NORDPLUS Network in Philosophy/2024. This project continues an on-going cooperation devoted to student and teaching-staff mobility in the field of philosophy (and related subjects) that has been functioning, and steadily expanding, since 2002 and presently includes thirty-one Nordic and Baltic partners. The partners include all of the Nordic and Baltic institutions with major philosophy departments, along with a number of others that benefit particularly from these exchanges; the latter include institutions with smaller philosophy departments and even some that do not offer philosophy as a degree subject but cultivate it in various contexts. Consequently, the network has supported mobility in subject areas such as communications, media studies, law, history, and social sciences, although philosophy is prioritized if resources are limited. Grant support is available for long-term, short-term, and express student mobility and for teaching-staff mobility. These academic mobility flows help to make effective use of academic resources through sharing. They also provide students and teaching staff with broadened perspectives and valuable life experiences, enhance the careers of young teachers, and conduce to Nordic and Baltic cooperation and integration. The network supports only those applications that are in compliance with the operating rules of Nordplus and of the network itself. The contact persons advertise the network to students and staff at their institutions and help to arrange proposed exchanges with partner institutions. Proposals for grant funding are then submitted to the Coordinator for approval. The network has supported many academically excellent mobility flows, and funding has been sufficient to meet demand.

The NOVA-BOVA Nordplus Network was established in 2008, and today includes 7 Nordic and 4 Baltic agricultural, forestry and veterinary universities/faculties: University of Helsinki (FI), University of Eastern Finland (FI), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO), Agriculture University of Iceland (IS), University of Copenhagen (DK) Aniversity of Aarhus (DK). Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LV), Agriculture Academy of Vytautas Magnus University (LT), Lithuanian University of Health Sciences - Veterinary Academy (LT), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE). The network offers possibilities for partners to visit other Nordic and Baltic faculties of their field for shorter or longer mobility periods. We have organized joint intensive courses based on academic and methodological exchange between the institutions. The objective of the network is to contribute to development of sustainable use of natural resources, food production, human and animal health and welfare. Life Sciences universities in our region share similar challenges, but differences in history and tradition have created diverse approaches to handle challenges, so we have much to learn from each other. Member institutions have national responsibility for degrees, of which several disciplines have low student numbers and scattered resources. Working together creates synergies to great benefit of teachers and students, and makes it possible to conduct courses that otherwise would attract too few students if each institution arranged them separately. Teachers gather best practices from partners and implement them in their home faculties and share their specialty with peers and students in the network.

The educational system today is facing a growing pressure and demand to prepare youth to adapt and thrive in an increasingly complex social reality and to become active citizens and contributing members of society able to deal with unparalleled social challenges of the 21st century. The low level of social awareness and civic engagement among the youth in the region remains a source of concern. School education is falling short of bringing desired learning outcomes, while among early teenage learners social and citizenship studies and educational resources are particularly underdeveloped.

Our objective is to provide a state-of-the-art cross-disciplinary course “I, Citizen-To-Be” for early teenage learners aged 11 to 15, enabling to enhance the quality of citizenship education in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Through a novel phenomenon-based approach, our ICT-based course will offer the foundations of social and civic knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to develop into the 21st century’s active and responsible citizens. The course will integrate the essentials of civics, economics, ethics, psychology, sociology, politics and other social studies.

We believe that when young people have the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand the functioning of society and their own role as citizens, to participate in social and civic life, their lives and society improve. We also believe that equipping youth with the requisite knowledge, skills and confidence should start early and continue in a structured and consistent manner throughout school education.

