EPIC Missions

The PISOP Center Association was established in the year 2000. It is a Non-governmental organization (NGO) guided by the principles of honesty and partnership. The participants believe in the importance and strength of citizens' initiatives, NGOs and social enterprises. The PISOP Center:

Close cooperation between non-governmental organizations and universities, including e.g. exchange of information and experience, planning and creation of projects, material assistance supports the development of the third sector. We want to support and develop this cooperation in our region Wielkopolska. Our experience shows that currently cooperation is very low.

Key4Tomorrow (https://www.key4tomorrow.pl/) is an NGO active in Poznań area dealing with local activism, intercultural dialogue, sustainability

To engage students in promoting the richness of intercultural diversity in mobile formats. What new formats would be interesting for them, what target groups would they like to adress - kids, seniors, peers at universities ? What is the incentive to participate in such actions?

WEtell is a mobile telecommunications provider with focus on climate protection, data protection, fairness and transparency, thereby setting new standards in the industry. The company was founded at Freiburg im Breisgau in 2019 by Alma Spribille, Andreas Schmucker and Nico Tucher with the aim of promoting a value-driven economy.

WEtell is part of the Economy for the Common Good (https://www.ecogood.org/) and a steward-owned company (https://purpose-economy.org/en/). For more information see: https://www.wetell.de/ (German only)

WEtell is a company that focuses on sustainability and wants to foster sustainable transformation in the economy. But our experiences show that we are moving only within a certain sphere of society, generally consisting of white, middle class people with academical background.

Our challenge is composed of two parts:

Useful expertise could be in the fields of: Diversity, intersectionality, communication strategies, marekting, HR, recruiting. But we also welcome people without expertise in these fields as long as they are interested in the subject and have a feeling for the needs of or belong to one of the aforementioned dimensions of diversity.

How can we in Denmark prevent young people from starting to smoke and by this prevent cancer later in life?

We have specially an issue with chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes being very addictive and having a high impact on health due to the high nicotine level and the illusion of not being dangerous due to the different flavors. Indeed, e-cigarettes are forbidden in DK but widely spread.

SINGA is a global movement that creates open societies, for everyone, regardless of their background, to realize their full potential. Since 2012, SINGA has been creating events, tools, and new spaces to encourage newcomers and locals to find synergies, learn from each other, and build a better future together through: A 50,000 member global community that brings together refugees, migrants, and locals around shared passions, skills, and projects. A network of local incubators in 18 cities in 7 countries that work with over 1,000 entrepreneurs to develop over 300 successful inclusion projects. A virtuous ecosystem that brings together community, leaders and institutions to reinvent inclusion and the future of migration. Since 2022, SINGA Strasbourg has been working towards social innovation by and for migration. International cooperation is at the core of the activities with the aim of making the local economy more inclusive, which is why SINGA Strasbourg is building a network of entrepreneurship and asylum ecosystem partners based in the Greater East region and Baden-Württemberg. https://singafrance.com/strasbourg 

SINGA Strasbourg is the starting point for a bi-national cooperation hub in favour of migration-led innovation for the future of the Upper Rhine region. The city of Strasbourg, with its strategic position next to the Rhine river, has been a dynamic crossroad for international commercial exchange for centuries. Today, it is also a true basin for citizen’s engagement in building a cohesive society regardless of geographical and cultural borders. Bringing entrepreneurship that is accessible to every inhabitant of the area, constitutes a real social empowerment action that addresses the creation of the jobs of tomorrow by workers themselves. Since the beginning of SINGA Strasbourg's activities in January 2022, we observe the many difficulties newcomers with migration background face to meet locals and develop their own professional activities. These barriers are mainly: low or absence of knowledge of the local language and social codes, lack of a professional network, and of opportunities due to biases based on origin, religion, race, or gender. How can SINGA Strasbourg create a network of citizens to participate in the inclusion of newcomers to the city?

