bulle Media,CADMIUM Compagnie, Centre for Research in Anthropology, Centre Norbert Elias, Crim’Halt, Crime&tech, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, IBERCIVIS, IRPI, Max Weber Stiftung,Net7,Réseau français des instituts d’études avancées, Sciences Po, The University Institute of Lisbon, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Zero
Partners:
21c, Athens Technology Center, DAEM SA, DIGITAAL VLAANDEREN, Energy Agency of Plovdiv, Flanders Environment Agency, Fraunhofer HHI, imec, inter 3, IS-practice, SODAQ, Sofia Development Association, Telraam, University of the Aegean.
COMPAIR supports citizens across Europe, including those with no science background, to use digital sensors to collect local climate data, focusing on air quality.
Partners:
Multiple civil society groups
Description:
The Criminal justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) Partnership aims to embed a culture of interdisciplinary open research in criminal justice in Ireland. It achieves this by bringing together criminal justice researchers, policymakers and practitioners to decide collectively how we should engage, what our priorities should be, and which actions would make the most of our knowledge and expertise to achieve shared goals. As of January 2025, CORD has 135 partners representing 59 organisations, including researchers, criminal justice policymakers, practitioners and oversight professionals, non-state justice practitioners, civil society advocates and research development professionals.
Description:
Odour pollution is an indicator of environmental issues, marks second in the list of European citizens' complaints and is associated with health problems. However, data and statistics are scarce and environmental regulations do not take it into consideration. The EU-funded D-NOSES project will co-design citizen science interventions, where citizens will use mapping tools to crowdsource odours and co-create ad hoc solutions with civil society organisations, NGOs, local public authorities, industry and academia to empower citizens to become drivers of change. The resulting DIY Guidelines for project replicability, Scientific Guidelines for policymaking and The Green Paper on Odour Pollution will facilitate the inclusion of odour pollution in the policy agenda. The 'Strategic Roadmap on Odour Pollution' will pave the way for bottom-up, multi-level sustainable governance.
Partners:
Fundación Ibercivis – D-NOSES Project Coordinator, Ideas for Change (IFC), International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), Mapping for Change,European Citizen Science Association, Mediterranean Information Office for Environment Culture and Sustainable Development, The International Environmental Association of Odour Managers (AMIGO), Politecnico di Milano, APEA Portuguese Association of Environmental Engineering, Envirometrics Technical Consultants Ltd, Ecotec Ingeniería Ltda, Municipal Council of S. João da Madeira, Sofia Municipality, Intermunicipal Waste Manager of Greater Porto (LIPOR)
Partners:
27 EU partners with a list & overview of all available on the website using the link below
Description:
DATA CELLAR is a fully funded HORIZON EU project which aimed to create an energy dataspace to support the creation, development and management of local energy communities in the EU. The data space population was facilitated via an innovative rewarded private metering approach, with a focus on an easy onboarding and interaction, guaranteeing a smooth integration with other EU energy data spaces, providing to LEC stakeholders services and tools for developing their activities. CFOAT parrciapted as a Validation Case / Demo Site LEC. The project is now complete.
Description:
DEMETRA, “Democratic Governance, Environmental and Climate Challenges, and Societal Transformation: Deliberation, Inclusiveness, and Citizen Empowerment for Sustainable Food Systems,” is a Horizon Europe project aimed at addressing the intersection of democratic governance and sustainability transitions, particularly within food systems, employing a mixed-methods approach to analyze new deliberative participatory processes (DPPs). DEMETRA analyses the micro-, meso-, and macro-level opportunities for DPPs supporting sustainability transitions, focusing on the food system as a crucial study field to identify best practices for citizens’ democratic engagement and the co-construction of sustainable societies. Agro-ecological communities are directly involved in the research process and knowledge co-creation.
Partners:
Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy), Tartu Ulikool (Estonia), Institut Catholique de Lille (France), Private Universitaet Witten/Herdecke (Germany), Uppsala Universitet (Sweden), Universite de Geneve (Switzerland), Univeristy of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK), Queen Mary University of London (UK). Non academic partners: Campi Aperti per la Sovranità Alimentare (Italy), Cinemovel Foundation (Italy), Ernahrungsrat fur Koln und Umgebung (Germany).
