On 31 March 2026, the CIVICLAB project held a major public engagement event that brought together more than 72 participants and 20 speakers in the morning programme. The event was conceived as a core WP1 activity and delivered as such: not as a stand-alone dissemination occasion, but as a structured moment of territorial activation, dialogue, and co-design directly linked to the objectives of Work Package 1.

WP1 aims to establish the conditions for meaningful civic engagement, to identify local priorities through inclusive deliberation, and to activate an initial community of participants able to contribute to the project’s subsequent phases. The event was designed around these goals from the outset. Its two-part structure reflected the logic of WP1: the morning session opened a shared public conversation among institutional, civic, academic, and project actors; the afternoon session transformed that conversation into participatory work, inviting attendees to move from listening to co-creation.

The event created an unusually dense and constructive exchange between local communities, regional and municipal representatives, civil society organisations, foundations, university staff, students, and the project partners. This broad participation generated a strong sense of collective ownership. Participants did not engage as passive audiences, but as contributors to a common process whose relevance was immediately visible to the territory.

On 11 June 2026, the CIVICLab project organised the WP4 CIVICLab Co-design Model Event in Sibiu, hosted at the ULBS D-School in an in-situ format. The event lasted approximately four hours and was designed as a focused participatory workshop rather than as a full-day public forum. Its purpose was to create a practical space for dialogue between the university, students, civil society organisations, counsellors, schools and other local community actors, and to explore how these actors can contribute to civic engagement, educational inclusion and democratic innovation at local level.

The activity contributed to WP4 by testing a compact co-design format aligned with the CIVICLab methodology. It supported the identification of local needs, existing community resources and possible collaboration paths that can inform future CIVICLab actions, training materials and local participatory processes. The event also helped connect the academic environment with civil society and educational actors, with particular attention to youth participation, inclusion and interinstitutional cooperation.

The event was organised in two connected parts. The first part focused on interaction with students and offered an accessible introduction to the CIVICLab approach, while giving young participants the opportunity to express their perspectives. The second part brought together representatives of NGOs and civil society, graduates, retired participants, representatives of private schools in Sibiu, representatives of CJRAE Sibiu, members of the project team (colleagues from DPPD Sibiu), ACCE CIVICLab partners from Vrancea County.

The Co-Design Model Event I, held in Athens on 18th June, 2026 and hosted by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), created a safe, structured space for deliberate community engagement. The event laid the groundwork for new civic spaces, strengthened ties with local actors, and initiated the collection of grassroots challenges to be explored throughout the project lifecycle.

To ensure a balanced range of expertise and social perspectives, participant selection targeted a range of diverse stakeholders, including educators, community builders, and facilitators, alongside practitioners from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as second-generation migrants. This deliberate composition ensured a genuine representation of diverse societal ideals within the local context. Facilitation throughout the different sessions was supportive, non-directive, and highly inclusive, prioritizing equal participation so every participant felt comfortable to contribute through-out the event’s duration.

The workshop was built around non-formal and participatory methodologies, relying heavily on dialogue, structured group work, reflection, feedback loops, and creative tools derived from Theatre of the Oppressed. At the beginning participants were lead from individual problem reflection into paired and team-level deliberations, culminating in the creation, performance, and analysis of physical "still images" representing their identified core issues. Then, teams re-evaluated their ideas using feedback from the initial performances, created visual flyers to represent their themes, and staged final performances. The event concluded with a comprehensive analysis and feedback session. Ultimately, the workshop validated these themes while establishing a strong, collaborative community network for future CivicLab activities.

The Co-Design Model Event III was organized in Athens within Work Package 5 (WP5) of the CivicLab project. Hosted by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) at Sui Hub, the event strengthened collaboration between the university, civil society, and local institutions by creating an inclusive environment for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collective problem-solving. It further reinforced the CivicLab network and supported the identification of community priorities for future project activities.