BACKGROUND: THE EUROPEAN POLICY LEVEL LibOCS (University libraries strengthening the academia-society connection through citizen science in the Baltics) tackles a well identified need: the need of Baltic universities and their libraries to fully integrate open science (OS) and citizen science (CS) as both are strategic to the European Union (cf. “Shaping Europe’s digital future, October 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/citizen-science ). In terms of digital transition, the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) which is the first financial instrument of the EU focused on bringing digital technology to businesses and citizens, has open and citizen science at its core. 3 examples follow among many others. First, in the DIGITAL Europe “European Digital Innovation Hubs Work Programme 2021-2023”, one can clearly see emphasis on both open science and civic engagement as means to reach digital innovation. Second, “Cybersecurity”, the other pillar of the EU DIGITAL Europe, is also about open data (thus open science). Finally, the last pillar of Digital Europe Programme, “Artificial Intelligence” clearly tackles issues at the core of open and citizen science, as “as data fuels the development of AI, DIGITAL also aims to set up true European data space and facilitate safe access to and storage of large datasets”. The importance of open and citizen science is of paramount importance, and universities in the Baltic region should scale up to be well prepared for current and future challenges. The final report of the European Open Science Policy Platform remarks about citizen science that “while the citizen science community believes that Citizen Science across Europe is at the level of adoption, the rest of the stakeholders have evaluated progress as being still in the early stages of discussion, planning and some initial implementation”. Indeed, there is a major difference between having citizen science activities at laboratory level (or department) and performing or supporting them at organizational level. In 2016, LERU (The European Association of Research Universities) released an Advice Paper for HEIs to take an active role in citizen science. University of Tartu is a member of the CE7 Group which has a special partnership with LERU. BACKGROUND: THE CURRENT SITUATION CS as one part of the OS is still in the development phase, and sometimes there is a disconnect between CS and OS. As part of the OS, CS can take various forms from being just informed about scientific research to active involvement in the research process. CS can solve the pan-European OS effort to open, share and re-use research in addressing various societal problems. Therefore CS has a genuine (and heavily under-used) potential for OS. NEEDS ADDRESSED The current LibOCS project focuses on civic engagement in open science activities and aims to integrate CS findings into OS cycle. The Baltic region, is receiving special attention because of inequalities in Open and Citizen Science adoption. Academic libraries in Baltic states have been actively involved in OS activities for about a decade now. These libraries offer OS support services in HEIs; however, involvement in CS is still in the development phase. The connection between citizen-generated data at citizen science projects to open science cycle is yet to be achieved. There is thus a huge potential in making science more accessible to society, by streamlining open and citizen science for improved knowledge at universities and beyond. The project's primary goal is to raise awareness and mainstream citizen science activities in Baltic countries (EE, LV, LT), which are experts in open science but not in citizen science. Besides keeping track of CS and OS implementation progress and procedures, document and publicly FAIR-share best practices, and engage non-expert public groups in social engagement and collaboration. A Greek SME and a German partner enhance transfer of knowledge in citizen science.

The technology of artificial intelligence (AI) poses new challenges to humans. AI and the language-based AI-assistants form a new reality that has a direct impact on the socialization processes of children as well as on intra-family communication behavior. Nevertheless, there are research gaps in the field of AI-assistants in kindergartens and daycare centers. Only few publications describe the relevance of the topic against the background of "AI-assistants' competence" for educators. However, the increasing impact of AI-assistants into everyday life is a new challenge for educational institutions. Implications arising from the interaction between people and AI-assistants in everyday life should also be fundamentally understood by educators in order to develop a pedagogical plan. The Strategic Partnership ROBOT makes this possible by developing and testing pedagogical agency and integrating it into the curricula of the project partners. In addition, ROBOT is creating a Europe-wide applicable education module for teaching this key competence to educators. The advanced training module promotes an active, creative and conscious handling of AI-assistants as well as innovative didactic methods based on "Maker Centered Learning". In addition, e-learning units are developed for educators, which contain measures for self-reflection and knowledge review on the topic of AI-assistants. The latter is embedded in a project website, which is also an exchange forum for educators during and beyond the project. Furthermore, parents often encounter these new AI technologies without any recognizable educational intention. ROBOT therefore focuses on the educational work with children aged 0-10 years and sets an accent in the professionalization of the cooperation with parents. ROBOT thus reacts to a Europe-wide lack of practice-proven concepts and modules for a competence in the pedagogical handling of AI-assistants.

Remiantis Lietuvos pažangos strategija „Lietuva 2030“ , kurioje įtvirtinta Lietuvos ateities vizija, siekiama atliepti bendruomenių, nevyriausybinių organizacijų ir aktyvių piliečių idėjas, projektuojama kaip įgalinti Lietuvos švietimo institucijas remtis pažangiausių valstybių patirtimi. Tyrimų duomenys rodo, kad mokytojams nepakanka kompetencijų dirbti su įvairove klasėje, diferencijuoti ir individualizuoti, personalizuoti ir internalizuoti ugdymo turinį, todėl siūlomos kompetencijų programos remiasi tvaria, pasitikėjimu ir patyrimu grįsta kultūra, įtrauktimi ir universalaus dizaino principais.

Our understanding of forest soil processes is limited. The EU-funded HoliSoils project will develop a harmonised soil monitoring framework by filling in knowledge gaps to ensure climate and sustainability goals are being met. Through a collaborative, multi-actor approach, the project will identify and test soil management practices. The goal is to develop effective numerical forecasting of soil-based greenhouse gas mitigation practices and ensure sustainable provision of various ecosystem services. To develop tools for soil monitoring, HoliSoils will incorporate novel methodologies and expert knowledge on analytical techniques, data sharing, soil properties and biodiversity, and processes with model development.

