A festive encore of the ENHANCE project

Voices in Motion: the festival-style conference that marked the closing of project ENHANCE, co-funded by the European Erasmus+ programme. ENHANCE focuses on future-orientated citizen science projects, to support changing behaviours and acting on environmental and climate change issues, combining Futures methods and the SDG learning strategy.

The event supported the dissemination and visibility of these projects from the involved universities that are part of ECIU, and demonstrated the impact from a local to a European perspective. Just like the diverse weather in the Netherlands, we welcomed different types of voices. Symphonies are needed to move society forward! From the interactive opening by choreographer Estrella Smith until the very end: Visitors felt the mindset of Voices in Motion.

From pre-party to festival

The experience started at DesignLab University of Twente (UT), where co-founder and manager Miriam Iliohan, and Operations coordinator Angela Krstovska introduced international visitors to this collaborative ecosystem, that embraces and facilitates constructive and creative dialogues between stakeholders from literally all corners of the world, to build futures that we all want to live in.

The next day, students, staff, researchers, people from the municipality, friends and families from the different countries in Europe came to a unique location on the green campus of UT, where they could visit pavilions, a haystack and modern farm to interact with the ENHANCE researchers.

Different dialogues in different tangible layers

Each university showcased the Futures Workshops that they designed and facilitated for and with their local communities back in their country, but they really brought it to life by combining these with personal and cultural experiences: Through crafting, the use of AI technology, music, artefacts, and more.

Citizen Science Hub Oost presented the work of students and researchers of the collaborating institutes UT and Saxion in Twente, to engage visitors in becoming coresearchers. One sporty conversation starter was whether citizens should be held responsible for the energy transition. Yes or No? Hit the right goal! Pre-University’s Science on Tour amazed the audience of all ages by presenting scientific experiments.

Meanwhile, there were inspiring talks about how ECIU and ECIU University could boost academic careers and personal development (by Katrin Dircksen), how education can be considered as collective action of social justice, serving the common good (by Mary-Rose McLaren), and lastly: how future generations learn to see what role they can have in their local communities (by Skye Nguyen).

Some enthusiasts were taken along OUTSIDE the festival to explore life in local water and measure the quality of water, a mini workshop offered by Rosan van Halsema (NIOO-KNAW). Other groups took pictures of the campus, and then changed the scenery using generative AI, to explore how the campus could be redefined as a place for various communities. A Futures Workshop, designed and facilitated by ENHANCE researcher Ana Mafalda Madureira, on behalf of UTs faculty ITC.

Next steps

• The ENHANCE project team is now working on the final report that includes all the results from the presented Futures Workshops: the topics, process, outcomes, tools, learnings, and more.
• Keep an eye on the training section of the ENHANCE website: soon you can learn to design and facilitate Futures Workshop yourself. The introduction video is already available for you to watch!
• If you would like to stay connected with the growing community of like-minded changemakers, please join the Co-Creating Futures Network! Sign up now (it’s free)!

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