"In the era of Brexit, euro-scepticism, and increasing migration, Europe is suffering from a crisis in trust. In 2019, 46% of Europeans said they tend not to trust the European Union; in the same year, the most important issue facing the EU today was identified, by Europeans, as immigration (Eurobarometer, 2019). There is a pressing need to rebuild trust across Europe and help Europeans to reaffirm the meaning of European cooperation. The basis of that meaning can be found in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union: “the Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.”It is increasingly difficult to prioritise these founding values. They must be reestablished at a grassroots level — this is precisely why youth exchanges are so important. When young people come together to share their culture, language, and traditions with their European neighbours, a bond of empathy is created which can overcome limited perspectives. Things we do not know scare us. Knowing a person and their history inspires empathy. Youth exchanges create a common solidarity and cultural fluidity among future generations, as well as encouraging them to create their own projects. Yet where to find this common basis of trust? The idea of Europe is much older than the EU. Whether it’s in Shakespeare’s retelling of the Danish prince Hamlet or the Italian Romeo and Juliet or Goethe’s tale of the emigrating Iphignie, or even our shared myths and legends crossing borders and histories; the story of Europe is one of continuous cultural exchange. We will use the unique possibilities of theatre to tell our shared stories. By telling stories of individuals, theatre can generate empathy for problems that reach beyond the fate of individuals. While coordinating the youth exchange programs “Trust”, “Trust 2”, “Roots of Trust” and “Endecameron”, La Transplanisphère, along with its partners ExQuorum, KJT (Kinder&Jugend Theatre) Dortmund and Teatro Rigodon, have seen first-hand the benefits gained when young people learn from one another and discover new cultures, while actively formulating their European identity. Such exchanges provided a space to question intra and extra-European migration and to build bonds of trust between Europeans from diverse backgrounds. Trust Tour will evolve the previous exchanges into a strategic partnership project, the ultimate goal being to share our collective database of experience. The end result: refined methodologies and example theatrical performances made using each one, to inspire others to develop their own projects and teach them how to succeed in that endeavor. More than just assessing the activities of previous years, the project will re-explore and re-define the methods in question, keeping in mind the current political and social context. Some methodologies for youth exchanges already exist: “The Balkan Youth Exchange”, 2015; “Stronger for tomorrow”, 2017; “YES – Youth Exchange System”, 2017; “Be - Happy 3.0”, 2018. However, these manuals are text-based, whereas we will combine textual and video aids. Moreover, none focused specifically on the issue of migration, or incorporated a theatrical dimension. While youth exchange manuals focusing on migration have already been created (""Migration vs. Integration"", 2016; “Theatre Fixing Connections”, 2016; “Theater of the Oppressed as a tool in Youth Exchanges”, 2017), the target audience in each case were young people with little knowledge of the topic, whereas we propose to bring together young people - students, citizens, emerging artists or migrants - to create a collaborative artistic piece. Certain projects have developed specific workshop games: “The Wall” for ToT on SimGame (2014) and “Suitcase” from the Strategic Partnership Safe Haven (2018). However, these tools focus on one part of a youth exchange, rather than a holistic overview. Due to the theatrical expertise of the partners, the end outputs will be both a methodological tool and an artistic production.The program of activities:-4 6-day mobility sessions, in the country of each partner organisation: before each session, the host partner defines their specific methodology. During the mobility session, the partners share this methodology and create a tutorial video. They also create a play using the methodology as an example and promotional tool.-4 Performances: At the end of each mobility session, the play is presented to an audience, and is also filmed to create a video production. -12 local multiplier events: after each mobility session, each partner will organise a local event in their own city post-mobility, to share the methodology and adapt it to their country."

<< Background >>Theatre.Makes.Politics#Theater.Power.Politics proposes to create a creative response on anti-democratic forces in European societies. The consortium considers it is extremely important that youth workers working with young Europeans are able to use creative tools to question how populists and extremists of different colours try to manipulate them. TMP#TPP explores how some groups create opposition up to enmyship to other groups, be they refugees, muslims, “unbelievers”, LGBTQ+ a.s.o. With the results of the project (creative worktools, handbook, network) we want to encourage youth workers to be able to shift perspectives in their concrete work, and to help young people to find a deeper understanding of people who are “different”, overcoming prejudices and discover the pleasure of exchanging, playing and acting with people they would otherwise never meet. The project addresses the needs of professional youth workers: youth educators, social workers, professionals from the field of youth education (members of the associate partners). They will participate as learners in the workshops and will be part of the practical research in training courses.<< Objectives >>The project’s general objectives are: - To empower and encourage youth workers to integrate methods into their work that will help them to address anti-democratic attitudes, such as racism, nationalism, intolerance, as well as religious fundamentalism in all its forms.- To enrich the set of methods and tools available for youth work in the above fields with techniques from the field of theatre pedagogy and other performing arts.- To create a core of youth trainers/ workers who have skills to tackle these sensitive issues in their work, and who also can act as multipliers.<< Implementation >>The project’s activities will be implemented in order to: - investigate, map and research about anti-democratic forces- design methods from the field of theatre-, dance-, media- and music pedagogy as well as creative writing which will enrich youth work and encourage youth workers to address and encounter anti-democratic forces and ideas, promoting active citizenship, participation and critical thinking amongst their attendees- plan the curricula of workshops applying the aforementioned methods, to implement these workshops in training activities in the partners’ countries The project will be concluded by multiplier events in the different partners countries associated with a major promotional event in Germany.<< Results >>The project results of the Theatre.Makes.Politics#Theater.Power.Politics project will allow us to collect the methods designed into a handbook. This too will be enriched by videos and tools available online which will be widely disseminated amongst youth organizations in Europe as a valuable tool for youth workers. Another outcome of the project will be dozens of youth workers trained to the new methodologies and capable to renew their workshops with youth groups, including young people with less opportunities. Together, they will address the fight against extremism in Europe and the promotion of the EU civic values in a creative way.

SmokeBot is driven by the application needs for robots that operate in domains with restricted visibility. The focus is on civil robots supporting fire brigades in search and rescue missions, e.g. in post-disaster management operations in response to tunnel fires. Existing sensor technology and the related cognitive approaches cannot cope with such demanding conditions. SmokeBot addresses this shortcoming and can thus bring about a step change for robotics. It will deliver software and hardware components which facilitate robot systems to perform under harsh conditions of smoke, dust or fog. This will be demonstrated through integration of the project results in an industrial prototype of a Low Visibility Explorer Robot for providing situational awareness based on a commercial platform from partner TAUR. In close collaboration with TAUR (robotics industry) and end users (FDDO, end users in the advisory group), SmokeBot will crucially improve the abilities of the selected platform, thus increasing safety of rescue staff and European citizens as well as improving the product of a European robotics company in an important market. An even wider impact is expected through the development of a novel sensor unit and the corresponding cognitive approaches. In addition to traditional sensors such as LIDAR and cameras, which are affected by smoke or dust, this sensing unit includes also a novel 3D radar camera, a thermal camera, and high-bandwidth gas sensors. Fusion of sensor modalities will allow the inclusion of measurements from LIDAR and camera into the world model when they occasionally penetrate through e.g. smoke. In addition, we will develop the means to integrate prior knowledge in the form of crude human sketch maps to allow for robust mapping and navigation even under low visibility in a harsh environment. Sensor technology from SmokeBot will result in new products to be brought to market after the project. Software developed will be made available as open source.