THEME: EPICUR - Life Long Learning and Citizen Science
Interview with Yurii Chipko, Work Package Lead
My role within EPICUR is that of a work package leader. I coordinate one of the 7 work packages of the EPICUR SHAPE-IT project, a “branch” of the EPICUR alliance. Within that role, I coordinate the contributions from various partners (including SDU) and make sure that we are delivering things on time and of good quality. The work package I lead is called WP 5 – Building Skills with Society, and it involves experts in the fields of lifelong learning, citizen science, entrepreneurship and employability. Internally, I am based at SDU RIO, and I am particularly involved in RIO’s contribution to WP 5 and EPICUR in general.
Who else from SDU is developing this work package?
On the SDU side, my colleagues at RIO play a very important role. Helene Fast Seefeldt and Tine Lynfort Jensen are, respectively, the Outreach Partner and Career and Employability Consultant from the Collaboration and Practice team and are the core experts behind the entrepreneurship and mployability activities (such as, for example, a report focused on skills needs across the EPICUR regions; portfolio of entrepreneurship and employability services; and development of new offerings (like summer camps)). Tine is also involved in the lifelong learning part of WP 5, where she was instrumental in the development of the concept of the online lifelong learning module for early career researchers that will be piloted in the near uture. Thomas Kaarsted, Director of the SDU Citizen Science Knowledge Centre, and Anne Kathrine Overgaard, Head of Division at SUND, are the key experts within the various EPICUR activities within the field of citizen science. Helene, Tine, Thomas and Anne Kathrine would all be happy to be contacted in case any particular information or guidance on E&E, LLL or CS is needed.
What is the focus of WP5?
WP 5 is titled “Building Skills with Society”, and that name encapsulates the two key things we are focusing on – skills development (upskilling and reskilling) and connecting with the surrounding society across the different EPICUR regions. We are aiming to achieve both goals within three distinct fields or areas of focus – lifelong learning (LLL), citizen science, and entrepreneurship and employability. Within those, the partners are trying to connect their existing efforts, policies, structures and offerings and to create brand new joint ones. This will allow us to combine expertise in different fields and to maximize it, so that all universities (particularly SDU) benefit.
How is WP5 relevant for teachers and students at SDU?
WP 5’s focus on skills is of particular relevance to teachers and students at SDU, since we seek to create different opportunities to have targeted activities that allow you to address specific skill (or skills). This is both useful for students, who, through WP 5 activities, will be able to prepare themselves for the life after studies and for teachers, who can expand on their existing knowledge and network and build connections across Europe.
Which other universities in the EPICUR Alliance are most involved with this work package?
We, luckily, have all EPICUR 9 universities involved in one way or another in the WP 5 activities, but of particular note are the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (active in all three areas of WP 5); University of Natural Sciences in Vienna (especially within lifelong learning); and the Adam Mickiewicz University (especially within citizen science).
What opportunities are there for teachers at SDU to collaborate on LLL and CS with teachers from other EPICUR universities?
One of the goals of WP 5 is to create as many opportunities as possible for our universities to connect. The WP 5 team is working on various LLL and CS activities, but while those are in development, I could not recommend taking a look at the different EPICUR universities and reaching out to us if you would like to connect enough. At the end of the day, we want to foster a bottom-up type of cooperation and not impose something that not all teachers would find relevant. So while we will develop various offerings, the opportunities right now are hidden in bilateral cooperation. For example, from our work in WP 5, it is clear that the University of Amsterdam and the University of Natural Sciences in Vienna have great expertise when it comes to lifelong learning. The same applies to the Adam Mickiewicz University and, again, University of Natural Sciences in Vienna when it comes to citizen science. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has some great experts within the health field. So, the trick right now is finding these connections and reaching out – chances are that you can exchange some great expertise and grow your network.
What’s coming up that could be useful for me (me being a teacher at SDU)?
A couple of exciting things are coming up in WP 5 that will be good for teachers to both use and know. We are working on creating two platforms that will become valuable repositories of information – the Lifelong Learning Centre and the Citizen Science Platform. Both will offer resources, materials and best practices, as well as opportunities to connect with your peers across the EPICUR alliance. They will also host various joint and individual offerings. For example, we in WP 5 are developing a number of such offerings – an online module for teachers on lifelong learning and employability that will facilitate best practice exchange among teachers; Teacher Touring Industry Programme, which will connect teachers will their local business and industry ecosystems; and citizen science competence development programme for researchers and staff, which will provide the basis for understanding and engaging in citizen science. These (and many other) offerings will be among those available for you on the platforms and the EPICUR website.
Please add any further comments about the WP and teachers at SDU
The bottom line for this work package is that we want to create conditions for engagement with the outside world, looking both at our universities and also beyond them. Teachers play a critical role in that, because your engagement is what makes projects like EPICUR work. We want to get to the point where when you think about international collaboration, you think about our EPICUR partners first, and WP 5 is just a small part of contributing to that happening.
Yurii Chipko, Project and Business Developer, SDU RIO, Incubation & Partnerships