<< Background >>The recourse to human rights enables the European Union (EU) as well as governments and the civil society in the EU to keep the course with normative standards in sustainable conflict transformation. “Simulating Human Rights in Peacebuilding” (SHARINPEACE) aims at qualifying young Europeans, the decision-makers of tomorrow, to conceive and practice human rights as intrinsic part of peacebuilding and of the EU as such.SHARINPEACE addresses the EU-wide need for acquisition of competences in human rights and peacebuilding. The “EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democratisation 2020-2024” defines and confirms this objective and requests its member states to consistently promote human rights and democracy.This addresses the need of educators and researchers to deliver high quality inclusive online education in an international setting. The sudden shift to online and distance learning during the pandemic holds a huge opportunity for higher education institutions (HEI). SHARINPEACE goes one crucial step beyond this unplanned shift: the project increases the capacity and readiness of the partners to manage an effective shift towards digital education by placing an online Crisis Intervention Simulation (CRIS) at the heart of the joint module that is to be developed throughout the project. Simulations are common in the social sciences, but CRIS provides a new type of open-ended simulation, integrating a student perspective as well as an active collaboration with policy/peace makers from the very beginning. In doing so, SHARINPEACE also addresses the students’ needs for an interactive, transnational, and inclusive experience. In the wake of the pandemic, many students have been suffering from isolation and mobility restrictions, finding themselves forced to continue their university education online. CRIS provides a highly interactive and motivating online study experience with a hands-on approach and tangible learning outcomes: Students not only learn de-escalation strategies for conflicts in theory, but also experience them in practice. They acquire digital learning strategies along with inter-cultural competencies through an international and interactive classroom and conference experience. Further blended and physical mobility within the partnership, supported by other Erasmus instruments, will be one of the many intended side effects of the project. Policy/peace makers from international organisations and the civil society are important actors in conflict transformation and peacebuilding in Europe. The EU Action Plan states: “Respect for human rights is an essential element of resilient, inclusive and democratic societies.” Consequently, human rights in peacebuilding must be considered in the work of policy/peace makers. In order for the policy/peace makers to be able to better pursue the political objectives of the EU and the demands of science with regard to the consideration of human rights in conflict transformation in the near future, they need trained personnel. SHARINPEACE includes policy/peace makers in the planning and implementation of the project. With this, SHARINPEACE provides tailored vocational training for future peace makers and also supports the sustainable introduction of human rights in the work of international organisations and/or non-governmental organisations (NGO).<< Objectives >>Through SHARINPEACE, students and educators increase their awareness of how to include human rights in the training of conflict management. The core objective is the implementation of an EU-wide organised two-part module. Students will first gain central competences in the interrelated domains of human rights and peacebuilding and, in the second part, put their gained competences in a network-wide Crisis Intervention Simulation (CRIS) into (simulated) practice.With SHARINPEACE, students acquire competences in human rights and peacebuilding that enable them to respond to major societal issues and to have a more positive attitude towards the European project and EU values. Educators develop and tighten competences in applied interdisciplinary human rights education and learn about the challenges to include human rights and peacebuilding directly from the policy/peace makers. The latter, i.e. experts from the European Commission (EC) and representatives of organisations from the civil society, join in a close exchange with higher education institutions (HEI), and receive tailored concepts on how to include human rights in conflict management.SHARINPEACE aims to achieve four main objectives:(1) SHARINPEACE contributes to a greater comprehension and attention to major challenges of the EU: Human rights and peacebuilding as key elements of Europe’s shared values and as the cornerstones of our democratic constitutions are fundamentally challenged by refugee crises, dynamics of polarisation and radicalisation, new attempts of re-nationalisation and populism or climate change.(2) SHARINPEACE promotes the international cooperation of educators and learners - despite and beyond the pandemic - and implements a unique transnational simulation-based learning (SBL) experience. The project increases capacities in online teaching and learning in order to cope with the necessity for distance learning and to establish and preserve good online teaching and learning practices for a post-COVID era. (3) SHARINPEACE involves policy/peace makers in the design of the module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding” at all stages. Their knowledge and needs support the development of the learning outcomes, and their feedback during the implementation of the project helps to continuously adapt the module.(4) The module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding” marks a crucial step for the consortium towards an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Programme (EMJM). SHARINPEACE is a key element for a later EMJM application, raising awareness within an extremely heterogeneous and international target group for topics highly relevant in and for the EU, and in increasing the academic collaboration and exchange regarding these topics within the network.