The Project “Future Environmentalists - Linking EU Natural Capital Management to Field Research” (FUTURNATUR) addresses innovation in higher education through an approach of a partnership aiming to cross the gaps between theory, research data and practical management in environmental sciences (biology, forestry and related natural sciences). Project goals are: The project activities will be implemented over 24 months (01.10. 2018 - 30.09. 2020) in a partnership of 4 public law organizations from 4 EU countries: Association of Parks in Bulgaria (Bulgaria), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (Bulgaria) and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic). All partners have experience in networking with student’s clubs and young volunteers and have agreed on the need to address them with structured and complementary non-formal education programme linking nature management with research fieldwork and active civil stance on environmental topics. All project partners have experience in educational project for environmental education, and the university partners have vast experience in Erasmus + projects. The project has three main objectives: - Develop relevant and high quality skills and competences for nature sciences students in Bulgaria , Greece and Czech Republic as the future EU professionals in nature resource research, management and policy; - Empower young environmentalists in Bulgaria , Greece and Czech Republic for monitoring of the implementation of EU environmental policies in their countries and foster active citizenship; - Establish a network of future EU professionals, linking young environmentalists from Bulgaria, Greece and Czech republic in the 3 most relevant sectors - research, management and advocacy thus facilitating future synergies in policy implementation. The project will apply the participatory approach, with elements of pro-active and adaptive management. Target groups: Students from the universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague enrolled in nature science disciplines (biology, botany, forestry, etc.); Higher education and professional trainers in environmental fields; Future employers of nature science professionals. The project includes 10 activities, including intellectual output. Creation of an Innovative Education Toolkit combining best practice resources in research fieldwork, data treatment, data usage in environmental management and advocacy is a core project activity. This toolkit will be developed and applied in pilot extra-curricular activities at the partner universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague through face-to-face lectures, fieldwork student trips, webinars and multiplier events. Expected project results are as follows: - an expertise environmental Network (informal) of at least 100 students, postgraduates, university teachers, nature conservationists from employment institutions in the sector (NGOs, protected areas administrations, environmental agencies, forest management authorities, scientific and research organisations) will be established in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic; - at least 100 students to have participated in the projects' lectures, webinars, fieldworks trips and at least 300 students have accessed on-line the resources of the Innovative Education Toolkit; - at least 20 individual students per country (6o individuals in total) will have undergone a 2-year pilot training in state-of-art conservation science and management methods, using the created Innovative Educational Toolkit; - improved higher education teaching capacity the 4 partner institutions in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic through introducing interdisciplinary methods and feeding research and practice approaches back into education via the created toolkit; - improved and updated teaching skills of at least 15 higher education trainers in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic. Total project budget is estimated at EUR 227190.00
The Project “Future Environmentalists - Linking EU Natural Capital Management to Field Research” (FUTURNATUR) addresses innovation in higher education through an approach of a partnership aiming to cross the gaps between theory, research data and practical management in environmental sciences (biology, forestry and related natural sciences). The project activities were implemented over 32 months (01.10.2018 - 31.05.2021) in a partnership of 4 public law organizations from 4 EU countries: Association of Parks in Bulgaria (Bulgaria), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (Bulgaria) and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic). All partners have experience in networking with student’s clubs and young volunteers and have agreed on the need to address them with structured and complementary non-formal education programme linking nature management with research fieldwork and active civil stance on environmental topics. All project partners have experience in educational project for environmental education, and the university partners have vast experience in Erasmus + projects. The project has three main objectives: - Develop relevant and high quality skills and competences for nature sciences students in Bulgaria , Greece and Czech Republic as the future EU professionals in nature resource research, management and policy; - Empower young environmentalists in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic for monitoring of the implementation of EU environmental policies in their countries and foster active citizenship; - Establish a network of future EU professionals, linking young environmentalists from Bulgaria, Greece and Czech republic in the 3 most relevant sectors - research, management and advocacy thus facilitating future synergies in policy implementation. The project was applied the participatory approach, with elements of pro-active and adaptive management. The target group of the project were students that enrolled in nature science disciplines (biology, botany, forestry, etc.) with motivation for future professional realisation in conservation research, management and/or advocacy. Students were from the universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague enrolled in nature science disciplines (biology, botany, forestry, etc.); Higher education and professional trainers in environmental fields; Future employers of nature science professionals. The main activity of the project was creation of an Innovative Education Toolkit combining best practice resources in research fieldwork, data treatment, data usage in environmental management and advocacy was a core project activity. This toolkit was developed and applied in pilot extra-curricular activities at the partner universities in Sofia, Thessaloniki and Prague through face-to-face lectures, fieldwork student trips, webinars and multiplier events, covering the full range of environmental topics relevant to nature resource management of all sectors (e.g. GIS, webinar, databases, research fieldwork, policies), different disciplines (forestry , ornithology, etc.), and adequate to national specifics as well as EU-level environmental objectives. As a result of the project total of 99 face-to-face lectures were made and opened for all interested. Total of 425 students from Bulgaria, 562 from Greece and 285 from Czech Republic took participation in educational activities. Total of 12 webinars were held in three project countries Three job fairs were organized in each country. Their main purpose was potential employers in the field of biodiversity management to meet students as their future employees - expectations sharing. The project achieved improvement of higher education teaching capacity the 4 partner institutions in Bulgaria, Greece and Czech Republic through introducing interdisciplinary methods and feeding research and practice approaches back into education via the created toolkit.