What is the RCE Graz-Styria researching?

The EU project SPECIFIC is funded as part of the "Driving Urban Transitions" program. The aim of the DUT Call 2022 is to support transnational research projects on urban challenges in transition processes. The SPECIFIC project focuses on the concept of the 15-minute city (15MC) to promote sustainable mobility options on urban fringes with low population density towards environmental sustainability, public health and social inclusion, where cycling is seen as a key mode of transportation for non-pedestrian distances. SPECIFIC aims to combine social practice theories with transdisciplinary action research to develop tools tailored to the specific challenges and opportunities of the 15MC concept in less densely populated peri-urban areas. The implementation of transition experiments in the five participating cities (Bellinzona, Bristol, Graz, Maastricht and Poznań) and the creation of a transnational meta-lab will help to strengthen the scaling up and acceleration of the transition towards bicycle-friendly urban development.

More information can be found here.

Funding: FFG (Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH) as part of the DUT partnership (Driving Urban Transitions) co-financed by the EU

Funding amount: € 1,668,822 (RCE: € 200,000)

Duration: 01/2024 - 12/2026

Cooperation partners: University of Oxford (lead coordination: Tim Schwanen), Zedify, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Universiteit Maastricht, Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana, City of Bellinzona, Pro Velo Ticino, Associazone Traffico e Ambiente, Bristol City Council, City of Graz, City of Maastricht, Zuid-Limburg Bereikbaar, Poznań City Hall, Fyrtel

Team: Prof. Dr. Anke Strüver (project management), Carmen Kern, MSc (research assistant)

The FEAST project is funded by the EU program HORIZON-CL6-2021-FARM2FORK-01-15. It aims to free European food systems from a "lose-lose-lose-win" situation in which only big food companies "win", while the environment, health and the public sector face enormous burdens. With this in mind, FEAST aims to help the best current solutions to achieve a breakthrough and to co-design new solutions together with food system stakeholders across Europe. FEAST includes different vulnerable groups and explores how they can be supported and empowered for a just transition to healthier and more sustainable food practices; and how they can benefit most from this transition. FEAST involves the micro, meso and macro levels of food systems from producers to retailers and consumers.

More information can be found here.

Funding: Funding: EU - Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
Funding amount: € 11,999,334 (RCE: € 272,000)
Duration: 07/2022 - 06/2027

Cooperation partner: Institute for Global Health/University Hospital Heidelberg (coordinator), Eurohealthnet ASBL, Roskilde Universitet, Eat Foundation, Sciensano, University College Cork/National University of Ireland Cork, Ökosoziales Forum Österreich & Europe, ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH, Institut National de Recherche pour L'Agriculture, L'Alimentation et L'Environnment INRAE, Institut de Recherche pour Le Développement, Stichting Louis Bolk Instituut, Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna, Susmetro EU BV, Universita degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche/University of Gastronomic Sciences, Uniwersytet Lodzki, Leader Region Weinviertel-Donauraum, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau Stiftung/FIBL et al.and many more, see complete list on FEAST2030

Contact persons: Dr. Andreas Exner

Responsibility for sustainable nutrition is discussed globally and nationally, but (not) practiced regionally and above all in everyday routines. For this reason, the project focuses on the everyday experiences of children and young people with nutrition (practices) in order to better understand how they address nutrition in their everyday lives and environments: What everyday references do young people make to issues of a socially just and ecologically sustainable food system? In which everyday contexts does responsibility materialize (for whom)? In which social perspectives and standpoints are these and other questions embedded?

As part of EAT+CHANGE, pupils from three secondary schools in Graz are working as co-researchers with academic researchers from the University of Graz to investigate nutritional practices and their socio-cultural contexts in everyday life. They identify strengths, weaknesses and potential for change in the local environment. In the process, previously invisible layers of knowledge are made visible and a dialog is entered into with the local public.

In the project, the co-researchers actively participate in the success of the entire research process as experts in their living environments and the everyday practices that take place there: They formulate their own questions, which they pursue using the Photovoice method, and curate, present and discuss their research results. In this method, the co-researchers photograph their everyday lives and surroundings and explore the contexts and manifestations of different eating practices. The photographs are structured together in group discussions in several workshops and reflected on in a subject-related manner in order to uncover recurring narratives and ingrained patterns of thought and action on (non-)sustainable nutrition. In order to make the results visible, internal school exhibitions will be designed, which will be presented to decision-makers and the public in a large joint exhibition in Graz in the third year of the project. In this way, the research results should also enable local change processes in the environment of the co-researchers.

The workshop material used to implement the research projects will be continuously developed over the course of the project together with the co-researchers, the participating teachers and in close cooperation with the Institute for Media Education at the University of Teacher Education Styria. This material will be made available digitally as an open educational resource in the form of a multimedia handout and anchored in the education system beyond the project context.

More information is available here

Funding: Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, OeAD - Agency for Education and Internationalization/Sparkling Science
Funding amount: € 349,965
Duration: 10/2022 - 09/2025
Team: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Fabian Pettig (RFDZ-GW) (project management); Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anke Strüver (RCE Graz-Styria); Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ermann (RFDZ-GW); Prof. Mag. Dr. Johannes Dorfinger (RFDZ-GW, PHST); Mag. Daniela Lippe (Praedoc, project funding); Karoline Stöcklmayr (Praedoc, project funding); Chiara Roithmeir (study assistant); Mareen Taibinger (study assistant)
Partners: Regionales Fachdidaktikzentrum für Geograhie und Wirtschaftskunde Graz (RFDZ-GW), Pädagogische Hochschule Steiermark
Participating schools: Praxismittelschule der PH Steiermark, Mittelschule Dr. Renner, Graz-Webling secondary school

The project UniNEtZ - Universitiesand SustainableDevelopment Goalsis a project initiated by the "Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria", in which a total of 15 universities (as of 2020) have joined forces to form a platform since 2012. The aim of the UniNEtZ project is to draw up an options paper for the Austrian federal government that identifies and evaluates future-oriented options for action in line with the implementation decided by the Council of Ministers. This will result in desirable synergies - e.g. improved interdisciplinary networking and increased cooperation between the universities and the non-university research institutions and subordinate departments that are particularly relevant to the Ministry of Science - and the joint identification of research needs and options for action. As part of UniNEtZ, the RCE Graz-Styria, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Anke Strüver, has taken over the sponsorship for SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).

Further information can be foundhere.

Duration: 01/2019 - 10/2025
Partner: Austrian universities and research institutions
Contact person: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anke Strüver

This research project examines the cultural practice of mushroom picking from a nature conservation, economic, social and cultural perspective - with a focus on Burgenland. It is dedicated to the question of how the experiential and environmental knowledge of mushroom pickers and the mushroom picking practices found in Burgenland are linked to the sustainable use of wild plants or to the negative environmental impacts of picking practices. The aim is to investigate the socio-ecological implications of experiential and environmental knowledge as well as mushroom picking practices for nature conservation and for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems under conditions of climate change and to derive recommendations for the promotion of sustainable mushroom picking practices in Burgenland.

You can find more information here

Funding: Burgenland Foundation Theodor Kery
Duration: 2022 - 2024
Contact person: Dr. Nicolas Schlitz (project manager)