"Context / background Unfortunately, EU agriculture suffers from delays in adopting development models that allow food, feed, fibre, biomass and biomaterials to be produced under conditions of competitiveness and sustainability in relation to attacks on non-EU markets. Over the next 5 years, around 50% of the current workforce in the agricultural sector will suffer from ""obsolescence"" of their skills (EU Skills Panorama-Cedefop) and farmers will need the proper skills in order not to be overwhelmed by competition. Objectives With ""FARMER4.0"" a training model has been created for the first time in the EU that uses the FabLab paradigm in a systemic way to translate, in a modern way, the traditional role of the grower that is about to disappear. The model integrates into a blended learning solution: 1) experiential training elements in the form of ""intergenerational"" support, face-to-face training and ""virtual"" classes, to stimulate a transfer of skills between traditional farmers and experts in digital fabrication on the one hand, and farmers of the digital age on the other; 2) experiential training elements in interactive e-learning to stimulate the use of innovative tools of the new digital creativity, for the development of competitive ""EU agricultural entrepreneurship"" according to the FabLab approach. Number and profile of participants The project involved 7 partners from the following contexts: Research/University and innovative entrepreneurship through FabLab (Polito, UTC, Unilasalle), vocational training (CSCI, OCAK IZI DERNEGI), agricultural entrepreneurship (Farm Agrianto), public administrations operating in the field of employability/training, sustainability and governance of the agricultural sector (Consorci de la Ribera). The project involves partners whose countries, at regional level, experience similar situations in terms of innovation (IT, ES and TR are ""moderate innovators"") and France from which good innovation practices have been imported. Description of activities A1 Definition of how and how to measure the degree of entrepreneurship of the learner (months 3-6; CSCI leader, all partners involved) A2 Creation of a European web platform (months 3-6; UTC leader, all partners involved) A3 Definition of architecture and elaboration of Farmer4.0 training methodologies and content (months 3-27; leader Polito, all partners involved) A4 Beta testing of the training model and system realignment (months 13-30; Unilasalle leader, all partners involved) A5 Development of the system for the recognition, validation and certification of acquired skills (months 16-30; Agrianto leader, all partners involved) A6 Management and coordination (months 1-30; Polito leader, all partners involved) A7 Monitoring and evaluation (months 1-30; OCAK leader IZI DERNEGI, all partners involved) A8 Dissemination, exploitation of results and mainstreaming (months 1-30; leader Consorci de la Ribera, all partners involved) C1) Training of trainers (from 1 to 3 people per partner – on staff) Methodology to be used in carrying out the project Through the adoption of Logical Framework Approach (LFA) and Project Cycle Management (PCM) logics and the use of a collaboration platform between project partners, it was possible for Politecnico to monitor and conduct all project phases, implementing timely corrective actions. Each main activity was led by a partner, chosen for this purpose thanks to its skills and expertise. Results O1/A1 System for measuring the degree of entrepreneurship O2/A2 European Farmers' Platform ""Entrepreneurial and Open Innovation Community"" O3/A3 FarmerLab Training Laboratory O4/A4 Trainer's Manual O5/A4 Student's Manual O6/A5 System for the recognition, validation and certification of acquired skills O7/A8 Recommendations for the inclusion of the Farmer4.0 training model in European VET systems Impact and potential longer term benefits a. increase, in partner countries, of the number of operators and of FabLabs dedicated to agricultural issues b. increased use of tools of creation by farmers and small entrepreneurs who have become ""Makers"" c. low-cost customization of products based on customer requests and specifications d. reduction of capital immobilization in terms of unnecessary inventory reserves (increase in just-in-time production) e. removal of barriers to entrepreneurship of the 'weak' categories (women and the disabled) f. systemalization of open innovation and agricultural product/process innovation in the systems achieved through the dissemination and enhancement of results."

