Projektai

About the project

Inclusion+ addresses the issue of inclusion and diversity in Erasmus+ at higher education level. The project offers comprehensive, participatory and culturally sensitive action to identify and tackle the barriers to international mobility faced by students with fewer opportunities, in particular, students with disabilities and students with caring responsibilities. It aims to impact both higher education institutions and host cities.

Inclusion+ aims to develop a series of activities involving students, municipal actors, and practitioners in the field of international student mobility to create change-making tools to be utilized by higher education institutions (HEIs), and host cities to enhance inclusion and diversity within the study abroad experience.The project started on 1st of November 2023 and will end on 31st of October 2026.

Activities

Inclusion+ project activities encompass diverse range of tasks:

• Structured Scoping Review aims to take stock of academic and grey literature on the international mobility of students with disabilities and caring responsibilities. The goal is to understand the existing knowledge on the topic, highlight the main discussions developed so far, and pinpoint the primary obstacles that students with disabilities and caring responsibilities face in participating in international mobility programs, as identified by the existing literature.
• Dialogue Forums aim to promote open and productive discussions between students with disabilities and caring responsibilities to share information, ideas and experiences to relevant stakeholders. They will help ensure that the interests and concerns of students with fewer opportunities and other stakeholders are considered in the implementation of the Inclusion+ project.
• Online survey on inclusivity in student mobility aims to gather valuable information from the academic community and student mobility stakeholders to identify challenges, opportunities and good practices. It will also help the project to better understand the needs of students with fewer opportunities and develop better solutions to improve inclusion in student mobility.

• Collaborative laboratories (Collabs) aim to create a platform where participants can work together to co-create recommendations for inclusive mobility for higher education institutions and host cities. Through these Collabs, creative, innovative and effective recommendations will be developed to tackle the barriers faced by students with disabilities and students with caring responsibilities.

The Inclusion+ project aims to implement a series of initiatives to share our outcomes with diverse audiences, including multiplier events in all partner countries. Additionally, a final conference will be held in Istanbul in 2026 to showcase the project’s final results.

Project consortium

Inclusion+ project consortium consists of six universities from four different countries – Portugal, Finland, Turkey and Lithuania. Partners activities are covered by five work packages:

• WP1 – Project Management (ISCTE – Portugal) – the foundational framework for the entire project, encompassing activities, timings, project quality, functionality, and the materials used, ranging from project results to dissemination activities.
• WP2 – Needs Assessment and Inventory of Erasmus+ Participation Promotion Practices (University of Porto – Portugal) aims to identify barriers faced by students with fewer opportunities, focusing on those with caring responsibilities and special needs in Erasmus+ mobility and assesses existing practices at higher education institutions (HEIs) and cities to promote inclusivity.
• WP3 – Collaborative laboratory to define priorities (Vilnius University – Lithuania) work package aims to establish an inclusive platform where students and various stakeholders can share their views on the challenges and opportunities for fostering the inclusion of students with fewer opportunities in Erasmus+. The specific goals include initiating discussions on priorities for inclusive mobility in each country, generating evidence-based recommendations, and co-designing an innovative tool (a prototype mobile application) to enhance inclusiveness.
• WP 4 – Changing Making Tools (Turku UAS – Finland) WP aims to develop concrete and evidence-based change-making tools, including factsheets, a roadmap, and to finalise the prototype for a mobility app. These tools are intended to support inclusive approaches for students with fewer opportunities in Erasmus+ mobility, with the outputs designed to be adaptable to different cities in Europe.

• WP5 – Communication and Dissemination (Galatasaray University – Turkey) focuses on maximizing Inclusion+ impact through strategic communication, engagement with stakeholders, and effective dissemination. It aims to ensure broad visibility, accessibility, and uptake of project messages and results.

	ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa - the Coordinator
Partners:
	Vilniaus Universitetas
	Turun Yliopisto
	Turun Ammattikorkeakoulu
	Galatasaray University
	Universidade Do Porto

More information

For more information, please visit: www.inclusion.iscte-iul.pt and www.linkedin.com/inclusion-project

About the project

The goal of the project is to develop a new transnational joint Executive Master in Cross-border Criminology. The programme would address newly emerging problems perpetuated by transnational organised crime that require a high level of cooperation and subject-specific knowledge to be solved. In particular, the programme would focus on four key thematic tracks:

1. Online crime
2. Environmental crime
3. Corruption and white-collar crime

4. Migration and crimes of mobility

Furthermore, the programme would be highly integrated, allowing students to gain knowledge and skills from internationally acclaimed scholars representing different regions in Europe. The programme would be aimed at practitioners working in law enforcement, crime prevention and similar institutions or has such work experience. Students would be encouraged to create and foster professional networks across a range of national and international law enforcement agencies and other relevant institutions across Europe and beyond, laying foundations for transnational cooperation.

Deliverables

The project is expected to have designed the following joint mechanisms:

• Joint student admission requirements and application, selection, monitoring, examination/performance evaluation rules/procedures;
• Joint programme and integrated teaching/training activities;
• A plan for common services offered to students (e.g. language courses, visa support);
• Joint promotion and awareness-raising strategy;
• Joint administrative and financial management strategy;
• A joint degree policy;
• A draft joint partnership agreement involving at least three HEIs from three different countries, of which at least two should be EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme. This agreement is intended to cover all academic, operational, administrative and financial aspects related to the implementation of the Master programme.

• A draft joint Student Agreement.