<< Implementation >>The main outcome planned within SHARINPEACE is the network-wide accreditation of a two-part module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding”. At the heart of the project and the module is the conceptualisation and implementation of an online Crisis Intervention Simulation (CRIS). It is the large-scale, transnational, online simulation game on a European level. Students take on the role of various real organisations involved in peace, development and human rights in Europe. During CRIS, a real conflict situation is fictitiously escalated, and the students are required to develop strategies for conflict management in the role of the organisations involved. The activities, trainings and meetings are designed in such a way that the planned module is implemented at the end of the project period. We foresee four project phases for the project. The first phase of SHARINPEACE lays grounds for the project by investigating the field of human rights in peacebuilding. In an initial step, we explore the nexus of human rights in peacebuilding in the academic literature. We then analyse the study programmes that relate to human rights. We also conduct interviews with the coordinators of these study programmes. In a next step, we invite stakeholders (students, educators, policy/peace makers) to online workshops to discuss the learning outcomes of our modules. Students are involved in the development of the module through a Student Advisory Board. The educators in the project meet for a Staff Training in order to enlarge their knowledge on competence-based curricula development and the integration of EU-wide modules into national curricula.The second phase of the project is dedicated to the conceptualisation of the module. First, we carry out a competence analysis for learning outcomes of the module, based on the results of the first project phase. We develop a draft syllabus, then decide on and collect the required teaching materials. Important in this phase is the planning of the necessary e-tools for online teaching. Parts of the module are tested and evaluated on a reduced scale. Students and educators reflect on the planning so far. A second staff training is planned at this stage. It is about best practices and exchange in online teaching with a focus on online simulation-based learning (SBL). Central to SHARINPEACE is the cooperation and incorporation of actors in peacebuilding from the European Commission (EC) and from the international civil society. We invite representatives of these organisations to a first virtual Multiplier Event.The third phase of SHARINPEACE consists of a pilot run of the module under real conditions. The didactic and methodological planning of the module has now progressed to the point where it can be tried out. The Student Advisory Board and the policy/peace makers are invited to comment on the evaluation and suggest improvements. Before the pilot runs, our project includes a final Staff Training, which focuses on the tools for evaluation and feedback on modules.The fourth and final phase of the project consists, on the one hand, of disseminating and promoting the module and, on the other hand, of preparing the incorporation of the module into study programmes in the network. The network will present SHARINPEACE in a final multiplier event, at a renowned and international conference, where we will report within our own working group on how the integration of human rights in peacebuilding has succeeded in the module and how we have worked together with the policy/peace makers.<< Results >>The main outcome planned within SHARINPEACE is the network-wide accreditation of a two-part module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding”. During the lifetime of the project, we rely on several tangible outcomes to prepare these steps. With SHARINPEACE, the consortium expects four core outcomes:(1) Implementation of an interdisciplinary and transnational online module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding”.(2) Launch of the online Crisis Intervention Simulation (CRIS) to demonstrate the competences acquired in human rights and peacebuilding.(3) Provision of Open Educational Resources (OER) in human rights and peacebuilding for teaching and learning.(4) Policy recommendations on why and how to introduce innovative teaching and learning in the domain of human rights and peacebuilding in higher education institutions (HEI) in EuropeSHARINPEACE produces six Project Results (PR1-6):- Mapping the Nexus of Human Rights Education and Peacebuilding (PR1)- Stakeholders’ Perspectives: Exploring Needs and Experiences (PR2)- Resources for Teaching and Learning Human Rights in Peacebuilding (PR3)- Tools for Teaching and Learning Human Rights in Peacebuilding (PR4)- Piloting the Module “Human Rights & Peacebuilding” (PR5)- Policy Brief: How to Teach and Learn Human Rights in Peacebuilding in Europe (PR6)One desired long-term outcome is to offer the module including CRIS annually with a slightly different focus. The possibilities are as hugely diverse as they are promising (e.g. global health crises, migration, Green Europe), and could establish the idea of simulation-based learning (SBL) within further academic subjects. New partners could be integrated into the consortium, depending on the expertise and the respective focus of that year’s edition of CRIS. In order to establish a network that is capable of implementing a joint master degree, the partnership will develop the collaboration further and strive to continuously optimise CRIS as the central product of the project. The partnership will use and integrate the lessons learned within the project to lay the foundation for future joint curriculum design, that is clearly student-centred, inclusive, and international.