The ENOUGH project will provide technologies, tools and methods to contribute to the EU Farm to Fork strategy to achieve climate neutral food businesses. The ENOUGH objectives are: i) Reducing GHG-emissions by at least 50% by 2050 ii) Reducing energy use and increasing energy efficiency by 2030. iii) Increasing the overall sustainability of food systems iv) Providing selected innovative technological systemic solutions and their potential for uptake at EU. The partnership draws together 29 partners from 11 EU nations and the UK with expertise across the whole food chain. The ENOUGH project is constructed around 9 work packages (WP): WP1 will identify 1990 and 2020 baselines for GHG emissions and will then forecast how emissions will change moving forward to 2030 and 2050. In WP2, we will identify what are the energy efficient measures and new technologies that are vital to achieve the maximum reductions in emissions. In WP4 we will use all the information and models from WP1 and 2 to develop a web-based tool that will identify the benefits of thermal integration heating and cooling and provide information on potential global emission reductions across the whole food chain. In WP5, data from food process and the food supply chain will be used to optimize and better control operations and technologies to minimize emissions. In WP3 and 7 we will examine how social behaviour, policy and finance can add to the GHG reductions target. In WP6, the more relevant and promising technologies will be demonstrated. A set of the most promising technologies TRL (5-7) have been pre-selected for demonstration based on their relevance and readiness. Additional technologies/operational adaptations will be added during the project and will be selected using a robust process managed by the coordinator and demonstrated in real life. Work from the ENOUGH project will be widely disseminated with an ambitious communication plan in WP8. WP9 includes all project management.

BACKGROUND: THE EUROPEAN POLICY LEVEL LibOCS (University libraries strengthening the academia-society connection through citizen science in the Baltics) tackles a well identified need: the need of Baltic universities and their libraries to fully integrate open science (OS) and citizen science (CS) as both are strategic to the European Union (cf. “Shaping Europe’s digital future, October 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/citizen-science ). In terms of digital transition, the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) which is the first financial instrument of the EU focused on bringing digital technology to businesses and citizens, has open and citizen science at its core. 3 examples follow among many others. First, in the DIGITAL Europe “European Digital Innovation Hubs Work Programme 2021-2023”, one can clearly see emphasis on both open science and civic engagement as means to reach digital innovation. Second, “Cybersecurity”, the other pillar of the EU DIGITAL Europe, is also about open data (thus open science). Finally, the last pillar of Digital Europe Programme, “Artificial Intelligence” clearly tackles issues at the core of open and citizen science, as “as data fuels the development of AI, DIGITAL also aims to set up true European data space and facilitate safe access to and storage of large datasets”. The importance of open and citizen science is of paramount importance, and universities in the Baltic region should scale up to be well prepared for current and future challenges. The final report of the European Open Science Policy Platform remarks about citizen science that “while the citizen science community believes that Citizen Science across Europe is at the level of adoption, the rest of the stakeholders have evaluated progress as being still in the early stages of discussion, planning and some initial implementation”. Indeed, there is a major difference between having citizen science activities at laboratory level (or department) and performing or supporting them at organizational level. In 2016, LERU (The European Association of Research Universities) released an Advice Paper for HEIs to take an active role in citizen science. University of Tartu is a member of the CE7 Group which has a special partnership with LERU. BACKGROUND: THE CURRENT SITUATION CS as one part of the OS is still in the development phase, and sometimes there is a disconnect between CS and OS. As part of the OS, CS can take various forms from being just informed about scientific research to active involvement in the research process. CS can solve the pan-European OS effort to open, share and re-use research in addressing various societal problems. Therefore CS has a genuine (and heavily under-used) potential for OS. NEEDS ADDRESSED The current LibOCS project focuses on civic engagement in open science activities and aims to integrate CS findings into OS cycle. The Baltic region, is receiving special attention because of inequalities in Open and Citizen Science adoption. Academic libraries in Baltic states have been actively involved in OS activities for about a decade now. These libraries offer OS support services in HEIs; however, involvement in CS is still in the development phase. The connection between citizen-generated data at citizen science projects to open science cycle is yet to be achieved. There is thus a huge potential in making science more accessible to society, by streamlining open and citizen science for improved knowledge at universities and beyond. The project's primary goal is to raise awareness and mainstream citizen science activities in Baltic countries (EE, LV, LT), which are experts in open science but not in citizen science. Besides keeping track of CS and OS implementation progress and procedures, document and publicly FAIR-share best practices, and engage non-expert public groups in social engagement and collaboration. A Greek SME and a German partner enhance transfer of knowledge in citizen science.

Project received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).