Meetings

Project consortium

The Coordinator:
Vilnius University, Lithuania

Partners:
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
University of Porto, Portugal
University of Warsaw, Poland

About the project

AI-THOS is an Erasmus+, Higher Education project with a duration of 30 months, consisting of 6 partners from Poland, Greece, Lithuania and Slovenia. The AI-THOS project aims at facilitating the systematic and wide-spread education on ERI, with a special focus on the use of AI technologies, to promote ERI principles, to engage participants and their social networks into a dialogue about the importance of ERI in scientific practices, and ultimately to foster the cultivation of an ERI culture in Europe that will eliminate ethical implications and improve public confidence in science and technology. The consortium will develop a Train-the-Trainer Programme, Curriculum and Online Course to train, support and empower educators and trainers to develop knowledge and competences to deliver ERI training with focus on AI technologies through art- and inquiry based tools in their settings, and nurture a generation of trainers and researchers capable of recognizing and confronting AI ethical implications, so as in the long-term to enhance research transparency, eliminate AI biased content, and improve public confidence in science and technology. On top of that, the project envisions the establishment of the AI THOS multi-actor Knowledge-Sharing Community that will facilitate the widespread training on ERI in HEIs, research and science establishments across Europe.

Why ERI training on AI in education and reseach? AI-THOS will fill a gap in ERI training, by equipping educators, trainers, researchers and students with new competences and training opportunities through experiential pedagogies to explore the nuances of ERI, its key principles and its grey zones, especially on AI technologies, and how to recognise and confront them so as in the long-term to enhance research transparency, eliminate AI biased content, improve public confidence in science and technology, and create high-skilled employment that will work on research-driven innovation.

Leader: Arūnas Poviliūnas, el. p. , tel. (+370 5) 266 7601.

Project timeframe: 2024 - 2026 

Project consortium

The coordinator:
	Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw University; Poland
Partners:
	University of Ljubljana https://www.uni-lj.si/en/university, Slovenia
	Vilnius University www.vu.lt, Lithuania
	National Technical University of Athens, https://www.ntua.gr/en/, Greece
	Art Transparent Contemporary Art Foundation https://arttransparent.org/en/foundation/, Poland
	Stimmuli for Social Change, www.stimmuli.eu, Greece

Project website: www.ai-thos.eu

Activities

• WP1 – Project Management (UPWr)
• WP2 – Development of ‘Train the Trainer’ programme for HeIs Teaching Staff (University of Ljubljana)
• WP3 – Design & Development of the AI-THOS Curriculum for students and researchers (Vilnius University)
• WP4 – AI-THOS Curriculum testing and AI-THOS online course development (UPWr)
• WP5 – AI-THOS Disseminatiosn and Follow up activities (Stimmuli)

About the project

The DECART project on designing HE curricula for agility, resilience and transformation, aims to foster stronger education systems by proposing original STEM curriculum models and leadership processes for sustaining educational programme change and transformations. Inherent in the process is the evaluation and promotion of tools to assess and improve agility, flexibility and resiliency of curricula, to better prepare programme leaders amid disruptions to be faced in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguos situations.

PM6 and IPHE3 at Vilnius University

The PM6 Final DECART Meeting will be held at Vilnius University on July 7–8, 2025. Partners will review project results, finalise deliverables, and plan for the project's closure and future impact.

PM6 agenda

The IPHE3 (Intensive Programme for Higher Education) will take place at Vilnius University on July 9–10, 2025. This programme brings together international partners to deepen their understanding of curriculum transformation, stakeholder engagement, and leadership in higher education. Participants will analyse key components of transformation, develop stakeholder engagement plans, and strengthen their leadership skills to create future-ready and resilient study programmes.

PHE3 agenda

Newsletters

1st project newsletter (English, Lithuanian)

2nd project newsletter (English, Lithuanian)

3rd project newsletter (English, Lithuanian)

4th project newsletter (English, Lithuanian)

Sustainable Management

Concept

Project compostability is an answer to the questions of sustainable project management. Research on this topic is still only recent and methods need to be developed. In this line of research we propose a recycling method that we put into practice concretely in the DECART project. Project compostability is an idea that was born from observing our efforts to reduce our waste leading a reflection on the means of not wasting the energy invested in a project once it is finished and on the imitation of cycles of the nature. Concretely, this consists of certain specific actions to be carried out before, throughtout and at the end of the project. It is a question of deciding on a method to keep as many traces as possible of what the life of the project will have been (data produced, documents, organization, environment, narration, etc.) and to make them available and easily reusable by any interested person.

Project consortium

About CT&MathABLE project

There is increasing European concern over worsening student performance, in particular concern over PISA study outcomes, and the supply of engineering and scientific competence to fuel industrial competitiveness. The countries involved in this application have also been concerned over the supply of digital and engineering competence for some time. To address the situation several proposals have been made, including DigCompEdu 2.0, establishing digital targets for Europe 2030 (https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/europes-digital-decade-digital-targets-2030_en) and establishing guidelines for education in future https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/digital/education-action-plan).