Description:
People with intellectual disabilities are at a much higher risk of developing dementia. They may also get dementia earlier than others and can lose a lot of independence from even small changes. The National Dementia Strategy has helped people with dementia, but it does not meet the unique needs of people with intellectual disabilities. This led Professor Mary McCarron and her team to create special support guidelines for people with intellectual disabilities who are diagnosed with dementia.
Over 124 people shared their views in workshops and events designed to open minds and spark conversations to help create these guidelines.
Five key areas, or “pillars,” were identified as being most important for support:
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Living well with dementia
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Sense of place and community
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Dementia awareness and skills
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Supportive infrastructure
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Promoting autonomy
Partners:
The Alzheimer Society of Ireland & Trinity College Dublin
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Partners:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University College Cork, National University Of Ireland, Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, Institutt For Samfunnsforskning, Panepistimio Aigaiou (University Of The Aegean), Leibniz-Institut Fur Landerkunde Ev, Universitaet Graz, Zentrum Fur Soziale Innovation Gmbh, Centre International De Recherches Et D'information Sur L'economie Publique, Sociale Et Cooperative Aisbl, Diesis Network
Description:
DICES, "Driving Inclusive Care in the Social Economy" is a Horizon Europe project whose ambition is to drive change, both from a scientific and a societal perspective, in order to reduce inequality and address social exclusion-related challenges in Europe. Its focus is on the role and weight of the social economy in doing so, as well as on the governance frameworks and policy measures that are at play. DICES directly involves social economy networks and actors in the project consortium and its main research activities.
Partners:
Dingle Hub, UCC
Description:
UCC has been engaging with the Dingle Hub alongside other partners (from industry and government) over the last 8 years as the community transition to a more sustainable low carbon future. The initial project funded by Research Ireland has led onto many other initiatives including EU funded projects Ploutos, ENPOWER and INNOTREC with partners in Ireland and across the EU. This has enabled the Dingle Hub to engage farmers, the hospitality and tourism sector, local government, and wider community members. Our involvement as a reserach centre has enabled us to investigate, track and document the journey and share learnings on the challenges, outcomes and impacts.
Description:
Through her clinical role as a Consultant Geneticist, Professor Sally Ann Lynch knew that there were many families who had two or more children with a genetic condition in whom a diagnosis had not been reached despite testing. Through a number of research projects, Sally Ann and her team aimed to end the so-called “diagnostic odyssey” by using a newly developed technique in genetics called “exome sequencing”, which involves analysing the code of all of a person’s genes. “Exome sequencing” allowed Sally Ann and her team to diagnose rare diseases in 11 families (27 patients). For example, they identified four different genes for a condition called ciliary dyskinesis. This condition affects the hairs in the lungs, nose and ears, resulting in a build-up of mucus, causing inflammation and infection. Other genes were also identified for a range of conditions and clinical presentations.
Partners:
National Children’s Research Centre/Temple Street Foundation & University College Dublin
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Description:
This project’s main goal is to contribute to improving the health status and equity of people belonging to sexual and/or gender minorities (LGBTQIA+), by assessing the knowledge and raising the awareness of health professionals working in primary health care in the Algarve Region, regarding health disparities of LGBTQIA+ people. In its phase 1, it will run an evaluation study of knowledge, practices, and perception of discrimination against LBTQIA+ people, of health professionals in primary health care in the Algarve region.
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The aim is to establish the knowledge deficits and gaps in terms of LGBTQIA+ people health status and specific needs, burden of disease and communication skills, as well as the need of professionals in terms of training in this area.
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Based on the results obtained, a strategic plan and training actions will be developed as well as materials for a LGBTQIA+ people health awareness campaign, as part of phase 2
Partners:
Algarve Biomedical Center - ABC
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Description:
The aim of “Every Walk You Take” (EWYT) is to empower the local inhabitants of Barcelona to experience an active and healthy ageing process. A uHealth platform with personalized healthy routes according to the user geolocalization, and preferences and with real-time information on air quality and climate, will be co-created and tested in a pilot study in a project managed by a stakeholder community.
