There are large knowledge gaps around the governance of the low carbon energy system transition in a smooth and participative way, ensuring that citizens are at the centre of the required fundamental transformation and enabling the full efflorescence of their creative potential. Social innovation is a prime way to tap into that potential while Collective Action Initiatives (CAIs), a social innovation in itself, are a prime way to mobilize people and to ensure the acceptance for and participation in the necessary transition process. However, both social innovation and CAIs lack proper scientific and field-tested understanding of their development and factors for success. As of today, the role of citizen-driven CAIs (e.g. energy communities, cooperatives, purchasing groups) and their contribution to the energy transition has neither been quantified at an aggregate level, nor has their contribution potential been estimated or understood in sufficient depth. The COMETS project aims to fill these knowledge gaps by quantifying the European-wide aggregate contribution of CAIs to the energy transition at national and European levels by investigating their evolution and scaling up at an in-depth level in six selected countries. The main expected impacts of the project are two-fold. Firstly, COMETS will advance the scientific knowledge on the motives, desires, objectives and barriers of such collective action initiatives and their historical and future role in the energy transition. Building on the information gathered and tested for its robustness, we will then co-develop and test supportive tools together with CAI members, decision makers and the scientific community. Lastly, these stakeholders will then be able to exploit the main outputs of COMETS, namely a Supporting Platform for CAIs, the enhanced knowledge base, scenarios and roadmaps for spreading CAI models, even after the project is concluded.

<< Background >>Due to increasing globalization, technological advances, and sociological changes our world is becoming more complex. Complexity has gone from large systems to organizational and individual levels. Today it concerns all aspects of society and specifically the health of citizens.An example of complexity at different levels are the grand societal challenges summed up by the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Each SDG is complex by itself and holds interrelations. In which SDG3, that seeks to ensure healthy lives and to promote well-being at all ages, is essential to sustainable development. With less than 10 years remaining, there is an urgent need to implement innovative methodologies to realize the agenda. And higher education (HE) must play an important part in this.As a responsible and forward-thinking consortium, we see the need to take up the grand societal challenge of a healthy society at a transnational level, and to prepare (future) professionals to anticipate better the complexity of contemporary health challenges. This became even more obvious during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.However, to understand the complexity of given challenges requires a mind-shift and consequent action towards innovation and systemic changes conceptualised in sustainability transition. This includes the variety of stakeholders involved in the field of health and higher education.It entails the fundamental challenge for HE stakeholders to develop new thinking about the multiple causes and interrelations of problems related to the health of citizens. Broad stakeholder acceptance of shared strategies must be gained. And higher education needs to open up to new insights about the multiple pathways required towards a healthy society.In this context, our consortium sees the need to better accept the complexity faced in the field of health (education) across disciplines. We need to support the transition in care for health by challenging the decontextualized evidence base of health sciences. We see the need to challenge the reactive orientation on health problems instead of perceiving health as a capability. We must prepare our educators and students towards this complexity and support them to find new possibilities in the complex mixture of social, chronic, and multi-morbidity issues in public health. We need to offer them ground for evidence-informed practice in the care for health.This includes better comprehension of context, skills, strategies, and practices for implementation related to complexity-oriented learning approaches (COLA) in health education. It demands more focus on the third (engagement) mission of higher education institutes (HEI) and to find congruence and alignment with the first (education) and second (research) missions.There is a need to go beyond the level of conception of complexity-oriented learning approaches and to implement them into existing and new higher education health study programs. We need to create an innovative complexity-oriented pedagogy which supports the acquisition of transferable forward-looking skills in which evidence informed practice focuses on the situative critical use of various resources. It needs to allow for student-centred learning within a given real-life health-sector learning landscape in which critical reflection is part of, and where formal and informal learning collide. To make complexity-oriented learning (COL) a reality in HE health curricula, we need a flexible and dynamic course framework that allows for adaptation, variation, and discretion in implementation depending on individual and collective learning needs. It needs to be emerged in real-life learning environments with a focus on the end-users. It needs to be accompanied by an evaluative approach for learning in complexity that aligns with current higher education assessment principles but is congruent to the principles of complexity-oriented learning in health.