Making careers requiring mathematical and computing profiles in compulsory schooling more accessible and attractive to young people is a key element to enhancing access to STEM careers. Teachers, however, report low levels of preparedness, and need for additional support to implement these ambitious
programmes. See the report “Digital Competence, Teacher Self-Efficacy and Training Needs” (Mannila et al., 2018, DOI:10.1145/3230977.3230993), for a discussion of the status and needs of the teaching profession. Leveraging digital transformative technologies CT&MathABLE project provides teachers with new approaches to developing
Algebraic Thinking (AT) and Computational Thinking (CT) competencies in a way that is individually tailored to the learner. CT&MathABLE is going to achieve this through a novel architecture which supports individualized development paths and seamless
integration with competency and assessment frameworks. This approach builds on the previous joint work of partners VU, KTH, and UTU in the current consortium.

CT&MathABLE is about creating learning approaches more appropriate to those who are traditionally disadvantaged and helping them to benefit from CT and AT and thus STEM careers, contributing to a stronger and more egalitarian society. In addition the outcome strengthens the partners national capacity in terms of highly qualified STEM citizens who will contribute to technical development and sustainability as well as broadened participation and inclusion.
The project delivers new tools to teachers, teacher educators, education providers and individual schools, and contributes to the goal of achieving sustainable quality in education. CT&MathABLE combines a unique learning resources and learning analytics with expertise from leading research groups developing curricula and resources to support teaching CT and AT in all age groups. Drawing on our prior track record in
competency frameworks for the computing curriculum and innovative pedagogy we are uniquely positioned to develop a learning and assessment architecture which combines learning analytics and competency frameworks to support individualised learning trajectories for a CT and Maths Able society.

Objectives of the project

CT&MathABLE makes specific contributions to empowering citizen agency in STEM, with the objective of strengthening sustainable competitiveness, ensuring social fairness, facilitating access to education. While doing so, the partnership we have forged also addresses other overarching EU actions, such as the European Digital
Strategy, the Industrial and Small and Medium Enterprise Strategy, the Recovery Plan for Europe, and increased support for youth employment. In particular with a focus on technical and engineering pathways and competitiveness. These elements should be addressed in particular through the intensified activities to develop problem solving, algebraic and computational thinking skills and competencies, to develop collaborative educational programmes across the project partner countries, and engage with local educational systems and education providers.

CT&MathABLE main objective is to support digital transformation of students in multiple dimensions:
1) Improve school students digital skills and self-awareness based on learning-analytics;
2) Enhance computational thinking (CT) and algebraic thinking (AT) through the interactive tasks;
3) Integrate the STEM approach for task-based learning;
4) Create instruments for CT Assessment with learning-analytics, and
5) Provide the interactive tasks and assessment instruments in a format that can be integrated with various learning management systems.

The project aims to provide a learning-analytics based framework to support individualized learning trajectories for students in ages 9-14 across Europe. In this way, all children in ages 9-14 will be able to strengthen their Computational and Algebraic Thinking skills, which are among the key competencies of the 21st century, with Computer Science and problem solving tasks.

The project also has specific objectives in terms of teachers, instructional designers and school curricula. One of them is through the implementation of the CT&MathABLE system, teachers will experience the integration of technology into classroom settings as well as observe the effect of personalized instruction accompanied with the formal curricula. This implementation process is expected to work in a blended learning approach which again will make teachers to think and adopt appropriate pedagogical strategies for the use of interactive tasks through collaborative learning.

Innovative aspects of the project

CT&MathABLE develops innovative educational approaches to classroom education and supports transdisciplinary and holistic learning. The partners promote a pragmatic approach to Computational Thinking integrated with Algebraic Thinking (Mathematics) as to a set of tools, techniques and approaches which enable a seamless transition from the early-aged learners unplugged activities to digital-based learning paths.

CT&MathABLE develops an innovative personalized digital learning trajectories. The resulting personalized learning architecture integrates digital transformation of learning process and assessment frameworks. Through CT&MathABLE school students in Europe will have access to new teaching and learning support enhancing learning outcomes in CT integrated with AT for learners of ages 9 to 14 and directly influencing key performance indicators such as national test results and PISA rankings.

The key innovations are:
- integration CT with AT;
- individual learning paths and assessment framework for interactive problem-based educational architecture, which increases student motivation via any gamified learning environment;
- linking competence frameworks with automated assessment so that learning analytics data will be interpreted using relevant learning theories;
- new approaches to empowering less motivated learners to succeed in the 21st century key skills by strengthening student self-awareness through the usage of learning analytics.

Problem solving skills development are based on evidence-based guidance system. Using student-cantered approach in an online environment, that aims students to overcome the weaknesses and misunderstandings leading to improve student key
competencies by solving interactive tasks based on CT with integration of AT, is another innovation of this project.

CT&MathABLE project is unique in terms of the creation of learning trajectories on CT integrated with AT which would lead to achieving personal outcomes of each learner.

Meetings

Kick-of meeting in Bilbao, 26-28 October, 2022 

Overview of the project goals and special objectives, discussion and clarification of the target groups: teacher trainers, policy makers and politicians, presented by the project coordinator professor Valentina Dagienė, Vilnius University. Introductions by project partner institutions: Basque Country University, Vilnius University, Eötvös Loránd University, Turku University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Ankara University, Mamak Özkent Akbilek School, Türkiye, and Klaipėdos Gedminų Progymnasium, Lithuania.
Discussion about involving different disciplines teachers. D during the project activities, the main fucus should be on mathematics and informatics (computing, information technology) teachers but others like science or technology teachers could get involved at some point of projects, for example in piloting activities.
Partners have provided brainstorming on developing Learning Paths, many ideas were collected, overviewed and going to be implemented in work package 2 especially.
Intensive work was dedicated to revise the project reviewers recommendations, the assessment. All partners made comments on the project assessment sheet.