Partners:
University of Barcelona
Partners:
DIL Deutsches Institut Fur Lebensmitteltechnik EV, Universitaet Hohenheim, Verein Der Europaeischen Burgerwissenschaften - ECSA E.V, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, University of Oxford, Institut de Recerca iTecnologia Agroalimentaries, Biosense Institute, Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação, Stichting VU, Johann Heinrich Von Thuenen-Institut, Pannon Helyi Termek Kereskedelmi, Kislepteku, Delta Foundation,Institut D'arquitectura Avancada de Catalunya, Stichting Transitiecoalitie Voedsel, Fundació Privada Institut de Recerca sobre Immunopatologies-Caixa IrsiCaixa, Ernährungsrat StadtRegion Stuttgart
Description:
FOSTER will build food system capabilities, knowledge and new governance mechanisms for scientists, citizens and policymakers. The two pillars of the project are the FOSTER (Food) Platform and the FOSTER Academy.
Description:
GRAINS (2023–2025) is a European initiative that supports social-economy SMEs in the agri-food sector to transition toward greener, more sustainable models through a strongly co-creative and participatory approach. Working directly with local agri-food actors, the project combines tailored capacity-building, mentoring, and financial support with learning exchanges, peer-to-peer dialogues, and collaborative workshops that allow participants to jointly identify challenges, test solutions, and co-design greener business practices. By fostering shared learning and community-driven innovation, GRAINS strengthens the abilities of social-economy enterprises to adopt environmentally responsible processes while anchoring change in locally generated knowledge and collective action.
Partners:
Diesis Network, Associazione Generale Cooperative Italiane (AGCI), Consorzio Ruini Impresa Sociale (CRIS), innova, Platform for Social Change, Asociaţia Centrul Pentru Legislaţie Nonprofit (CLNR)
Partners:
H2O People / EJWP, ITCL, EdenTech, WeeeFiner, IRIS, HCMR, University of Angers, VTT, CMMI, Water Europe, ENGI,F6S, socamex, ZENTRIX LAB, Società Metropolitana Acque Torino SpA (SMAT), ENIAIOS SYNDESMOS DIACHEIRISIS APORRIMATON KRITIS (ESDAK), Armengaude Innovative GmbH (AIG), SoftWater, CubexLab, Opalia Recordati, BioSense Institute (BIOS), National Technical University of Ukraine, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic,Institute, PRIVANOVA
Description:
iMERMAID addresses interdisciplinary issues of technical, social and policy relevance innovating in Chemical detection and remediation, Health, Wellbeing, Energy management, Ecosystems, Citizen science, social science domains and it will be an opportunity to open up new horizons for the exploration of water pollution and ecosystem survivorship
Description:
INCENTIVE aims to demonstrate the potential of citizen science through the co-creation, establishment and assessment of citizen science Hubs (CSH) in four European Universities
Partners:
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Citizen Science Center Zurich, Q-PLAN, SDA Bocconi, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, University of Twente, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, White Research
Description:
INCIEN – Accelerating Circular Economy Transitions in Central Europe is a Czech non-profit organisation that conducts applied research, develops methodologies and provides policy support to shift economies from linear to circular models. The project’s research efforts include mapping waste-management sites, designing circular public-procurement frameworks and evaluating how municipalities, businesses and institutions can adopt regenerative value-chains. By combining evidence-based studies, education programmes and stakeholder engagement, INCIEN seeks to embed circular-economy practices into governance and market systems.
Partners:
European Climate Foundation, European Environmental Bureau, BUS GoCircular, Circle Economy, Norsk Institutt for Bioøkonomi
Partners:
White Research SRL (Belgium), University of Groningen – Faculty of Spatial Sciences (Netherlands), University of Barcelona (Spain), South East European Research Centre (Greece), Czech University of Life Sciences (Czech Republic), KOÇ University (Türkiye), Social Economy Europe ASBL (Belgium), The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (Belgium), European Social Network (Belgium), European Network of Migrant Women (Belgium), PEDAL Consulting s.r.o. (Slovakia), European Rural Development Network (Poland), MedINA ‑ Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (Greece), L’ADAPT (France), The Wheel (Ireland), ROMONTANA (Romania), Q‑PLAN International Advisors PC (Greece), ARX NET AE (Greece)
Description:
INSPIRE (October 2024 – September 2027) is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative that uses engaged research and pilot interventions to support social-wellbeing, inclusion and social entrepreneurship in rural areas of Europe. It deploys “Smart Village Labs” in seven types of rural settings (coastal, mountainous, peri-urban, etc.) to co-develop and test governance frameworks, social-economy models, and service-access innovations with local communities, especially targeting vulnerable groups.