Participants included representatives of Civil Society Organizations, public authorities, community practitioners, and facilitators, ensuring a broad range of perspectives and expertise. The facilitation approach promoted openness, equal participation, and constructive interaction among all attendees.

Using participatory and experiential methods inspired by Theatre of the Oppressed, the workshop combined collaborative discussions, group reflection, creative exercises, and feedback sessions. Participants worked together to identify local challenges, transform them into visual and performative representations, and refine their ideas through peer exchange. The event concluded with a collective evaluation of the outcomes, strengthening stakeholder relationships and generating shared priorities to guide the next phases of the CivicLab project. The outcomes of the workshop also provided valuable input for the co-design process, helping shape future pilot actions and ensuring they reflected the needs and aspirations of the local community.

On 29 June 2026, the University of Camerino organised CIVICLab Co-design Model Event V, Territorio Condiviso within the CIVICLab project as a local co-design workshop and preparatory step towards a future University Town Hall Meeting. The event brought together 39 participants from 28 organisations, including Third Sector organisations, local authorities, university representatives, researchers, students and community stakeholders. Building on previous CIVICLab activities, the workshop aimed to transform existing collaborations into more stable, structured and visible partnerships.

The morning session focused on the role of Service Learning as an institutional strategy connecting teaching, research and civic engagement while responding to community needs. During the afternoon, participants worked in thematic laboratories exploring systems thinking, collaborative communication, participatory evaluation and citizen science as practical tools for university-community cooperation. A second workshop used a participatory prioritisation process to define the essential characteristics of a future University Town Hall Meeting as a permanent space for dialogue, co-programming and co-design.

The event strengthened relationships among local stakeholders, validated methodological tools for collaboration, and laid the foundations for a sustainable governance model supporting long-term university-community engagement and territorial development. 

The CIVICLab Co-design Model Event IV, held in Valladolid on 3 July 2026 within WP6 of the CIVICLab project, was a mutual-learning and co-design event aimed at exploring local experiences of civic participation and identifying barriers, opportunities and priorities for strengthening democratic engagement.

Bringing together 28 participants from diverse backgrounds, including students, university representatives, civil society organisations, community members and people from different nationalities, the workshop fostered dialogue between universities, public institutions and citizens. Through expectation interviews, facilitated discussions, small-group activities and a creative exercise, participants reflected on participation, inclusion, cooperation and the need for more accessible civic spaces. The workshop highlighted that willingness to engage is often hindered by limited information, unclear participation pathways and a lack of visible impact on decision-making. Key priorities included improving communication, creating inclusive and continuous opportunities for participation, strengthening feedback mechanisms and promoting collaboration among universities, public authorities and civil society.

The findings will inform the CIVICLab Blueprint, the Spanish Town Hall Meeting and future CivicLAB Hub activities, while demonstrating the value of participatory and creative methods for building trust, encouraging dialogue and supporting democratic innovation in university communities.

On 24 July 2026, the WP8 – Democracy through Education: CIVICLab Blueprint Workshop was jointly organised by the Bottega del Terzo Settore and the University of Camerino in Ascoli Piceno as the project's final transnational event. The workshop brought together CIVICLab partners, Third Sector organisations, public authorities, universities and community representatives to validate the project's final outputs and exchange experiences on civic education and democratic participation.

Participants reviewed the CIVICLab Blueprint, Methodological Toolkit and Ethical Participation Framework, discussing how these documents had been refined through a collaborative validation process involving all partners. The event also explored the competences required for future Civic Animators and the role of education in supporting participatory governance. Through a collaborative learning-by-doing exercise, multidisciplinary teams applied the CIVICLab methodology to realistic co-programming and co-design scenarios, testing governance models, stakeholder engagement strategies and public value creation. The final session focused on the future implementation of Local Hubs, using participatory methods to refine their role as permanent spaces connecting universities, public institutions and civil society.

The workshop consolidated a shared European vision of civic education as a practical tool for strengthening democratic participation, collaborative governance and sustainable university-community engagement.