The goal of our Youth Programme is twofold – it supports the Joint Research Centre's (JRC) effort in disseminating its scientific knowledge while encouraging public engagement in the European Union (EU).
The objectives of the programme are:
- To raise awareness of the benefits of the EU by sharing information on how EU science supports citizens;
- To provide an understanding of the role of science in policymaking and stimulate students to learn science;
- To foster critical thinking, promote European collaboration and enhance citizen engagement with science.
Additionally, the programme tests and launches new ideas and methodologies for feedback mechanisms and content co-creation.
Onsite experiential visits
These experience-based school and universities visits offer an interactive programme tailor made and designed with an ad hoc format to deepen the students’ understanding of the JRC work in relation to their daily lives. The proposed experience foresees one half-day visit, in which individual groups of about 50 students join thematic sessions, explore dedicated laboratories and engage in 'do it yourself' activities, such as physical experiments but also in terms of critical thinking and evidence analysis experiments. In addition, meet-the-scientist sessions, in the form of seminars, show and tell activities or Q&A, might be planned ahead of the visit on scientific topics that are relevant to existing school projects, resulting in follow-ups and future collaborations.
Apply for a visit at the JRC Ispra
If you want to express interest for a visit at the JRC please complete the application form. The team dedicated to the Youth Programme will contact you in due time in order to explore the possibility to visit the JRC Ispra Site.
Please note that, due to the large number of requests, we will not consider new applications for the School Year 2023/2024. More information for next School Year will be published shortly.
Online seminar cycle "Science is everywhere. Let’s talk about…"
After the success of the two first series “Science is Everywhere”, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), will host another edition of Digital School Seminars for the school year 2023/24 to tackle three important topics addressed by JRC researchers: Planet, Safety and Society.
In a simple, yet engaging format, these interactive meetings “Let’s talk about …” will continue discussing the work our scientists carry out in support of EU policies related to the scientific topics.
After having provided an overview of the different Institutions, job opportunities offered and living library session, the seminars will focus on ad-hoc presentations and/or case studies delivered by the scientists themselves, complemented by SLIDO case by case to share thoughts and questions.
Edition 2023/2024
Due to the big success of the Italian edition 2022-2023, the JRC Youth Programme Team extended the initiative to different EU Countries organising pilot sessions in Spanish, German, Portuguese and Greek during Autumn 2023. The new Italian cycle was organised in Winter 2024 from January to March (8 different sessions).
Discover the calendars of the digital seminars, edition 2023/2024 and rewatch all sessions.
The digital seminars in Italian will be associated with a competition. If your school is interested, discover the rules and regulation of the competition and become the winner of the new edition.
Past edition 2022/2023
The edition for the School Year 2022/23 was followed by 622 schools and about 6000 students from all Italian regions. Participants were asked to participate in a competition for the best video related with the topics of the seminars. The JRC sponsored the trip to Ispra (VA) Italy, the biggest JRC location, to all 7 winners schools (Fidenza, Rho, Afragola, Luino, Gallarate, Monza, Busto Arsizio) for a tour of the site and a visit to our facilities.
You can rewatch the Award Ceremony for the best video, the video of Istituto Bereninini di Fidenza, winner of the competition and the seminars of the past edition:
07/10/2022 - Let’s talk about… Energy
07/11/2022 - Let's talk about...Nuclear
17/11/2022 - Let's talk about...Nuclear Decommissioning
17/01/2023 - Let's talk about...Space
27/01/2023 - Let's talk about...Disaster Risks
17/02/2023 - Let's talk about...Biodiversity
17/03/2023 - Let's talk about...Food
27/03/2023 - Let's talk about...Health
11/05/2023 - School Seminar Special Edition : Let's talk about Space (Greek version)
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
During the COVID-19 pandemic we created a series of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) addressed to and designed in collaboration with teachers, who know the needs of their students and are already testing new approaches.
Courses are structured into stand-alone modules, following the path “Explore”, “Practice” and “Engage” to help reach the overall learning objectives.
These MOOCs focus on scientific themes, in line with the goals of the “European Green Deal”, which stresses the importance of environmental education and sustainability. They are freely accessible on our dedicated EU Academy platform. To visit our courses on the EU Academy, please explore the area “Energy, Climate change and Environment”.
More information
To know more about the JRC educational activities for students and teachers, please send an email to our functional mailbox JRC-SCHOOLS
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-SCHOOLS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)