Partners:
ATU Sligo - Údarás na Gaeltachta, Sligo County Council, Leitrim County Council, Donegal County Council
Description:
This project proposes to create 3 Local Energy Agencies in the North and West of Ireland to support “integrated home renovation services”. Our target region includes counties Donegal, Leitrim & Sligo west county Galway. The significant challenges of meeting our climate action targets, combined with the increasing cost of heating our homes, are often exacerbated in peripheral regions. Particular factors include dispersed and older homes, a high reliance on oil and solid fuels and a fragmented supply chain.
Partners:
LAMA Impresa Sociale, ANCI Toscana, Scuola Capitale Sociale, Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità, Riabitare l’Italia, GAL MontagnAppennino
Description:
The Londa School of Economics is an engaged research project that deliberately blurs the boundaries between research, training, and practice. Grounded in collaboration with communities in Inner Areas, it treats remote and rural contexts as living laboratories where knowledge is co-produced through experimentation, learning-by-doing, and direct engagement with local actors. By combining critical research with education and on-the-ground action, the project actively tests alternative development models that place social and environmental well-being at the centre.
Description:
Pregnancy is a significant life stage linked to events that can affect mental health and well-being. The objective of the project is to carry out a citizen science initiative to investigate the mental health status and well-being of pregnant women (PW) by including them as part of the research to understand in depth what women feel, care about, and need during pregnancy.
Partners:
FISABIO
Description:
MESMER+ (Mapping European Social Economy: Employment, Social Dialogue and the European Pillar of Social Rights) uses a participatory, multi-stakeholder research design to map how social economy actors (both employers and employees) are represented within social dialogue and industrial-relations structures across nine European countries. By combining institutional mapping, country-level case studies, and comparative analysis, the project builds empirical knowledge about where and how social economy organisations (SEOs) are included—or excluded—from formal social dialogue, and identifies variations across national contexts. Crucially, MESMER+ does not stop at data collection: from 2023 it convened nine national “policy labs” and three European workshops, bringing together SEOs, trade unions, employers’ organisations, researchers and policymakers to discuss results, reflect on challenges, and co-produce policy recommendations. The final mapping report synthesises these findings, offering evidence-based inputs for advancing the inclusion of social economy actors in labour relations and for shaping a more inclusive implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Partners:
Diesis Network, Coompanion, KU Leuven /HIVA, PUBLIC – Association for Research, Communications and Development, ISTURET– Institute for Social and Trade Union Research
Partners:
34 EU Partners with a list & overview of all available on the website using the link below
Description:
THE ODEON project which stands for federated data and intelligence Orchestration & sharing for the Digital Energy transitiON, is a fully funded HORIZON EU project. CFOAT is involved as an LEC (Local Energy Community) Enabler Operator in the Aran Islands as one of the five pilot sites. ODEON aspires to integrate energy data value chain stakeholders in a data-driven, inclusive, and collective intelligence ecosystem for the decarbonisation and resilience of the energy system, while at the same time satisfying the effective empowerment of citizens, prosumers, and LECs and their effective integration to the energy value chain.
Partners:
La Mandarina de Newton
Description:
Obstetric coevolution works on the research question of how obstetric practices affect women’s mental health, including postpartum depression. The research consists of organizing four co-creation workshops where women and other stakeholders such as partners, midwives, obstetricians and perinatal psychologists, among others, will be welcome. We will also use other participatory tools, such as a co-created survey that you will be able to link here when co-created with participants. We are looking to understand and imagine together new childbirth procedures and codesign new ways of building relationships with the medical community.