"<< Background >>Students' mental health challenges have been amplifying around the world in the last decade, and the COVID pandemia has worsened the situation. In the USA, according to 2018 & 2019 student surveys from the American College Health Association (ACHA), about 60% of respondents felt ""overwhelming"" anxiety, while 40% experienced severe depression. In a Oct/Nov 2020 survey undertaken by Chegg, a learning service for students based in California, more than half (56%) of 16,839 undergraduate students aged 18.21 responding to a 21-country survey say that their mental health has suffered as a result of COVID. Proportions of students saying their mental health had deteriorated rose in Western countries, with at least 70% of American, Canadian, and British students saying they had suffered. More than three-quarters (76%) of Brazilian students also said they were having mental health issues related to COVID. Reports of mental health issues fell substantially in Italy (25%) and were low as well in Russia (29%), China (38%), and South Korea (39%).In European countries, where no overall survey was found, a number of articles report the Covid crisis is taking a heavy toll on French, Italian, Portuguese, etc. students' mental health, and a number of student organisations are addressing various needs (see https://www.studentminds.org.uk in the UK). Some public policy documents such as “Equality in higher education: statistical report”, by Advance HE (2018) , “Not by Degrees: Improving Student Mental Health in the UK's Universities”, by C. Thorley (2017) and “Closing the Gap: Priorities for Essential Change in Mental Health”, by the UK Department for Health (2014), are paving the way for embedding wellbeing into learning and teaching processes as “traditional approaches [...] are not enough anymore; they are fire-fighting and struggling to meet demand.” Moreover, climate change is affecting students’ wellbeing as shown in “Case Study of Extreme Heat in San Joaquin Valley and Need for Climate-Smart Schools”, from J. R. Gibson, Former Western states senior climate analyst, Nov. 2019. Students are reporting being affected by climate change, with climate strikes flourishing and organisations for climate and social justice been launched (see https://www.studentsforclimate.be in Belgium). Again, no global students’ survey was found. With regards to mindfulness, as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience, moment by moment” as per Jon Kabat-Zinn, adding “in the service of self-understanding and wisdom”, educational programs are punctually experimenting with “quiet time” implementation (3-5 minutes of breathing at the start of each activity or class in European countries) thanks to European grants, private or non profit organisations that often offer paying programs for students, from high schools to universities. As an example, the EUROPE–Ensuring Unity and Respect as Outcomes for People of Europe Initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme in 2018-2019, has demonstrated the effect of slowing down and paying attention to the breath. The project focused on implementing the Quiet Time Program, an innovative whole school approach involving teachers and students, aimed at reducing stress and violence in schools and promoting social inclusion.To summarise our understanding, it is urgent to capacitate students to mindfully face current and upcoming challenges and support them to work with strong emotions such as eco-anxiety, fear of others, work overload stress and anxiety about the future.<< Objectives >>The MP4s project aims to achieve the following objective: to support students to tackle their emotional difficulties through mindfulness practices and training, fostering compassionate care of self, others and the planet within higher education institutions, promoting soft skills competencies and accelerating the social and climate transition.Our project will provide an open access set of resources for students, teachers and faculties, to allow mindful practices and training to be weaved into any course, supporting students’ wellbeing and enabling them to act for and on behalf of the planet and others from a compassionate place.Students are tomorrow’s leaders and, consequently, the consortium feels it is crucial to provide them with awareness tools and resources. Mindfulness has shown efficacy in lowering anxiety, increasing resilience, improving academic performance, deepening one’s sense of connectedness to others and nature, and allowing one to act from a balanced state of awareness. More than 30 references are cited on the MindfulSchool.org website’s infographic, and thousands of others exist, mainly concerning schools and not universities: https://www.mindfulschools.org/about-mindfulness/research-on-mindfulness/.After an experience at University of Amsterdam, Bruin, E.I., Meppelink, R. & Bögels, S.M. wrote “Mindfulness in Higher Education: Awareness and Attention in University Students Increase During and After Participation in a Mindfulness Curriculum Course. (2015)” reporting “Overall, participation in a low-intensity mindfulness course in a university’s curriculum leads to an increased non-judgmental and non-reactive stance towards student’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions, during the course period, and their mindfulness increased even further after the course period. This increased mindfulness may help them in coping with