ACEEU

A Pan-European initiative blending Citizen Science with Research Service-Learning to tackle societal challenges

EPiCS: ENGAGE PEOPLE in CITIZEN SCIENCE 

EPiCS is a pan-European initiative blending Citizen Science with Research Service-Learning to tackle societal challenges. The goal of the EPICS project (No ) is to foster stronger connections between higher education and local communities. EPiCS supports collaborative and applied approaches to learning and research. Eight partners from seven countries work together in a social innovation experiment to explore how students, researchers, and community members can jointly design research projects that address real-world challenges. In doing so, EPiCS contributes to more engagements between academic practice and civic participation. The project is funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme with project number 2024-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000255368.

Key objectives are to: 

  • Encourage community involvement in scientific research.
  • Promote interdisciplinary and experiential learning within higher education.
  • Develop an online academic deliberative arena for Citizen Science initiatives and research service learning projects.
  • Launch six pilot citizen science projects across Europe.
  • Share tools and guidance through an open-access toolkit and handbook

UT researchers engaged in the project: Jeroen Vonk (junior researcher), dr. Sjoerd de Vries and dr. Anne M. Dijkstra

Website: https://www.epicsproject.eu