Partners:
European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), Agora Partners (AP), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), 21c Consultancy (21c), Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA), Nucleo Interativo de Astronomia (NUCLIO), EcoOcean (Eco), RAMANI, University of Haifa (UH), The Odesa National I.I. Mechnikov University (ONU), CSGI (Center for Colloid and Surface Science)
Description:
The EU Water Framework Directive promotes the protection of aquatic ecosystems and sustainable water use. Citizen science (CS) initiatives can contribute to and accelerate strategies’ codesign and implementation. The EU-funded OTTERS project will encourage and scale up successful CS initiatives in the marine and freshwater domains. The project will accelerate the cocreation of standards in data collection, semantics, data quality, and data management in line with all ethical and legal standards and cluster them under codesigned Spring-to-Sea campaigns to foster agency and increase ocean literacy. The project will connect the citizen-generated data to other EU-funded projects and portals to ensure the accessibility and reuse of the data and will demonstrate the CS effectiveness.
Description:
This project aimed to identify new and better treatments for diabetic foot infections (DFI). The current treatments are difficult for patients and health care professionals to manage. People with diabetes and foot complications often have long hospital stays, because of infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria (“superbugs”). Dr Deirdre Fitzgerald Hughes and her team, along with colleague Dr Mary Pryce at Dublin City University’s School of Chemical Sciences, developed a new treatment using “photosensitizers” that, when exposed to light, kill the “superbugs” in a completely different way to antibiotics. This could mean that in the future, people with diabetes may be able to manage their infection better at home.
Partners:
Diabetes Ireland Research Alliance & RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Description:
The citizen science initiative ‘Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!’ aims to raise awareness throughout Europe of the importance of rivers, the protection of natural resources, and the significance of international research collaboration. The EU-funded PlasticPiratesEU project will upscale ‘Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!’ in countries across Europe by raising awareness among citizens and the youth of Europe on the impact and benefits of research and innovation and increasing the capacity to collect, organise and verify data on plastic waste pollution stemming from and in European rivers, coastlines, and seas. The project will test, replicate and refine best practice models to achieve Mission Ocean's objective. The joint initiative of currently 13 European countries is intended to raise awareness throughout Europe for the importance of rivers and – since 2024 – coasts as common lifelines, as well as for protecting our natural resources. Additionally, the campaign aims to emphasise the importance of citizen science and international research collaboration.
Partners:
See the full list of partners here.
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Description:
Empowering communities to save energy, reduce carbon, and embrace renewables- RENEW, or Renewable Energy through Networking, Education, and building a strong community Will for sustainability, is a low-cost, AI- and Internet of Things-enabled Home Energy Management System (HEMS). It is designed to reduce electricity costs for consumers and support Ireland’s transition to a flexible, low-carbon energy system.
By promoting inclusive, user-friendly solutions that enable all households to participate in demand flexibility, reduce arrears, and lower bills, the team aims to ensure that no one is left behind in the transition to a low-carbon future.
Partners:
Maynooth Sustainable Energy Community & Maynooth University
Partners:
Diesis Network, Municipality of Split, CEDRA Split, Luznava Manor, SEAL, Municipality of Roccavaldina, Foundation Horcynus Orca
Description:
SEA4NEB (Social Economy Actors for the New European Bauhaus) (2022–2024) was a trans-European project that studied how social-economy organisations can drive territorial regeneration aligned with NEB values (“beautiful, sustainable, together”). Through collaborative fieldwork, participatory workshops, peer-reviews and locally co-designed action plans, the project brought municipalities, social-economy organisations and community stakeholders together to identify good practices, test innovative solutions and translate them into concrete, community-rooted strategies for more inclusive and sustainable local development.
Description:
SEDLEX (Sustainable Economies Due diLigence: good EXamples and the role of social dialogue) adopts a participatory, multi-stakeholder research design to investigate how large social economy enterprises, particularly cooperatives, embed sustainability, democratic governance, and social dialogue into their value-driven business models — especially in light of evolving EU corporate sustainability due diligence requirements. The project combines in-depth literature reviews with empirical fieldwork: five national background studies, fifteen detailed case studies across sectors (agri-food, retail, financial services), and a comparative final report. Importantly, SEDLEX goes beyond academic analysis — it organises peer-learning events, European workshops and a final conference bringing together cooperatives, policymakers, trade unions, and mainstream companies to discuss the findings and co-produce insights on how social-economy practices can inform broader corporate sustainability. Through this collaborative process, SEDLEX generates actionable knowledge meant to influence both cooperative practices and EU-level social-dialogue and sustainability policies.