stress given the pressure they are under and may improve their performance and their quality of life”.In the UK, Cambridge, Oxford, Aberdeen and London universities have an inclusive strategy towards Mindfulness, either mindfulness studies, or as part of a mental health strategy or as Mindfulness resource centers and recent research points to an effect on distress and stress.AMiE - Arts & Mindfulness in Education, a European initiative started in 2020 and supported by Erasmus+, states “In rapidly evolving, hyper-connected and performance-oriented societies, the mental health of citizens increasingly requires priority attention and care. Indeed, research shows that about 20% of European adults suffer from mental health problems, a percentage that rises to about 50% if depression and anxiety are also taken into account. Research confirms that in the field of mental health care, in addition to curative measures aimed at adults, there is an increasing need for preventive measures aimed at children (Van der Gucht et al., 2016)”. The Erasmus+ initiative AMiE provides European teachers with tools to introduce mindfulness in pre-primary and primary education (age group 3 to 12).Mindfulness in schools is reported to be experimented in quite a few countries in Europe, according to the websites of the concerned initiatives, yet less than a dozen of European Universities are reporting through research or openly promoting mindfulness practices such as meditation in regular extracurricular activities, or in syllabuses of for-credit courses.n France, business schools have been quite innovative in offering meditation activities to their students, through the MBSR protocol. An increasing number of masters programs or dedicated one-year training allow health sector students to deepen their knowledge on mindfulness, and an academic chair on “mindfulness@work” has produced research and experimented, as UniLasalle, some for-credit courses. No experience of embedding mindfulness in social justice or climate related courses has yet been found .<< Implementation >>In order to achieve our objective, the project will start with (WP1) a deepened cross sectorial state of art research on the student’s emotional challenges and concerns in order to launch a European survey to produce a mapping of the main challenges and concerns (PR1) faced by the students in 2022, post-COVID pandemic.Simultaneously, a survey of the existing practices of mindfulness in education (WP2) will be conducted in the 6 countries of the consortium members, plus 6 other countries chosen for either their steps taken in favour of mindfulness in education – England, the existence of research and papers on economy of generosity - Germany, previous programs – Sweden, Denmark, or their belonging to the consortium members networks, through UNICA and IALU – International Association of Lasallian Universities). Thanks to the practices of certified Mindfulness Teachers in the consortium we will then create our first Mindfulness Toolbox for Faculties and Students (PR2).In order to facilitate the journey towards an engagement rooted in mindfulness and compassion, we will (WP3) create an orientation and assessment tool before creating our core tool, the SIT4PLANET tailorable syllabus. Using Digital Humanities Lab technologies and questionnaires grounded in our mapping, this orientation tool will also provide a pre-training picture of each potential participant (PR3).We will then (WP4) elaborate the SIT4PLANET tailorable syllabus (PR4) which aims to be a generic syllabus that provides university stakeholders the possibility to embed, as much as desired and possible, mindfulness practices in any course and campus activities. A smart and open tech choice will be made to guarantee open lifetime accessibility, and create manuals for trainers and for students (PR5 and PR6).Evaluation of learnings as well as impact evaluation (WP5) will then be tackled at different levels, from individual level to collective ones such as associations, universities, campuses, as well as in the society in general. The capacity to produce personal work, or to demonstrate skills will be carefully documented to produce a comprehensive system (PR7) as it is a cornerstone for the recognition and certification.Recognition and certification system (WP6, PR8) will be formulated to reward students starting the awareness journey and give visibility to their engagement and the results achieved.Recommendations to integrate the SIT4PLANET in the universities (WP6, PR9) will then be worked on as a contribution to a well-being respectful place to study and a fairer world.After spreading the SIT4PLANET out of universities, public policy recommendations will be written (WP6, PR10) in order to promote the inclusion of mindfulness practices in the curricula, and all the facets of academic life - on campus non-profit activities, governance, management, etc<< Results >>10 major project results described below are expected and human awareness as well as compassionate engagement are outcomes that can be translated in realisations such as the constitution of various on-campus communities, the identification and training of Ambassadors, these outcomes being expected to last, and even to strengthen throughout the project and beyond.The first Project Result (PR1) consist in mapping the emotional challenges and concerns of students, based on a research conducted by the 4 universities of the