Diakonie is the social welfare organisation of Germany’s Protestant churches. Our mission is to practice charity in the model of Jesus Christ. We operate independently and across political parties. We respect the dignity and uniqueness of every human being and work to promote every individual’s right to independence and self-determination. Diakonie provides aid to people in need of care, to people with disabilities or illness, to children and families, to immigrants and their families, to those struggling with addiction, and to those otherwise disadvantaged. In addition, Diakonie advocates on behalf of the underprivileged in politics and society, leading discussions on the causes of poverty and social injustice. https://www.diakonie-baden.de/

In Europe, nearly 8 million individuals suffer from dementia, highlighting the challenges of an aging population with increasing life expectancies. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for this disease, which mainly affects older adults. However, early intervention and treatment could positively influence or prevent around one-third of all dementia cases. To this end, the Diakonie is developing a mobile application that can identify and reduce risk factors associated with the development of dementia. After assessing the user's current health status, including pre-existing medical conditions, dietary habits, sleep habits and exercise routines, recommendations for changing habits (so-called lifestyle interventions) are given through the app.However, motivating elderly individuals to confront their health status and change their habits can be challenging. While some may already be highly engaged in their health, others may need additional motivation to use the app effectively. Furthermore, many older adults may not be familiar with mobile devices or wearables such as smartwatches, which are used to track their activities together with the app. Therefore, finding ways to engage more elderly individuals and encourage them to use the app is critical.

EUCOR– The European Campus (an EPICUR alliance associate partner) is an alliance of five universities based in the Upper Rhine region, namely the Universities of Basel, Freiburg, Haute-Alsace, Strasbourg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Within the Eucor-alliance, Prof. Dr. Ulf Hahnel  is a professor of psychology who focuses on “Sustainability and Behavior Change” at the University of Basel. His research focuses on how psychology can contribute to a better understanding of human judgment and decision-making shaping individual actions and “climate footprints” and how insights from this research can ultimately provide evidence-based solutions to promote sustainable actions around the world. He proposes the challenge below:

92% of citizens in Europe accept climate changes as a fact. Furthermore, 90% of Europeans agree that climate change is human-made. Regardless of that, the individual carbon footprint for people in Eurpoe averages 6.8 tons of CO₂ per person and msut be reduced to 2,3 tons per person per year by 2030 if the Paris Agreement targets are to be met. Despite their awareness of climate change, people in Europe often do not choose the most climate-friendly behaviors - this is what indicators such as the carbon footprint and numerous other surveys clearly show us. The underlying phenomenon is called the 'intention-behavior gap'. Overcoming this gap is a key challenge for climate protection, since approximately 63% of the actions needed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees celsius require individual behavior changes.

In this EPIC mission, you are asked to develop a concept on how to overcome the “intention-behavior-gap”. Think of ways to make people adapt a more climate friendly behavior. How can the relevant information necessary to inform decision-making be made available quickly and easily accessible?  How can framework conditions be created and incentives set that make it easy for people to opt for climate-friendly behavior in their everyday-lives? When developing your approach, take the specific cultural, geographical and social context in different European regions into account.

EUCOR– The European Campus (an EPICUR alliance associate partner) is an alliance of five universities based in the Upper Rhine region, namely the Universities of Basel, Freiburg, Haute-Alsace, Strasbourg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Within the Eucor-alliance, Prof. Dr. Heiko Schuldt is a professor of Computer Science with a focus on “Databases and Information Systems” at the University of Basel. His research addresses Big Data in several facets, including the joint management of heterogeneous data in various formats, the search in large-scale multimedia (image and video) databases including novel augmented reality-based user interaction, and the processing of continuous sensor data streams.” He proposes the challenge below:

Sharing and reusing items on the Internet may seem technically simple, but the underlying constraints and rules are often unclear. Moreover, there is a notable lack of clarity when it comes to correctly referencing objects, especially visual ones such as images and videos. This issue is particularly pronounced for freely available objects, such as those licensed under Creative Commons. One specific challenge is discerning between the original sources of objects and secondary sources that redistribute them without ownership. Determining the true origin of an object can be a complex task, which further complicates the appropriate usage and attribution of online content. With the advent of AI-based tools such as DALL-E, Midjourney or Stable Diffusion, this challenge has become even more complex.

The overall challenge objective is to create a comprehensive framework encompassing both theoretical considerations and practical implementation to facilitate proper content sharing and attribution in a digital environment. The project aims to engage interdisciplinary and international teams. The challenge may be of special interest to Computer Science and Law students.

It is divided into two key components. First, the conceptual part involves the elaboration and summary of rules and conditions pertaining to the sharing and reusing of content, along with guidelines for proper attribution of existing content. Second, the practical part focuses on developing a system that allows for the submission of a visual object (e.g., based on existing search engines). This system will endeavor to determine the object's current sources, ideally distinguishing between primary and secondary sources.