Meeting in Budapest 30-31 May - 1 June 2023

The 7th project CT&MathABLE meeting was held face-to-face from 30-31 May to 1 June 2023 at Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Informatics, Budapest. Twenty-two participants attended from all project partner institutions. Main attention was paid to define the Learning Paths and the curriculum analyses of Algebraic Thinking (WP2), development of the COMATH assessment instruments (WP3), and the framework of the interactive tasks (WP4). The meeting was culminated in a successful Hungarian teachers' workshop with focus on unplugged activities of Computational Thinking. Some unplugged ideas are shown in the presented photos.

Meeting in Bodrum/Mugla April 22-24, 2024

During the first three days, partners discussed activities for developing computational thinking, created learning pathways for educational informatics concepts based on students’ age, and discussed assessment tools for algebraic and computational thinking development. All partners completed testing the prepared tools COMATH1, COMATH2, and COMATH3, which are integrated into ViLLE – a visual learning environment that is easy for students to use and convenient for researchers to analyze collected data. They discussed how to analyze the results, which statistical methods are more suitable, where and when to prepare scientific publications, and so on. Over 100 interactive tasks from various fields of informatics were presented and discussed.

Meeting in Klaipėda, September 28 – October 2, 2004

The project partners had the opportunity to observe lessons at Klaipėda Gedminai Progymnasium, where both primary and secondary school students engaged with the interactive tasks developed for the project. The enthusiasm among the pupils was evident as they worked through a variety of challenges. Students showed particular interest in tasks like Venn diagrams, logical puzzles, and those requiring strategic planning. These tasks not only captured their attention but also encouraged them to think critically and apply computational thinking skills in a hands-on, practical way.

Meetings (online)

Online meetings – in the first week of each month

Regular monthly online meetings are organised in the first week of each month or as required.
In the first week of each month or as required, the partners meet to discuss the project's progress, main activities, and results. Agreements on what should be done further are discussed and confirmed.

7 December, 2022

10 January, 2023

8 February, 2023

7 March, 2023

4 April, 2023

2 May, 2023

27 June, 2023

22 August, 2023

19 September, 2023

16 October, 2023

14 November, 2023

12 December, 2023

9 January, 2024

20 February, 2024

12 March, 2024

9 April, 2024

2 May, 2024

4 June, 2024

15 July, 2024

27 August, 2024

5 November, 2024

3 December, 2024   

January 14, 2025

February 11, 2025

March 18, 2025

April 15, 2025

May 6, 2025

August 19, 2025

Learning Paths for CT with integrated AT

Learning paths provide a structured way to guide students through progressively more complex concepts and skills. They typically consist of three primary components: clearly defined goals, developmental progressions of students’ thinking processes, and instructional activities that promote growth along these progressions. When used to guide lesson development, learning paths ensure continuity: each lesson builds deliberately on prior knowledge, avoiding gaps and supporting steady advancement toward more sophisticated levels of understanding.

In CT&MathABLE, the learning paths were designed to integrate Computational Thinking (CT) with Algebraic Thinking (AT), recognizing that both domains share cognitive processes such as abstraction, decomposition, generalization, and problem solving. For example, a digital competency lesson on sequencing is not treated in isolation but is linked directly to mathematical reasoning about order, operations, or algebraic expressions. This integration allows students not only to develop digital and computational skills but also to deepen their understanding of mathematics through meaningful connections.

To achieve this, the project team designed tasks and activities that simultaneously target CT processes, algebraic concepts, and broader digital competencies. The result is a coherent framework of learning paths that can guide teachers in building lessons step by step, ensuring progression in both computational and mathematical reasoning.

The main results of developing these learning paths include:

• Learning outcomes for three age groups (9–10, 11-12, and 13–14), defining what students should know and be able to do, and serving as a basis for assessment and evaluation.
• Activity plans, created from these outcomes and paired with Bebras tasks, including both online interactive activities and unplugged activities for flexible classroom use.
• Tasks on CT with integrated AT, over 100 practical and current activities designed for integration into an analytics-based learning ecosystem linked with an assessment framework.
• Supporting materials, such as feedback forms, pilot questionnaires, and teacher guides, were translated into all partner languages to ensure accessibility.
• Piloting in schools, where feedback from students and teachers was systematically collected to refine and validate the activities.
• A Teacher Workshop in Budapest, which brought over 100 teachers together to review, discuss, and finalize the learning activities before broad implementation.

Through this structured and collaborative approach, CT&MathABLE has created a robust set of learning paths that combine the strengths of CT and AT, equipping students with essential 21st-century problem-solving skills while supporting teachers with clear, curriculum-aligned guidance.

Assessment Instruments for CT and AT

To teach the 21st century skills of Computational Thinking (CT) and Algebraic Thinking (AT) by integrating them is unique. As CT and AT share some subskills, intertwining them should benefit the development of both CT and AT. Thus the shared subskills of CT and AT, most importantly algorithmic thinking and problem-solving skills, will be utilized whilst developing the assessment instruments for CT&MathABLE. There is currently a lack of assessment instruments for CT integrated with AT, but teachers certainly need instruments to assess their students’ learning progression and to discover whether additional support is needed.

Two valid and reliable assessment instruments of CT and AT for use with students from age 9 until age 11 will be developed: (COMATH1) and from age 12 until 14 (COMATH2). The need for two separate assessment instruments arises from the
different development phases of the students. The students of the first age group are in the early phase of learning CT and AT whereas the second age group has progressed to more advanced content.

