The project aimed to achieve three main goals. First, we wanted to offer a discursive-driven picture of how EU freedom of movement works for ordinary citizens. Public debate often includes claims that are not supported by accounts of mobile citizens, so a central aim was to document real mobility paths through first-hand accounts and make them accessible through robust analysis. The FOM@PLAY corpus is the body of testimonies that can help us Paint this picture. Second, we sought to counter hostile speech about mobile EU citizens and non-EU migrants by showing how everyday mobility relates to work, study, family life and long-term integration. By creating open resources grounded in testomonies, FOM@PLAY aimed to support HE staff, students, journalists and community groups who need reliable material when discussing these topics. Finally, we wanted to produce sustainable tools such as corpora, guidelines, digital outputs and public events that partners can keep using after the project ends. The aim was to strengthen awareness of EU rights and support more informed cross-border engagement. Overall, FOM@PLAY set out to support ERASMUS+ priorities on shared values, civic engagement and new teaching approaches.
We applied for this project because it addressed clear needs linked to understanding how EU citizens discursively construct their freedom of movement rights and lived experiences and how these rights are often distorted in public debate. Recent Eurobarometer surveys show that many citizens remain unsure about what freedom of movement actually covers, while research has shown that hostile speech about migrants and mobile EU citizens has grown across several member states. This discourages mobility and fuels claims about threats to national systems that are not supported by comparative research across disciplines. FOM@PLAY has offered a structured way to respond to these gaps by gathering first-hand accounts through a corpus of 100 testimonies, analysing them with transparent corpus methods, and producing pedagogical materials that could be shared widely beyond the life of the project. Our aim has been to help generate verifiable knowledge that counters misleading narratives, showing how EU mobility works in everyday life, and supports a more informed understanding of EU rights and social inclusion.