Partners:
Diesis Network, HIVA–KU Leuven, innova eG; associated partners: Social Economy Europe (SEE), CGIL, IG Metall
Partners:
Fundació Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV),University of Exeter (UOE),Harokopio University of Athens (HUA),European Citizen Science Association (ECSA),Erasmus Universitair Medish Centrum Rotterdam (EMC),City of Rotterdam (CoR)
Description:
SEEDS (Science Engagement to Empower aDoleScents) is a science project by teenagers for teenagers. It aims to empower them to live healthy lifestyles and to help them explore how important and exciting science can be.
Partners:
Diesis Network, ALL DIGITAL AISBL, TIRESIA – Politecnico di Milano, OPEN IMPACT SRL, SOCIAL GOOD ACCELERATOR, PRIZMA
Description:
Social Economy Transition Skills (SETS)seeks to support the “twin transition” of social economy organisations (SEOs) toward greener and more digital practices by developing, piloting and disseminating training programmes tailored to their needs.It begins with a collaborative inquiry process that combines literature and policy reviews with participatory skills-gap assessments involving SEOs, digital-skills experts, and green-transition practitioners. Insights generated through this research directly inform the co-design of modular training pathways that respond to real organisational needs. These modules are then piloted in France and Slovenia as living laboratories, where participants, trainers, and researchers jointly test, refine and evaluate learning processes. An ICT-based monitoring and impact-assessment framework captures evidence from these pilots, feeding back into practice improvements and policy recommendations. In this way, SETS positions skills development not simply as training delivery, but as a continuous, co-created learning ecosystem grounded in participatory research and iterative knowledge exchange across the social economy.
Partners:
ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS, ID2MOVE CAP INNOVE, Vrije niversiteit Brussel, Hypertech, Bettair, hop, NILU, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Centre for research & Technology Hellas, Universita politecnica delle marche, Universidad de Deusto, Università degli studi di Padova, Centro di ricerca interuniversitario sull’economia pubblica (CRIEP), University of the ARts Utrecht, Eureopan Citizen Science Association (ECSA), Fundación Ibercvis, Fundación Zaragoza Conocimiento, Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza, Comune i Ancona,
Description:
The SOCIO-BEE project is leading the way with our innovative approach to co-creation and technology. Our goal is to design, deploy, and validate a next-generation citizen science platform that utilizes wearable-based modules for air quality observation. With the support of local decision-makers and action groups, we’re creating sustainable, scalable, and replicable experiments that are co-created with users just like you. But SOCIO-BEE is more than just a platform – we’re committed to facilitating citizen science through a co-creation module that enables users to select from a range of customizable campaigning blueprints. These tools will deliver engagement programmes and campaigns that truly empower communities to influence decision-making and reduce pollution levels in cities. Our aim is to build trust between stakeholders and create a better, more sustainable future for everyone. Join us in this exciting journey towards citizen empowerment and environmental sustainability!
Partners:
Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam, National Interuniversity Consortium for Informatics, University of Maribor, Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta, DEXAI – Etica Artificiale, University Carlos III, Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Albania Institute for International Studies, Brand Media Bulgaria, Albanian Ministry of Interior, European Citizen Science Association, University of Exeter
Description:
SOLARIS (Strengthening democratic engagement through value-based generative adversarial networks) is part of the cluster 'Politics and the impact of online social networks and new media'SOLARIS responds to the challenges of deepfakes and infodemics in two ways, says Russo. ‘On the one hand, we will analyse political risks associated with these technologies, to prevent negative implications for EU democracies
Description:
UCC researchers undertook an impartial analysis of EirGrid’s evolving public engagement processes, to offer insights and guidance throughout the consultation and engagement process lifecycle, as EirGrid seeks to improve both engagement processes and outcomes. This included the completion of comparative case study in Ireland and France drawing insights from the Celtic Interconnector Project and an exploration of the community benefit funding programme, which presented promising opportunities for communities to build and enhance their lead role as change agents at local level. This research was undertaken with a view to understanding and realising the opportunity and enabling the communities to develop initiatives within the three-strand approach to community benefit, focussing on sustainability. It explored processes with specific attention to aspects involved in promoting well-informed, equal and inclusive interactions that enhance energy citizenship.
