Last 20 – 22 June 2023, the SEVERE project held its final conference at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. The 3-day event was the culmination of the two-year project, having successfully trained over 50 European students in social entrepreneurship and active citizenship, following trainings held at Dublin, Montpellier, and Prato.
SEVERE was launched in 2020 to reflect a completely new approach to working life born out of the COVID-19 crisis – as well as the Climate Emergency – and increasing demands for more sustainable forms of international collaboration, as well as a transformation in the way societies tackle these challenges.
The SEVERE project was specially designed to prepare students to respond more effectively to these needs, first by creating a virtual incubation programme for remote collaboration on social innovation projects. Its second goal was to respond directly to the needs of communities and social enterprises by creating a virtual marketplace for micro-internships whereby students can work – remotely – with social enterprises on specific projects.
During the final conference, a mix of students from our first and second cohort of trainees from Dublin City University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Montpellier Business School, PIN – Polo Universitario Città di Prato, Universitat Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona, Universidade de Aveiro participated in the activities which aimed to strengthen the students’ project ideas and also allow them to learn from each other, and from a pool of staff mentors.