The main results of Work Package 3:
- Based on the definition of learning outcomes of CT (WP2) and the systematic review, assessment instruments for CT and AT skills, COMATH1 and COMATH2, for two different age groups will be developed. COMATH1 and COMATH2 will be of high validity and reliability as they are theoretically grounded and guided by well-established design frameworks, thus fully unravelling the complexities of students’ digital skill development and capturing the level of students’ CT and AT thinking skills.
- Short and clear guidelines for teachers on how to use the assessment instruments. Teachers need them to ensure the correct use of the assessment instrument for 9-11 and 12-14-year-olds.
- Short and clear guidelines for teachers on how to interpret the results of students’ performance.
- The guidelines for teachers will be developed in English and then translated into partner’s languages.

Developing Interactive Tasks

The goal of Work Package 4 is to develop a set of interactive task and design/program a tool for creation interactive tasks for the CT integrated with AT skills development. The created interactive tasks and tool will be integrated into the ecosystem with
learning analytics.

The main results of Work Package 4:
- A set of classified interactive tasks according to the concepts of computer science / CT integrated with AT;
- A framework of interactive tasks - it can serve for creating new interactive tasks on CT;
- A tool for creating interactive tasks will be designed and programmed, additionally templates for type of interactivity, criteria for interactive tasks, etc. will be developed. All classified tasks would be presented using the tool and the ability to create new tasks will be provided (templates for type of interactivity, criteria for creating interactive tasks)
- A set of interactive tasks for implementation using the developed tool will be created. This set will be piloted in partner schools as well as in the project associated schools and feedback how to improve will be collected;
- The integration of the tool into an analytics based learning ecosystem. Also functionality for the students to solve those interactive tasks will be implemented in the learning ecosystem together with the tool.
- Translation of the created interactive tasks and organizing workshop held in Klaipeda Gedminai Progymnasium for piloting the interactive tasks and tool.
- Research on the usability of the learning tasks. Through observing user experience based on evidence, interaction design will be improved throughout the tasks.

Quality Assurance

The Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is developed in compliance with the Project CT&MathABLE description and all applicable rules and guidelines.

Quality Assurance measures in a project ensure the quality of the project results and the quality of the methods and procedures used to manage the project lifecycle and to develop these results. The QAP defines the specific measures to be followed by the project partnership to ensure the effective management of the project and the conformity of Project deliverables with the expectations and objectives of the project.

The Quality Assurance Plan outlines the indicators, methodology and procedures for evaluation of project activities and results. It contains a set of scheduled activities and defines the objectives, roles and responsibilities. It is a primary concern that the approach to evaluation and review should be simple, flexible, relatively easy to implement, and certainly improvement oriented.

In this research project, partners will be able to avoid the possible distraction of the complexities of the technology by combining unplugged and plugged-in Computational Thinking (CT) exercises embedded with Algorithmic Thinking (AT) into an analytics based learning framework: CT&MathABLE. In doing so, we are able to offer a novel way to familiarize students with CT and AT with a learning framework which is not that distractive for students as they are familiar with the learning environment already via using it in other school subjects. In addition, in this way we are able to avoid the traditional approach “first-arithmetic-then-algebra”, which does not support the development of students’ AT skills effectively enough. In many countries, early algebra skills are not emphasized which leads to difficulties later when algebra is introduced as a separate topic. According to some authors, teaching Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology, especially in combination with algebra, would benefit the students, but the teaching needs to be carried out in a multifaceted way as will be done within the CT&MathABLE.

CT&MathABLE project aim is to make the benefits of CT skills in mathematics explicit. The focus is especially on early algebra and AT since it shares many traits with computational thinking such as abstraction, generalization, pattern matching and structuring operations. We use the Bebras competition as a model for our intervention. It is hard to change national curriculums, instead we introduce additional activities that can be incorporated into the mathematics lessons by the teacher. These activities are CT problems integrated with AT, and they are fitted to the current mathematical context with an eye on developing both CT and AT in parallel. The problems are structured based on subskills of CT (e.g., data and information, algorithms) and, thus, require the use of selected CT skills embedded with AT for the solution. The correct answer is also provided with an explanation how this problem relates to computer science and AT.

In addition to the learning activities, an assessment tool for CT and AT will be developed, because the teachers need a framework to assess how students CT and AT skills are developing. Using the assessment tool they can plan support activities for a student who needs help in his/her learning.

From the future perspective, making careers requiring mathematical profiles in compulsory schooling more accessible and attractive to young people is a key to enhancing access to STEM careers. Leveraging digital transformative technologies the project provides new approaches to developing algebraic and computational thinking competencies in a way that is individually tailored to the learner. CT&MathABLE achieves this through a novel instructional architecture which supports individualized development paths and seamless integration with competency and assessment frameworks. Direct contribution to education for all, broadened participation and inclusion, the goal is to achieve sustainable quality in education.