Partners:
Various community groups and industry partner EirGrid, UCC
Partners:
Community Foundation Ireland, NPWS - National Parks & Wildlife Services, Corncrake LIFE
CFOAT is coordinating the Corncrake Protection Plan project as part of its aim to protect and enhance biodiversity on the islands. The Corncrake is a red listed bird and ecologist, Amanda Browne is lead the first stages of the project. Funding comes from Community Foundation Ireland. This first stage to create a Community Biodiversity Action Plan (CBAP) for the 3 Aran Islands is complete & CFOAT has succesfully recieved further funding to roll out this plan
Partners:
Consorzio MateraHub Industrie Culturali e Creative (Italy), Agenzia Regionale LAB – Lavoro e Apprendimento Basilicata (Italy), Cámara de Comercio Italiana de Barcelona (Spain), Diesis Network (Belgium), Academy of Entrepreneurship (Greece), Albanian Center for Education Care and Training (Albania), Partners Albania for Change and Development (Albania), ADP – Zid (Montenegro), Association “Loyola-Gymnasium” (Kosovo), Center for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Description:
TtraSE — “Twin Transition for Social Enterprises in Arts and Craft Sectors” — works to enable a green and digital transformation in the arts & crafts social-economy across the Western Balkans by co-creating skills, curricula and training pathways together with social enterprises, VET/C-VET providers and trainers. The project convenes stakeholders in co-creation labs and participatory workshops, using design-thinking and collaborative feedback to build capacity in both social enterprises and educators. This collaborative approach means that the training programmes, micro-credential frameworks, and future-oriented curricula are not imposed top-down — but are shaped together with those who will use them, ensuring relevance, ownership and inclusiveness.
Description:
WeCount aims to empower citizens to take a leading role in the production of data, evidence and knowledge around mobility in their own neighborhoods, and at street level. The project will follow participatory citizen science methods to co-create and use innovative low cost, automated, road traffic counting sensors (i.e. Telraam) and multi-stakeholder engagement mechanisms in 5 pilots in Madrid, Ljubljana, Dublin, Cardiff and Leuven.
Partners:
Transport & Mobility Leuven NV, Ideas for Change, University of the West of England, Bristol, University College Dublin, University of Ljubljana, Mobiel 21, Polis
Description:
This project has built capacity and confidence amongst adults with ID to participate in and lead research. It has adopted a staged approach by developing and delivering an accessible workshop supporting adults with ID to understand what research is, how to set a research goal, how research is conducted, and how they can influence the research agenda more broadly.
Partners:
St. Michael’s House & University College Dublin
Description:
YouCount is a project that brings together young people and relevant stakeholders to co-create new knowledge and innovations that can contribute to addressing one of the complex societal challenges being faced by Europe
Partners:
OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, Vetenskap & Allmänhet, Aalborg University, Deusto University, ESSRG KFT, Kaunas University of Technology, Sodertorn Hogskola, SPOTTERON Gmbh, Universita Degli Studi Di Napoli Federico II, University of Central Lancashire, University of Vienna
Description:
Physical activity is hugely important in keeping our bodies and minds healthy. But people with physical disability, especially teenagers, tend to do less physical activity than their peers, meaning means they’re more at risk of poor health in adulthood. Members of RCSI’s Young Person’s Advisory Group stressed that many of them had experienced isolation and exclusion when trying to participate in physical activity. In response, Dr Ailish Malone and her team, supported by funding from the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) and the Health Research Board (HRB), planned a study to understand the experiences of adolescents with physical disability in physical activity, and their priorities for participating in the future. Young people and teenagers with physical disability were central to all stages of the project, and their expertise in their own lived experienced was recognised throughout.
Partners:
The Central Remedial Clinic & RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