<< Objectives >>Referring to the inherent complexity of transitions that challenges our way of knowing, knowledge creation, and thus education, the project “Embracing a Complexity-Orientated Learning Approach in Health” (ECOLAH) develops better understanding of how the complex social challenge of a healthy society can be (better) influenced and co-driven by higher education.ECOLAH has the aim to pilot new forms of real-life learning environments and combined complexity-based learning approaches that connect with existing higher education structures. With it, we bring complexity-oriented learning from a level of conception towards the level of implementation in higher education health curricula.Our flexible learning systematic aims to support to rethink what we learn and how we learn in higher education institutes to tackle the grand societal challenge of a healthy society and to build the future we want. This is deemed indispensable for the development of a higher education arena that seeks to build relevant capacity for lifelong learning towards sustainability transitions in Europe.With our approach to complexity-oriented learning in health education, we seek to put both social and service innovation central. It involves a constant learning process for all stakeholders involved in the health ecosystem to better meet the needs of individuals and take advantage of available assets in services. Social innovation also aims to change the social relations and organisation of the underlying systems. Health ecosystems work on a practical complex issue by an approach of collaborative co-creation in which the role of the end-user (patient, client, citizen) is central. This includes the exploitation of research-based learning and virtual learning elements. It results to health students and educators learning to embrace and harness the emergent and dynamic characteristics of complexity to become true agents of change, and it fosters their digitalization skills.We aim to implement a transdisciplinary learning approach that leads to solutions that can be applied and scaled across the health sector, and that facilitates transitions between different levels and types of learning. For it, we do not aim to develop standardized teaching approaches, but we focus on a dynamic learning approach with a flexible course systematic that is embedded in health practice.We aim at the relations and facilitation between collective learning (in communities in the complex practice) and individual learning. It allows health professionals and students to learn how to learn, to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, and to acquire enhanced skills and new mind-sets adapted to sharing information in a context of co-disciplinary thinking.Our aim is to put the attribute of not-knowing and a curious mind central in relation to learning in complexity. It means that we go beyond the understanding of knowledge assuming the transmission from an educator to the learner, in which the educator regulates the learning process. We lift the learner in a more self-regulating position of learning with an active construction of knowledge related to a specific health care situation.In contrast with traditional health education practices, which mostly focus on knowledge and skills acquisition of students followed by application in practice, we focus on engaged learning with an entwined process of change and learning with other health stakeholders in the practice. This includes besides (future) professionals and end-users also public authorities, non-for-profits, and businesses working in the health sector. With it, we support learning outcomes orientated towards a dynamic and changing health labour market that anticipate the fourth revolution.<< Implementation >>To develop an improved understanding of how a healthy society can be (better) supported by higher education, and to pilot a complexity-based learning approach and dynamic course framework, ECOLAH implements a transdisciplinary co-creation approach with a society- and human-centred design. This design is specifically applicable in complex working environments. It means that health curriculum developers, educators, students, and other relevant health (education) stakeholders across disciplines are included into our project activities to develop outputs that really serve them.To lead to solutions that are applicable across the health sector, we bring together nine organisations from six European countries, of which six are higher education institutes. They form an engaged team of educational innovators from formal, non-formal, and informal learning environments. This set-up facilitates transitions between different levels and types of learning.Our implementation starts with a Participatory Asset Based Mapping of our individual and institutional assets. It means that our activities are based on strengths. This exploits the resources, skills, and experience of those involved. It leads to the development and direct piloting of our results.Our development activities include the co-creation of a study course framework with a dynamic complexity-oriented learning systematic and 4 course modules that empower learners in their capability to navigate complexity in health: 1) Complex adaptive systems, 2) Futures and epistemic literacy in health, 3) Becoming in complexity, and 4) Offering a holding and facilitating environment. It is complemented by the development of an educators’ capacity-building concept, an intensive program that serves as an introductory course for kickstarting COL for health students, and a decision-makers workshop concept. The co-creation of an evaluative approach for learning in complexity in health education includes the development of an adapted educational benchmark model. The development of a virtual learning space and eBook allows for the use of our open access concepts and learning materials beyond our partnership. Our piloting activities include the implementation of two capacity-building events for health educators to understand COLA, and to exploit it for educating their students. The piloting of an intensive program empowers health students to become capable agents of change towards a healthier European society, and it allows our educators to directly implement their own learning. The piloting of our course systematic and courses takes place in our consortium’s health study programs.Another intrinsic part of our activities marks an interconnected consolidation and valorisation process. This includes the implementation of three regional and one European multiplier event. After each event, the participants are invited to become part of our complexity-oriented learning in health panel. With it, the group of health education professionals accompanies our project activities long-term. An associated partnership supports our activities in the role of critical friends. It means that we engage UNESCO’s Global Futures Literacy Network, the Dutch Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (Health Holland), and the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health with the SCOPE expert centre from the University Medical Center and the University of Groningen to enhance our real-time learning. The critical friend methodology combines learning and evaluation, and as such it is highly relevant for addressing our complex learning environments.The implementation of a holistic quality management approach ensures that our results are of high quality. Our connected hybrid evaluation approach includes a developmental evaluation that is complexity-oriented and focuses on planning, understanding, and realizing (social) innovation. It is applied to the development of our model for dynamic learning in complexity in the field of health.