Dissemination

Educational Summit in Stockholm

Workshops

Whitepapers

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 1

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 2

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 3

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 4

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 5

CT&MathABLE Whitepaper 6

Newsletters

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 1, October 2022

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 2, May 2023

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 3, February 2024

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 4. April 2024

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 5, October 2024

CT&MathABLE Newsletter 6, July 2025

Project Consortium

	VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS Vilnius, Lithuania www.vu.lt
	EOTVOS LORAND TUDOMANYEGYETEM Hungary www.elte.hu
	UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO / EUSKAL HENRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA Spain www.ehu.eus
	KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN Sweden www.kth.se
	GEDMINŲ PROGIMNAZIJA Klaipėda, Lithuania gedminai.lt
	TURUN YLIOPISTO Finland www.utu.fi
	ANKARA UNIVERSITESI Türkiye ankara.edu.tr/en/index
	OZKENT AKBILEK ORTAOKULU Türkiye ozkentakbilekoo.meb.k12.tr

About the project

Partners: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics (LV), Vilnius University (LT), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Institute for Rural and Regional Research (RURALIS) (NO)

Aim: The project aims to develop an interdisciplinary perspective on the circular economy in the Baltic-Nordic region by integrating insights from sociology, economics, philosophy, political science, and environmental science. The emphasis is placed on the use of by-products (bio-resources) generated as part of primary production in agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture and across the sectoral boundaries to explore the underlying models of socially- and commercially-driven collaborations, and the factors facilitating and hindering the development and wider use of circular practices and collaborative arrangements thereof.

Expected outcome: CIRCLE will generate interdisciplinary evidence-based knowledge on innovative circular business models, collaborative arrangements, and policies across and between agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture that can lead to a sustainable use of bioresources. It will provide an overview of bioresources utilised, and the factors that enable and hamper intra- and cross-sectoral circularity. Sustainability assessment criteria for circular business models will be developed to assess their socio-economic and environmental benefits. To facilitate transitions to circular bioeconomy, the project will develop pathways for sustainable and ethical circular business models and sectoral linkages and identify supportive governance and collaborative arrangements. It will generate wider societal impacts, including contribution to policies and industry, through a range of practice- and policy-oriented outputs promoting intra- and cross-sectoral circular solutions in bioresource use. CIRCLE will strengthen the research capacity of participating organisations and advance research on the circular economy in the Baltic-Nordic region.

Total funding granted: EUR 984 224

Funding source: Research and education, Baltic Research Programme, European Economic Area (EEA) Grant, Project no. EEZ/BPP/VIAA/2021/9 (https://eeagrants.org/, https://eeagrants.lv/)

Implementation period: 01.10.2021.–30.04.2024.

Project consortium

Coordinator: Baltic Studies Centre (LV)

Partners: Partners: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics (LV), Vilnius University (LT), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Institute for Rural and Regional Research (RURALIS) (NO)

Contact person: Talis Tisenkopfs,

About the project

This project breaks new interdisciplinary ground in the socio-economic history of the Baltic countries, providing for the first time cross-time and cross-country comparable gross domestic product (GDP) data series for all three countries, covering the complete 100 years period since the end of independence wars. Applying a methodology tested in recent research on the economic development of Europe‘s regions since 1900, it will decompose these series down to a regional level to explore trends in the economic and social disparities between regions inside of each Baltic state.

There is a lack of information, based in quantitative date, about societal and economic developments in the Baltic states during the last 100 years. Data is fragmented and often not comparable. With the growing uncertainty surrounding the global crisis caused by Covid-19, the analysis of various past crises with the help of quantitative socio-economic data has become particularly relevant. Such data will allow to better understand the reactions of society and socio-economic processes in the long run in the Baltic states and their regions. Depository of quantitative date will help to understand long-term development trends in the Baltic states, and will be useful both for a better understanding of historical trends and for the development of future regional policies.

The collection and analysis of data for a period of 100 years is necessary in view of the complex reality of history. Different political and economic models have influenced the development of the Baltic states and their regions, and this influence is still being felt. Additional challenges are posed by different interpretations of history in the information space. The tendency to use history as a means of propaganda has grown significantly over the last decade. The collection and analysis of comparative historical data of the Baltic states is important from the perspective of both strategic communication and media literacy. This will make the data available to a wide audience and allow it to be widely used in data-based argumentation.

The aim of the project is to create a depository of quantitative data about societal and economic transformations in the regions of the three Baltic states during the last hundred years and provide a quantitative analysis of the long run trends (since 1920) in regional disparities.

The implementation of the project will include two tasks: (1) creation of data depository with data on economic and social differences between regions of Baltic countries and (2) analysis of long run trends (since 1920) in cross-regional economic and human development disparities. Accomplishing these tasks, the research will be conducted in four directions:

• Demography (data collection, storing and analysis): regional vital statistics, migration, level of urbanization, ageing trends
• Economy (data collection, storing and analysis): regional GDP, impact of changes in the external macroenvironment (Soviet and German occupations, after 2004 – impact of cohesion policy of EU), unemployment, trade turnover, non-financial investment per capita
• Human development (data collection, storing and analysis): education, availability of medical services, municipal expenditure per capita, regional HDI

• Methodology of data analysis, analysis of long run trends (since 1920) in cross-regional economic and human development disparities

For estimation of the regional output of Baltic countries the methodology will be used, which is presently used in the quantitative research on economic development of European regions (Rosés J.R.; Wolf N. (Eds) The Economic Development of Europe's Regions. A Quantitative History since 1900. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019).

The structure of the project's four work packages is based on the chronological principle, each focused on the collection and analysis of data for a specific period. Data are compiled and structured in Work Package 5, while Work Package 6 ensures the establishment of a depository and knowledge transfer.

