22 March 2024 – At the 5th Transnational Meeting of the Erasmus+ project NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning, hosted by TU Dublin (Ireland), on 13-15 March 2024, the NEMOS consortium embarked on the final stages of the initiative.

Launched in February 2022, the two-year project will officially conclude on 31 March 2024. The meeting was thus an opportunity to take stock of all the activities carried out during the project lifespan and agree on the last steps before publishing its final results.

After establishing a Food Sustainability Profile, which identified the competences related to sustainability that students should develop throughout their learning path with the support of a community building methodology, the consortium started designing the NEMOS Methodological Handbook as a guide to embed sustainability in the curricula through service-learning.

In the meantime, the university partners started implementing service-learning activities with their students, piloting the integration of sustainability in the curricula in some specific courses. Furthermore, they developed specific assessing tools to monitor and evaluate the impact of the service-learning experiences carried out, such as, questionnaires, reflective journals and rubrics. The initial results of the assessment already demonstrated the huge potential of service-learning as a green pedagogy that can trigger a transformative process and support students in the improvement of their sustainability competences.

The Methodological Handbook, to be published soon in the different languages of the consortium (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish), will also collect experiences and case studies from the universities involved, serving as a reference for further institutions to implement the methodology developed by NEMOS and adapt it to their specific context.

The ultimate aim is to encourage the integration of sustainability as a transversal skill throughout all education curricula to ensure that students are better prepared to face current and future global challenges.

During the transnational meeting, the NEMOS partners had the chance to visit TU Dublin’s state-of-the-art facilities and labs, as well as meet from Prof. Jesus Maria Frias Celayeta, Academic Leader of the Environmental Sustainability and Health Institute, and hear about the Geek4Food project, aimed to advance the food system transition towards sustainable and green solutions through AI-based tools.

They were also pleased to meet students from TU Dublin’s BSc in Food Innovation and MSc in Sustainable Food Safety Management, and learn about their experiences with service learning as a means to develop sustainability competences for their professional future.

The meeting also coincided with the final NEMOS event on Education for Sustainability and the European GreenComp Framework, organised on 14 March 2024 by the Technological University of Dublin’s Sustainability Education Unit and Faculty of Sciences and Health Sustainability committee, in collaboration with the NEMOS consortium. The event offered the opportunity to the partners to share their experiences with service-learning, as well as get involved in a Scaffold workshop with lecturers and students of TU Dublin.

About the NEMOS Project

The NEMOS project acknowledges sustainability as an increasingly crucial skill for graduate and post-graduate students to tackle important global challenges such as climate change, food waste and the loss of biodiversity in their professional future. Therefore, the project aims to define a new educational model to integrate sustainability competences in the curricula of food-related degrees by means of service learning.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the NEMOS project is led by the Public University of Navarra and includes the following consortium partners: Technological University Dublin (Ireland); Technological University Graz (Austria); Rhône-Alpes Higher Institute of Agriculture (France); University of Pisa (Italy); and IGCAT.

More information at www.nemosproject.com

6 October 2023 – The NEMOS partners moved forward in their endeavour to integrate sustainability into food-related degrees at the 4th transnational meeting of the Erasmus+ project NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning, hosted by ISARA school in Lyon (France), on 2-3 October 2023.

The aim of the meeting was to track the project’s progress and plan for the final actions to be implemented within the project’s lifespan. To that end, each of the higher education institutions involved in the consortium shared the approach they used to include service-learning activities into selected courses, and the methodologies applied to engage students, lecturers and local community actors.

Furthermore, they discussed the assessing tools developed to monitor and evaluate the impact of the service-learning experiences carried out, such as, questionnaires, reflective journals and rubrics. The initial results of the assessment already demonstrated the huge potential of service-learning as a green pedagogy that can trigger a transformative process and support students in the improvement of their sustainability competences. The ultimate aim is to move towards the integration of sustainability as a transversal skill throughout the higher education curricula to ensure that graduates are better prepared to face current and future global challenges.

All the work carried out by the consortium partners and the tools they designed to pilot their model in the food sector, will be collected in the NEMOS Methodological Handbook. This document will serve as a guiding tool for other educational institutions interested in adopting (and adapting) the NEMOS approach in other fields.

The Handbook and all results of the NEMOS project will be presented at a final conference to be hosted by the Technological University of Dublin (TU Dublin) in March 2024.

About the NEMOS Project

The NEMOS project acknowledges sustainability as an increasingly crucial skill for graduate and post-graduate students to tackle important global challenges such as climate change, food waste and the loss of biodiversity in their professional future. Therefore, the project aims to define a new educational model to integrate sustainability competences in the curricula of food-related degrees by means of service learning.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the NEMOS project is led by the Public University of Navarra and includes the following consortium partners: Technological University Dublin (Ireland); Technological University Graz (Austria); Rhône-Alpes Higher Institute of Agriculture (France); University of Pisa (Italy); and IGCAT.

More information at www.nemosproject.com

30 March 2023 – The NEMOS project’s state of play and steps forward were discussed at the 3rd transnational meeting of NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning, that took place on 28-29 March 2023 at the Technische Universität Graz (Austria).