consortium, with the support of the 2 partners having a counselling / mental health background and activity (OCAK IZI Dernegi and CONHECER-SE) under the leadership of University of Vilnius, Lithuania. The second project result (PR2) is the creation of the first Mindfulness Tool box, thanks to the participation of certified Mindfulness Teachers in the program (UniLasalle, Nova University and Conhecer-Se), under the leadership of Conhecer-Se. The third project result (PR3) consists in the creation of an orientation and assessment tool, under the leadership of Roma Tre University with their expertise in Digital Humanities Lab, and with a strong contribution of the 3 mindfulness teachers (UniLaSalle, Nova University and Conhecer-Se). The fourth project result (PR4) is the core of the project and consists in designing the SIT4PLANET tailorable syllabus under UniLaSalle leadership, with heavy contribution of each partner either as mindfulness teachers (UniLaSalle, Nova University and Conhecer-Se), or as community organisation engaged on social justice and education (OCAK IZI Dernegi), or as a University teaching transition management, wise leadership or climate transition management (Nova, Roma Tre and Vilnius Universities). The next project results, from 5 to 10 are produced mainly by one partner, with the contribution of all the consortium members, and will be available in all languages of the consortium.* PR5 consists in the conception and the writing of a trainer manual to guide all users organising a training / teaching activity, under the leadership of UniLasalle.* PR6 consists in the conception and the writing of a trainer manual to guide all students, under the leadership of Conhecer-Se.* PR7 consists in an evaluation of learning and skills as well as an impact evaluation system, under the leadership of Nova University, based on its expertise in embedding some mindfulness practices in existing courses.* PR8 consists in a recognition and certification system, with the leadership of CSCI and their expertise on open recognition and certification processes.* PR9 consists in a recommendation note for the universities to promote the integration of the SIT4PLANET syllabus in the formal and no formal validation processes, under the leadership of UNICA* PR10 consists in a recommendation note in terms of public policies to adopt mindfulness as a resource for peace and transition toward social justice and climate justice in our societies, under the leadership of OCAK IZI Dernegi."

Project title ENERGY EFFICIENT BALED STRAW ECOLOGICAL HOUSEProject type Erasmus+ KA2 Capacity building in the field of Youth (Western Balkan Youth Window)The main idea: The main aim of this long-term project is acquiring knowledge and skills to participants about using ecological materials in construction and architecture, about energy efficiency and cheaper construction and decreasing amount of organic waste in nature. In this long-term project we will teach participants that are working with young people between age of 15 and 30 how to use almost forgotten methods of building energy efficient houses. We will prepare them for new possibilities of creative self employment through starting their own business. There will be also included young people with special needs and disability (to get them more socialized), and to provide them ways of acquiring new skills and on this way to give them professional development training. Participants will be able to transfer their energy efficiency knowledge to their peers and to encourage use of this method of construction through their professional careers. Knowledge acquired through this long-term project participant will use to build ecological house which will be used in local community for education of young people in ecology, energy efficiency and healthy way of life and will be basis for construction of ecological village with renewable energy sources and organic breeding food.Period of implementation of all activities: 1st of August 2016 – 31st of August 2017Activities:1. Activity 1 (Contact making event) will be implemented in one of the EU program countries: workshop about environmentally friendly materials used in construction and EU experience based energy efficiency; 2. Activity 2 (Training course) will be implemented in Šabac, Serbia: workshop about methods of constructing baled straw house, collection and processing of ecological materials, spending time in workcamp in nature, preparing organic food meals, generating ideas for environmentally friendly interior and exterior appearance of the building, construction of baled straw house, decorating and furnishing the building using eco-friendly materials, the celebration marking the finish of workcamp;3. Activity 3 (Evaluation meeting) will be implemented in one of the Western Balkan partner countries: evaluation of the project through the media promotion and the cultural and artistic program of the participating nations.Products: During the first activity we expect to receive electronic anthology essays on the topics to be covered during the workshop. During second activity we expect to obtain ecological house made of natural materials that will serve as a basis for further presentation of ecological principles through the following projects in the surrounding area. During the third activity is expected to get completed documentary on the whole project and a few short videos on basic principles of energy efficiency.