<< Results >>ECOLAH develops a study course framework with a dynamic complexity-oriented learning systematic. It contains our assumptions and philosophy for COL applied to the health sector. It starts with a frame of reference that clarifies methodologies, application principles, and implementation consequences related to COL in the health sector. It builds a foundation for understanding COLA and sets collective parameters with which single HEI can develop their complexity-oriented learning offer.The backbone of our dynamic COL systematic is determined by a set of related but distinguishable courses that empower learners in their acknowledgment and capability to navigate complexity in health. 4 COLA courses with open access learning resources are developed and piloted. They have a scope of 1 to 2 ECTS each. An element of innovation is that each course is built in 4 phases: disruption, transformation, evaluation, and care. These phases can be followed linear (vertical approach) within the courses or by the same phases across the different courses (horizontal approach). All courses assume that the learner is emerged in health practice.An educators’ capacity-building concept with guidelines to understand and apply COLA. It includes the development of open access learning materials. The concept is piloted through our two project trainings, in which 24 health educators from our participating HEI undergo the capacity-building. An element of innovation is that the participants already work on a practical complex health issue by an approach of co-creation. So, it teaches what it preaches.The first educators’ capacity-building concentrates on understanding our complexity-oriented learning philosophy and to become familiar with our complexity-oriented learning systematic and its application in health education. The second training concentrates on how to educate health students in higher education under the principles of learning in complexity. For it, we elaborate guidelines on how to work on a practical complex issue by an approach of co-creation in which the role of the end-user is central.An intensive student program framework with implementation and learning guidelines that serves as an introductory course for kickstarting complexity-orientated learning for students. It is EQF referenced and reflects 4 ECTS. The framework is piloted through an intensive program, in which 60 health students from the HEI that participate. An evaluative approach for learning in complexity in health education. It aligns with current HE assessment principles but is congruent to the principles of COL. It includes the development of an educational benchmark model adapted to health education. It allows health education curriculum developers and educators to formally acknowledge the enhanced skills acquired by contextual learning in practice and to integrate our courses into existing formal (higher) education curricula.Four European and Regional Multiplier Events. Three regional events for consultation, validation and valorisation are implemented in Portugal, Finland, and Romania. Our international valorisation and sustainability conference is organised in the Netherlands.A learning in complexity virtual learning space is developed as an appropriate enabler for the use of our open access concepts and learning materials. An eBook functions as a condensed source of information for COL in health education. Both lead to more educators being able to engage in complexity-oriented learning approaches and more learners making use of high-quality learning materials.We round up with the development of a decision-makers workshop concept. It introduces COL and provides reasoning for enriching existing educational offers with COLA. Other than the trainings for educators, the concept sets a focus on the strategic positioning of HEI, on strategic health partnership perspectives, and on business development opportunities through COLA.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) with its ability to generate music popularly known as AI Music, has potential to permanently change the music landscape. It presents us with both unprecedented opportunities and challenges - opportunities such as democratising music creation, increasing accessibility by reducing music production costs and time. It also opens pandora’s box of legal challenges such as copyrightability of AI Music, legal concerns at the input stage i.e. training of AI Music Engines/Models, at the output stage i.e. generation of AI Music and others. These legal challenges are not confined to a particular country or geographical area but are of global concern, demanding concerted global effort to arrive at global solution. The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) comprising of 29 members including European Union, USA, United Kingdom and India, have highlighted need for exploring and deeper scrutiny of inter-alia various dimensions of AI including its legality and governance issues. Specifically for Europe, addressing these legal challenges will assist in ensuring secure, safe and sustainable digital transformation that puts people at the center, in line with core EU values and fundamental rights. AI music engines such as Suno and Udio are already in public domain. It becomes pivotal at this juncture, to explore, identify and address legal challenges posed by AI Music. Various countries are re-visiting, re-thinking and amending their copyright laws in light of the increasing AI capabilities. This postdoctoral project aims to conduct international, interdisciplinary and comparative study of the music copyright law using novel research methods, to fill the existing void, by developing first of its kind international legal framework specific to AI Music that accommodates the evolving dynamics of music ecosystem. It will also strengthen the 5 Pillars of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development around which 17 SDG's are structured.

