Climate-related health risks are on the rise. Our increasingly aging European population is particularly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events. To respond adequately, we need a well-trained health workforce and health institutions that can proactively address this issue. The European Commission is aware of this urgent problem and so it is only logical that Andrea Stitzel and Daniela Ströckl have been awarded the Erasmus+ Innovation Partnership “chAnGE – Climate change and healthy AgeinG: co-creating E-learning for resilience and adaptation” and with it a budget of 1.88 million EUR (240,000 EUR for FH Kärnten) for this three-year project.
The consortium of the ambitious project consists of 13 full partners and seven associated partners from higher education, vocational training and health and social care organizations in Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Austria and Greece. In Austria, the partners include the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, the Villach Regional Hospital, Diakonie de la Tour, Department 5 of the Carinthian Provincial Government and the Climate Change Center Austria (CCCA). The chAnGE alliance has the following goals:
- To jointly develop online microcredentials (MC) for health and social care workers:who plan and deliver care to older people, to equip them with knowledge, confidence and skills to incorporate climate adaptation and resilience into their work.
- Train health professionals as local leaders, trailblazers, and peer trainers in climate adaptation to multiply impact
- Foster relationships and knowledge co-creation between higher education, vocational training, and health institutions through targeted events and knowledge exchange
- Modernize the learning offered by higher education and VET institutions and support the transition from VET to higher education
- Agree on an EU adapted framework for the recognition/accumulation of microcredential credits for use by higher education/vocational training institutions across Europe.
Outcomes and Outputs:
The innovative educational offering provided to 500-1000 health professionals and widely disseminated in health facilities will be novel, interactive, accessible, stackable, and collaborative with target learners/elderly at EQF Level 4-6. The curriculum and learning content, as well as learning reinforcement resources, will be freely available for adaptation/use.