Implementation period: 01.05.2021 – 30.04.2024

Project funding: 999092,70 EUR

Funding/program: European Economic Area (EEA) Grants, Research and Education, Baltic Research Programme (https://eeagrants.lv/ , https://eeagrants.org/)

Modules (Work Packages)

WP0 Management and coordination of project research activities

WP1 Data collection, analysis: 1920 – 1939 (first independence period)

WP2 Data collection, analysis: 1939 – 1945 (World War II)

WP3 Data collection, analysis: 1945 – 1991 (Soviet occupation period)

WP4 Data collection, analysis: 1991 – 2020 (after restauration of independence)

WP5 Quantitative data analysis, estimations

WP6 Construction of depository, dissemination and communication

Project consortium

Coordinator:

Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, https://va.lv/en

Partners:

	Vilnius University, http://www.vu.lt
	Norwegian School of Economics, https://www.nhh.no/en/
	University of Tartu, https://www.ut.ee/en

Meetings

September 27th-28th, 2021 in Riga and Valmiera. Meeting of the project partners and stakeholders at Ministry of Education and Science, Bank of Latvia, and Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

International workshop on June 14th-15th, 2022 at Tartu University, Estonia

International workshop on December 1st-2nd, 2022 at Norges Handelshøyskole, Bergen, Norway

International workshop on June 14th, 2023 at Vilnius University, Lithuania

International workshop on March 2024 at Norges Handelshøyskole, Bergen, Norway

Publications

1. Norkus, Z., Jasilionis, D., Grytten, O., Mežs, I., Klesment, M. Mortality Transition in the Interwar Baltic States: Findings from Cross-Country Comparison of New Life Tables. Scandinavian Economic History Review, 2022. Available here.

2. Grytten O. H., Norkus Z., Markevičiūtė J., Šiliņš J. (2022). Can the economic growth of interwar Latvia be estimated by contemporary national accounts? Baltic Journal of Economics. Available here.

3. Norkus, Z., Grytten, O., Šiliņš, J., Klimantas, A. (2022). Benchmarking Latvia’s Economy: A New Estimate of Gross Domestic Product in the 1930s. Cliometrica, Springer Journal. Available here.

4. Norkus, Z. (2022). Handbook of Economic Nationalism, Chapter 6: Varieties of currency nationalization and denationalization, pp. 81-99. Abstract available here; the full chapter available here.

5. Klimantas, A., Norkus, Z., Grytten O. H., Šiliņš, J. (2023). Reinventing Perished “Belgium of the East”: New Estimates of GDP for Inter-war Latvia (1920-1939). Cliometrica, Springer. DOI: 10.1007/s11698-023-00275-y. Available here [limited number of downloads].

6. Klimantas, A. (2022). Lithuanian economy, 1919-1940: stagnant but resilient. The first interwar GDP time-series estimates and their implications. Scandinavian Economic History Review. Available here.

7. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J., Grytten, O., Krūmiņš, G. (2023). New Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Benchmark Estimate for Latvia in 1935. November 28th-29th 2022, Rzeszów, Poland. Proceedings of the Central European Congress of Economic History: Modernization Processes in “Younger Europe”. Available here.

8. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J., Grytten, O., Krūmiņš, G. (2023). Demographic Continuity as a Factor in the Post-Communist Restorations. Filosofija. Sociologija. Available here.

9. Norkus, Z., Grytten O. H., Markevičiūtė, J., Šiliņš, J. (2023). A Long-run Perspective on Latvian Regional Gross Domestic Product Inequality, 1925-2016. Baltic Journal of Economics.

10. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J., Grytten, O. H., Ambrulevičiūtė, A. (2023). Regional Gross Domestic Product (rGDP) Disparities in the Interwar and Restored Independent Lithuania: A Long-Run Cross-Time Comparison. Lithuanian Historical Studies.

Conferences

1. Norkus, Z. (2021). Life Expectancy in Lithuania 20th Century: New Research Findings. XV European Sociological Conference “Sociological Knowledges for Alternative Futures”, Barcelona 31 August – 3d September 2021.

2. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J. (2021). Changes in the Cross-Regional Disparities of the Economic Productivity: A Comparison of Baltic Countries (1995-2019). XIII Lietuvos sociologų draugijos konferencija. January 14th.

3. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J. (2022). The Disparity of Economic Productivity between Regions of Lithuania from the Comparative Perspective of Baltic Countries. Conference REGIONS AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN LITHUANIA – PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, 29 April 2022. Program: http://www.lma.lt/uploads/news/id1523/2021-04-29_kvietimas_02.pdf

4. Norkus Z., Markevičiūtė J., Grytten, O., Šiliņš J. (2022). Latvia’s Relative Wealth in the 1930s: Measured as GDP per capita in 1935 as Benchmark Year. Baltic Connections: a Conference in Social Science History, June 16th-17th, 2022, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The program available here:https://www2.helsinki.fi/sites/default/files/atoms/files/baltic_connections_2022_program.pdf

5. Norkus, Z., Markevičiūtė, J. (2022). Regional Gross Domestic Product (RGDP) in the Restored Baltic States: Convergence or Divergence? The Midterm Conference of European Sociological Association (ESA) Research Network 36, Prague 2nd-3rd September 2022, https://www.soc.cas.cz/rn36midterm#prog

6. Norkus, Z., Klimantas, A., Markevičiūtė, J. (2022). Is Economic Growth Possible During a Crisis? The Great Depression of the 1930s in Baltic States. The General Assembly of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, 20th September 2022, Vilnius, program available at: http://www.lma.lt/uploads/news/id1646/2022-09-20_kvietimas_03.pdf

7. Markevičiūtė, J., Norkus, Z., Grytten, O., Šiliņš, J. (2022). GDP estimate for Latvia in 1935 using SNA2008 and regional disparities. 63th Conference of Lithuanian Mathematical Society on 15-16 June 2022, Kaunas, Vytautas Magnus University.