Early childhood teacher education in Scandinavia is strictly governed by national goals and directions. It is therefore challenging to meet the increasingly growing demand for student mobility and exchange. The project Reflective Practice through Lived Diversity in Cultural Environments (ReLiveD) will explore pedagogical practices for how students, teachers, and researchers can collaborate within the conditions of the Scandinavian ECEC-teacher training and develop structures for how student mobility can be carried out in this context. It involves ECEC-training programs in four different universities: Södertörn University in Sweden, Nord University in Norway, The Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Norway, and Helsinki university in Finland.Furthermore, Scandinavian early childhood education and care (ECEC) is characterised by cultural diversity where minority groups, indigenous people, and majority cultures meet. There are also various environmental conditions, both within and in-between nations, places, and institutions, strongly connected to different foundational values. Thus, both values and pedagogical practices in relation to diversity will come to vary from one place to another. The ReLiveD-project will approach diversity, as a way to develop reflective practices concerning fundamental values in pedagogical work in cultural environments. ECEC-students are preparing to work within a context of diversity, where specific cultural environments and values exists, and they are expected to work in such a manner that allow all children to be seen, heard and treated with respect. The ReLiveD-project will help ECEC-students (along with our teachers and institutions) develop the means, tools, and strategies to do this. By having them experience and explore different ‘lived experiences’ in different, specific cultural environments and physical places, they can develop reflective pedagogical practices concerning diversity. The main aim of this three-year Erasmus+ project is thus to develop practices and structures for student mobility and to develop practices for how to cultivate reflective pedagogical practices concerning diversity (both on an individual level and on an institutional level). This makes ECEC-students, ECEC-teachers, and ECEC-teacher educations, the main target groups. The project will follow a three-phase methodology, organized after each academic year. There will be a constant monitoring and evaluation of the different phases to ensure that the project objectives are achieved: Phase 1: a) Needs assessment, to produce an overview the courses and course modules in the different ECEC-programs and identify how they can be adjusted in order to create opportunities and activities for teacher and student mobility; b) Create new courses and course modules with space for teacher and student mobility in-between the participating universities, online as well as physical, and piloting these courses and modules. Phase 2: Evaluating the experiences from the pilots in phase 1 and making adjustments in accordance with them. Phase 3: a) Developing institutional structures for minor praxis exchanges where students can develop their professional skills by working with ECEC-centers (Pre-schools and kindergartens) at other (participating) universities; b) Conducting evaluations and analysis where the students work closely with teachers/researchers at the different universities to develop their final thesis; c) Conducting analysis of the outcomes of the ReLiveD-project where the participating teachers and researchers consider the impacts and possible further development of the project. Teaching activities and several intellectual outputs are ongoing throughout these different phases.

The overarching objective of POLCA is to contribute to global and national efforts in understanding the challenges of promoting good governance and the rule of law in non-Western societies. This will be achieved by designing and implementing an interdisciplinary research and training program focused on “alternative institutions and norms.” More specifically, POLCA is built around three interconnected goals: 1) To collect original empirical data and produce new theoretical insights on alternative legal and governance institutions and norms in non-Western contexts; 2) To engage with and contribute to relevant theoretical debates within law, development and governance (LDG) studies and political economy literature and thereby advance scholarly discussion on the role of non-Western institutions and norms in legal and governance reform processes; and 3) To contribute to the global law, development and governance agenda by providing strategic intelligence and policy insights for international organisations, development agencies, decision-makers, researchers and practitioners inside and outside the EU on possible ways to improve the rule of law and governance in non-Western societies. These goals will be accomplished through a multi-sited, interdisciplinary, and multisectoral research and staff exchange program involving 30 leading universities and non-academic institutions across Europe, North America, Central Asia, the Middle East and East Asia.

The STEP project aims to enhance the scientific capacity and innovation of the consortium partners, with a principal focus on the Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB, Portugal), and to raise its research profile in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) throughout the cross-fertilisation with the Social Sciences and Humanities, in particular by introducing in the STEM domain the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles, that have considerable potential in terms of solving the global challenges for wellbeing and the quality of life. The 4 internationally research-intensive leading partners in the project will accompany and guide IPB. Resources and competencies will be shared and advanced across strategic plans for improving and empowering the IPBs capacity-building focus areas. The activities targeting the researchers and administrative and managerial staff will strengthen the scientific excellence, innovation capacity (non-academia/academia collaboration), and skills for research communication and societal acceptance (social sciences and humanities, SSH involvement, in the STEM area). Activities for researchers will include mobility rounds, master classes, training, industry and SSH mentoring, attendance at conferences and workshops. This project will lead to an increased number of high-impact articles, research grants, EU projects, service contracts to the international and non-academic sectors (respectful of the EDI principles), new research topics and wide-scale impact. The Twinning Programme will gradually shift focus from research to innovation-driven implementation of the promising research outcomes. Altogether, the EU-funded STEP project will help the IPB become a regional actor for EDI/STEM innovation studies.