Elcra Project
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN
HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT FOR
PREVENTING
VIOLENT RADICALIZATION IN CLIMATE ACTIVISM
Proyecto
ANTECEDENTES DEL PROYECTO
En los últimos años se han extendido movimientos que representan para muchos jóvenes, especialmente universitarios, una forma de activismo y protesta pacífica relacionada con cuestiones como la sostenibilidad medioambiental y lucha contra el cambio climático.
OBJETIVOS GENERALES
El proyecto pretende aumentar la alfabetización medioambiental de los estudiantes, especialmente los universitarios, implicándolos en sus comunidades y transformándolos en agentes de cambio.
OBJETIVOS ESPECÍFICOS
Identificar las raíces del fenómeno de la radicalización violenta vinculada a los efectos ambientales y climáticos a través de la investigación cualitativa y cuantitativa de casos emblemáticos, actitudes y opiniones de estudiantes universitarios
Resultados
El proyecto promoverá la alfabetización ambiental de los estudiantes universitarios, desarrollando sus conocimientos y habilidades y creando un vínculo entre ellos y la comunidad de la que forman parte, aumentando su interés y conocimiento sobre los temas del cambio climático.
El proyecto proporcionará a los participantes una comprensión de la complejidad de los sistemas ambientales y sociales así como grandes habilidades en la resolución de problemas, a través de las cuales podrán intervenir en sistemas con soluciones innovadoras y efectivas que contribuyan a combatir el cambio climático y los problemas de sostenibilidad ambiental, al tiempo que previenen la radicalización violenta.
El proyecto promoverá el desarrollo profesional de los participantes a través de la creación de una comunidad de práctica sobre el tema de prevención de la radicalización violenta en el activismo ambiental. Unirá las contribuciones de los diferentes actores (académicos, estudiantes, realidades del tercer sector), potenciando el impacto de las acciones para prevenir la radicalización violenta en el activismo ambiental y la lucha contra el cambio climático.
Social
ELCRA
Behind five COIL courses in five different countries lies a piece of coordination that usually goes unseen. In this second interview, Professor David Varona Aramburu of the Complutense University of Madrid explains how ELCRA's COILs were organised. 🎥
A COIL, Collaborative Online International Learning, is the format ELCRA uses to have students from different European universities collaborate online. The training design was led by the project's Spanish research team at the Complutense University of Madrid: structure, duration, student numbers, timelines and content. 📋
It began with a shared opening session, with students and staff from every university involved, to define the aims and structure of the work. From there, the groups collaborated remotely. 🌍
The biggest hurdle? Language: it slowed the early sessions, then was gradually overcome. For most students the experience proved very positive, above all the chance to work with peers from other countries. 🤝
The most telling result is about people: it brought to the fore students with deep commitment, solid knowledge and real communication skills. These are the opinion leaders carrying the ELCRA message further. 🌱
ELCRA is an Erasmus+ project coordinated by the University of Siena to promote environmental literacy in universities and prevent radicalisation in climate activism.
🔗 www.elcraproject.eu
#ELCRA #ErasmusPlus #COIL #EnvironmentalLiteracy🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
@Università di Siena
OpenCom Italy
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
@Uniwersytet Jagielloński
@Socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų fakultetas, KU
Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra
@Erasmus Student Network Italy - ESN Italia
Erasmus Student Network Portugal - ESN PT
ELCRA
What is a COIL in the ELCRA project?
How do you bring together students from five European universities, have them collaborate remotely and turn them into environmental communicators? 🌍
In ELCRA, the answer is the COIL: Collaborative Online International Learning. In this interview, Professor David Varona Aramburu of the Complutense University of Madrid explains what COILs are and how they took shape in the project.
The mechanism: students from different universities meet online, follow a shared block of training, then organise themselves to develop a joint piece of work and present their findings. 💻
Five were run, one per partner country: Spain 🇪🇸, Portugal 🇵🇹, Lithuania 🇱🇹, Poland 🇵🇱 and Italy 🇮🇹.
Each brought together students of different nationalities, working on a key aspect of the project and turning it into an interactive visual narrative. 🎓
The COILs carried forward ELCRA's MOOC on environmental literacy and surfaced the most committed students, who went on to lead workshops on environmental communication as peer trainers.
ELCRA is an Erasmus+ project coordinated by the University of Siena to promote environmental literacy in universities and prevent radicalisation in climate activism.
🔗 www.elcraproject.eu
#ELCRA #ErasmusPlus #COIL #EnvironmentalLiteracy #ClimateActivism
🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
@Università di Siena
OpenCom Italy
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
@Uniwersytet Jagielloński
@Socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų fakultetas, KU
Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra
@Erasmus Student Network Italy - ESN Italia
Erasmus Student Network Portugal - ESN PT
ELCRA
ELCRA is an Erasmus+ project built on a specific concern: that climate activism, under certain conditions, can shift towards radicalisation. Understanding those conditions — and how education can counter them — is the core of the project. Its COIL programme puts that understanding into practice through five modules, each led by a partner university.
The module coordinated by the University of Siena addresses the most delicate question in the series: how and why does environmental engagement sometimes turn towards violence? Students examine the mechanisms of radicalisation within climate activism, the factors that accelerate it, and the educational strategies capable of interrupting it.
The most concrete part of the module is also its most significant: each international group designs a micro-workshop or simulated educational intervention aimed at fostering forms of climate engagement that are informed, dialogical, and non-violent.
🔗 www.elcraproject.eu
🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇱🇹 🇪🇺
#ELCRA #COIL #Radicalisation #ErasmusPlus #UniversityOfSiena #ClimateJustice
🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
Università di Siena
OpenCom Italy
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų fakultetas, KU
Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra
Erasmus Student Network Italy - ESN Italia
Erasmus Student Network Portugal - ESN PT
ELCRA
One of the central concerns of the ELCRA project — an Erasmus+ initiative on environmental literacy and the prevention of radicalisation in climate activism — is the quality of the thinking that underpins environmental engagement. Its COIL programme addresses this directly, with five thematic modules delivered by partner universities across Europe.
The module coordinated by Klaipėda University focuses on critical thinking as a practical skill. In a public debate saturated with competing narratives about the climate, the ability to assess information carefully, question assumptions, and reason independently is not a given — it has to be developed.
Through inquiry-based learning, gamification, and structured discussion, students build the capacity to analyse sources, identify hidden biases, and construct well-grounded arguments on environmental issues that affect everyone.
🔗 www.elcraproject.eu
🇱🇹 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🇵🇱 🇵🇹 🇪🇺
#ELCRA #COIL #CriticalThinking #ErasmusPlus #KlaipedaUniversity #SocialSustainability
🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
Università di Siena
OpenCom Italy
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų fakultetas, KU
Instituto Jurídico da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra
Erasmus Student Network Italy - ESN Italia
Erasmus Student Network Portugal - ESN PT