About
The Boutique des Sciences is taking part in the TOGETHERNESS project. The project will create training opportunities, educational resources and innovative partnership models to support collaboration between universities and civil society organisations (CSOs) in addressing urgent societal challenges.
The project, designed by the ULB Boutique des Sciences team, will run from 2025 to 2028 and is co‑funded by the EU as an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership, through AEF‑Europe (Agence Francophone pour l’Éducation et la Formation Tout au Long de la Vie). It will be coordinated by ULB in partnership with Sciences Citoyennes, Technological University Dublin and the Università degli Studi di Sassari.
Universities and civil society organisations wish to expand collaborative research that has meaningful societal impact. However, challenges such as limited skills, difficulty identifying partners, and the need to maintain long‑term collaborations often hinder this ambition. TOGETHERNESS aims to overcome these obstacles by developing skills, creating tools for collaborative research, and establishing stronger and more durable connections between universities and communities.
In addition to coordinating the consortium’s work, ULB will play a leading role in supporting the emergence, in each territory, of an interdisciplinary community drawn from different faculties. The goal is to promote transdisciplinary exploration of regional challenges together with civil society organisations. To achieve this, ULB will develop collaborative processes and approaches designed to bring together students, teachers, researchers and civil society representatives, engage them in investigating concrete field‑based issues, and produce a body of knowledge that benefits society as a whole. The ULB Boutique des Sciences will act as the catalyst for these dynamics in the Brussels region.
Over three years, the consortium will focus on four main areas:
- establishing sustainable partnerships between universities and civil society organisations by embedding collaboration within universities and building networks that generate new initiatives
- developing innovative training for staff through short accredited courses and curriculum design that integrates community‑engaged research into teaching and research
- conducting collaborative research, ranging from student‑led projects to larger funded initiatives addressing CSO‑identified challenges
- scaling up and sharing outcomes across Europe through open educational resources, case studies, FAQs and training‑for‑trainers workshops
At the end of the project, TOGETHERNESS will provide open‑access resources and examples of good practice in community‑engaged research. Expected outcomes include:
- increased research collaboration between universities and communities across Europe
- stronger innovation in teaching and learning
- enhanced civic participation and employability for students, from undergraduate to doctoral level
- universities and CSOs empowered as co‑creators of positive societal change
Contact
Dr Etienne Toffin etienne.toffin@ulb.be