The meeting gathered representatives from all the partners in the NEMOS consortium, who shared good practices on how to use service-learning as a pedagogy to integrate sustainability in food-related degrees. Each university involved in the project shared their experiences of working with the local community to enhance the sustainability mindset of students and provide possible solutions to existing local challenges.

On this basis, the partners consolidated the contents and structure of the NEMOS Methodological Handbook. Aimed at providing a general framework of guidance to adopt service-learning as a tool for strengthening the sustainability competences of students, the Methodological Handbook will also include examples and best practices implemented in the different university contexts concerned.

The meeting also offered the opportunity for the consortium to plan for the next project milestone: the creation of assessment tools that will be used to validate the NEMOS Food Sustainability Profile (which identifies the sustainability competences that students should develop throughout their academic path) and the Methodological Handbook.

This evaluation phase will ultimately lead to the development of a new educational model for the acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning, to be disseminated for implementation by further universities.

About the NEMOS Project

The NEMOS project acknowledges sustainability as an increasingly crucial skill for graduate and post-graduate students to tackle important global challenges such as climate change, food waste and the loss of biodiversity in their professional future. Therefore, the project aims to define a new educational model to integrate sustainability competences in the curricula of food-related degrees by means of service learning.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the NEMOS project is led by the Public University of Navarra and includes the following consortium partners: Technological University Dublin (Ireland); Technological University Graz (Austria); Rhône-Alpes Higher Institute of Agriculture (France); University of Pisa (Italy); and IGCAT.

More information at www.nemosproject.com

14 September 2022 – Representatives from the NEMOS project partner institutions gathered at their 2nd transnational meeting, hosted by the University of Pisa (UNIPI), on 12-13 September 2022. The aim of the event was to discuss the project’s state of the art and the future steps to be taken by the consortium to embed sustainability skills into their food-related degrees’ curricula through service-learning.

Each partner presented the main activities they already carry out related to sustainability and service-learning for the purpose of sharing good practices. Moreover, they exchanged views on how to define a Food Sustainability Profile (FSP) for students to succeed in their professional future when dealing with sustainability challenges.

Based on the results of ongoing qualitative and quantitative surveys involving students, teachers and stakeholders, the FSP will identify the sustainability competences that students should develop throughout their academic path.

After establishing a roadmap to develop the FSP and the subsequent milestone in the project, the NEMOS Methodological Handbook, the partners planned for the first NEMOS multiplier event to be organised online by IGCAT on 20 October 2022.

During the transnational meeting, the NEMOS partners also had the chance to meet Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Department at UNIPI, Marcello Mele, as well as Associate Professor in Agronomy and member of the Sustainable Development Committee at UNIPI, Prof. Daniele Antichi.

About the NEMOS Project

The NEMOS project acknowledges sustainability as an increasingly crucial skill for graduate and post-graduate students to tackle important global challenges such as climate change, food waste and the loss of biodiversity in their professional future. Therefore, the project aims to define a new educational model to integrate sustainability competences in the curricula of food-related degrees by means of service learning.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the NEMOS project is led by the Public University of Navarra and includes the following consortium partners: Technological University Dublin (Ireland); Technological University Graz (Austria); Rhône-Alpes Higher Institute of Agriculture (France); University of Pisa (Italy); and IGCAT.

More information at www.nemosproject.com

13 April 2022 – The Erasmus+ co-funded project NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning, officially kicked-off at its first transnational meeting, hosted by the Public University of Navarra (UPNA) in Pamplona, on 11-12 April 2022.

The main objective of the project is to define a new educational model suitable for acquiring competencies in sustainability through green pedagogies and service-learning, an educational approach that combines experiential learning and community service. In this context, NEMOS will provide an educational model, complete with tools for teachers and patterns of educational practices, so that the acquisition of sustainability competencies is integrated into the student’s curriculum.

During the meeting, the consortium partners had the chance to learn about each other’s institutions and what initiatives they already implement in the field of sustainability. They also discussed possible methodologies to involve teachers, students and stakeholders in the project.

A timeline and a work schedule were set for the coming months to deliver the main project results: establishing a food sustainability profile (FSP) for students through a community building methodology; creating a methodological handbook (MH) in Food sustainability through service learning; developing assessment tools of the FSP and MH by co-creation practices in service learning; and defining a new educational model, for the acquisition of sustainability competences through green pedagogies and service learning.

Finally, the web page and logo design for the NEMOS project were also approved.

About the NEMOS Project

The NEMOS project acknowledges sustainability as an increasingly crucial skill for graduate and post-graduate students to tackle important global challenges such as climate change, food waste and the loss of biodiversity in their professional future. Therefore, the project aims to define a new educational model to integrate sustainability competences in the curricula of food-related degrees by means of service learning.

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, the NEMOS project is led by the Public University of Navarra and includes the following consortium partners: Technological University Dublin (Ireland); Technological University Graz (Austria); Rhône-Alpes Higher Institute of Agriculture (France); University of Pisa (Italy); and IGCAT.

More information at www.nemosproject.com