"CONTEXTThe profession of Radiography provides a critical frontline healthcare service. Clinical competence and the use of technology in the management of patient pathways are core to Radiography Practice education. The COVID-19 crisis has impacted on the stability of clinical training schedules for student radiographers and reinforced the need for learning options and digital transformation within Radiography curricula. Furthermore, Radiography Institutions across Europe and internationally are at varying stages of digital readiness and resourcing to optimise distance learning and this project will offer realistic support options to enhance Radiography training and develop digital learning skills sets in staff and students. Successes over the 26 year history of the Erasmus Radiography Group (ERG) have been collaborative efforts to harmonise curricula, and also to offer professional support across national boundaries as staff within the profession develop their role. The FORCE project will leverage this international experience in order to deliver a resource that encompasses a pan-European dimension of radiographic practice that would not be possible within a project developed on a local basis. The FORCE project aligns to the focus of building and implementing online, blended and distance learning and the development of educators to enable them to deliver high quality inclusive digital education. The FORCE PROJECT involves a consortium of 8 academic partners and promotes networking, the sharing of expertise and sharing of resources. Academic staff, digital technology providers and importantly student radiographers will participate in the project. AIMThe overall aim of the FORCE project is to develop a virtual web-based learning resource where Radiography undergraduates across Europe can engage in interactive, problem based development of radiographic knowledge, ability and professional awareness. SELECTED OBJECTIVES1. Establishment of a web based virtual learning environment accessible initially across partner organisations, and subsequently deliverable as an open resource. 2. Develop comprehensive patient stories to capture the personal and medical history of each.3. Delivery of a variety of interactive tools through which students can negotiate the learning material in the VLE. In essence the VLE will present students with a simulation of an imaging and therapy ""department"", with patients to be examined and problems to be solved.4. Harvest evaluation from both students and staff on the functionality, ease of operation, usefulness, level of competence development and future potential of the resource. EXPECTED IMPACTS1. Harmonisation and enhanced educational practices employed for Radiography education throughout Europe. The standards of education will be enhanced from the production of high-quality learning content and innovative pedagogical approaches. The development of “Patient Story Base” will be a novel validated teaching resource which will support the teaching of a variety of core topics, in an interactive manner, to a large audience. New graduates will be expected to have a greater awareness of patient care pathways and are expected to have enhanced appreciation of clinical decision making upon graduation that they will bring to their daily work practice. The enhanced patient care learning resources will also contain a purposely increased content dealing with equality, inclusion and diversity issues. Provision of this content is expected to improve inclusivity awareness in new graduates so it is embedded into the professional culture which will in turn enhance patient care outcomes. The breadth of this curriculum enhancement will extend across diagnostic and radiotherapy specialities and routine to critical care examinations, across healthcare systems. The availability of the open access resources produced by FORCE will support Radiography educational institutions across Europe of varied economic status.2. An increased awareness of the potential for clinical simulation to be incorporated within the Radiography education. As digital simulation opportunities develop and as they grow in complexity and possible cost it is important the profession understands the impact of the simulation and is leading how simulation is best used in Radiography education. The experience and outputs reported by FORCE will form an evidence base for the profession as digitalexperiences grow. Additionally, the knowledge gained through the implementation of increased levels of simulation will impact on professional discourse when reviewing traditional opinion. Historically there has been a reluctance within the profession and by national professional regulators in healthcare to formally recognise clinical simulation and the outcomes of this project will impact positively on the evidence base needed to debate this topic."

Developing a fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food system represents a key priority of the European Green Deal. This is expressed in particular through the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’, which recognises the need to empower consumers to make informed, healthy and sustainable food choices and to reduce food loss and food waste. FOODMISSION aims therefore to use multi-actor and inclusive Transformation Labs and blend citizen science, learning and gamification approaches to understand citizens’ food practices for initiating behavioural changes, and ultimately engage and motivate to accelerate the uptake of more sustainable food behaviour. The project objectives are the following: (1) Setting up Transformation Labs that will support the project through all its phases from co-design to uptake, (2) Design of a comprehensive citizen science data framework, collecting and processing citizen-generated data on their food practices and development of a technical data infrastructure and data visualisation tools to support data sharing and analysis, (3) Design of a citizen motivation and engagement framework for empowering individual and collective change, (4) Co-development of a gamified educational virtual platform prototype and its content and activities, (5) Piloting and evaluation of the gamified educational virtual platform in 6 European countries, (6) Promotion of FOODMISSION’s key exploitable results and their impact to engage citizens for fair, inclusive, healthy, and sustainable food system in Europe and uptake of the outputs beyond the project and consortium. FOODMISSION will further contribute to the Food 2030 pathways for action. The interdisciplinary consortium is composed of 10 members based in 8 European countries, bringing together universities, innovative companies and various stakeholder organisations representing consumers, food retailers and food enterprises, and covering diverse socio-economic and demographic contexts.