8. Markevičiūtė J., Norkus Z., Grytten, O., Šiliņš J. (2022). New Benchmark Estimate for Latvia in 1935. Seminar at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of Vilnius University on May 23rd, 2022. http://www.lmd.mif.vu.lt/lietuvos-matematiku-draugijos-seminaras-31/

9. Norkus, Z. (2022). New Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Benchmark Estimate for Latvia in 1935. November 28th-29th 2022. Central European Congress of Economic History. Modernization Processes in "Younger Europe", Poland, https://congressofmodernization.pl

10. Norkus, Z., Klimantas, A., Markevičiūtė, J. (2022). Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Lithuanian University and Facing New Economic Crisis: The Pecularities of the Great Interwar Economic Crisis (1931-1935) in Lithuania, XIV Conference of Lithuanian Sociological Society "Universities, Sociology, and Civil Society Facing the Crises", 02.12.2022, Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. https://lsdkonferencija2022.ktu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/426/2022/11/LSD_pilna-programa-1129.pd

11. Markevičiūtė, J., Norkus, Z., Klimantas, A. (2022). Latvia’s Regional Disparities: Comparison of Interwar Period with Modern Latvia. Data Analysis Methods fo Software Systems (DAMSS), 13th Conference, Druskininkai, Lithuania, Hotel „Europa Royale“, December 1st – 3rd, 2022. Program: https://www.mii.lt/damss/index.php/program/oral-presentations

12. The 15th Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe (CBSE) “Turning Points: Values and Conflicting Futures in the Baltics”, 15th-17th June 2023, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania. Panel “REGIONAL ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES IN THE BALTIC STATES IN 100 YEARS: History, Memory, Identity”. The program available here.

13. Osis, K., Krūmiņš, G. (2023). Quantitative Data about Societal and Economic Transformations in the Regions of the Three Baltic States – Data Acquisition Approach. E³UDRES² Citizen Science Conference, 29th-30th June 2023, Setúbal (Portugal).

14. Session “Economic growth and regional disparities in the Baltic countries (1920-2020)”, 15th European Historical Economics Society (EHES) Conference. Vienna, 1 & 2 September 2023.

15. Mežs, I. (2023). Language proficiency of the population of Latvia in census data (1920-1989). The international conference “Language and Power” dedicated to the National Language Day, 20.10.2023. Riga: Museum of Occupation in Latvia.

16. Krūmiņš, G. (2023). EEA/Norway BRP programme, a mid-term conference on October 18th-19th, 2023 in Riga.

17. Markevičiūtė, J., Norkus, Z. (2023). Statistical Estimation of the Economic Differences across Regions of Interwar Lithuania. 64th Conference of Lithuanian Mathematical Society, Vilnius university, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, 21.06.2023.

18. Markevičiūtė, J., Norkus, Z. (2023). Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Unification of Klaipėda Region and Lithuania: Cross-Regional Economic Productivity Disparities in 1923-1925 and after the Restoration of Independence. 15th annual conference of Lithuanian Sociological Association, Klaipėda University, 6.-7.10.2023.

News

Scientists from the Baltic states and Norway have started building a database of information on the Baltic states including gross domestic product (GDP) figures that will cover the past 100 years.

In May 2021, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (hereinafter – ViA) with partners from Universities of Tartu and Vilnius as well as the Norwegian School of Economics began working on an ambitious research project within the framework of the Baltic Research Program. The project “Quantitative data about societal and economic transformations in the regions of the three Baltic States during the last hundred years for the analysis of historical transformations and the overcoming of future challenges” (BALTIC100)” will preserve quantitative data by creating a data repository reflecting social and economic transformations in the three Baltic regions over the last hundred years in order to provide a quantitative analysis of a long-term development trends in the region since 1920.

The project leader is Gatis Krūmiņš, a leading researcher at ViA. His explanation concerning the topicality of the project: “We have managed to gather a strong, interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Baltics and Scandinavia that will work to increase the knowledge base concerning our countries. And this is not just a question of economics. This knowledge will allow us to analyze historical events which are still interpreted tendentiously by various parties for various reasons. For example, events in the Baltic states during the occupation of the USSR."

The project involves experienced researchers from Estonia (Olaf Mertelsmann and Martin Klesment, University of Tartu), Lithuania (Zenon Norkus, Vilnius University) and Norway (Ola Honningdal Grytten, Norwegian School of Economics), as well as young scientists who will develop their doctoral dissertations during the project. A statistical data repository will be created, where data series on demographic and socio-economic development indicators will be available up to the regional level. This repository will serve as an open source of reliable information for planning and forecasting different scenarios in regional policy-making as well as for media literacy and strategic communication needs. The project plans to prepare a collective monograph and eight high-quality research papers to be published in international publishing houses.

The Baltic100 project is one of the projects of the Baltic Research Program financially supported by the European Economic Area (EEA) grants. The implementation of the project started on May 1, 2021, with funding in the amount of 999092.70 euros available until 2024.