Cost Action 18236 - SHIINE

Multi-Disciplinary Innovation for Social Change

In an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, traditional approaches to the framing and resolution of social and economic problems deliver ever diminishing returns.

Discussions are abound, therefore, about how best to prepare for the fresh challenges of the 21st century not least in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Knowledge Alliances between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and enterprises which aim to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, employability, knowledge exchange and/or multidisciplinary teaching and learning are therefore becoming increasingly necessary and relevant. The challenge is to determine what we should teach in the future and how it should be taught. The changing nature of contemporary society highlights that social issues are often highly complex and multifaceted.

The aim of this Action is to demonstrate, through the adoption of Multi-Disciplinary Innovation (MDI) methods including highlighting learning from The Skill Mill experience, how we can respond to social problems with a design-led approach which has a problem-oriented ethos, supporting positive social change and the development of international public policy discourse. It will be achieved through the establishment of a Pan-European Public Sector Innovation (ePSI) lab. It will prepare students for roles in employment by integrating education programmes into the lab's operations and it will support agencies that have a role in responding to and developing public policy.

The Skill Mill is supporting the development of this Action leading a consortium of 38 Cost Action Countries. For further information please check our Action Page and COST website SHIINE.