OLO hosts AYE Project International Meeting and reinforces the role of participatory research with young people in Europe
Between October 6 and 9, 2025, MARE-NOVA's Ocean Literacy Observatory (OLO) hosted the International Meeting of the AYE (Action-research for Youth in Europe) Project, as part of the European ERASMUS+ program. 
During four days of intense collaborative work, NOVA FCT welcomed partners from Portugal, France, Italy, and Finland, as well as participants from more than eight countries, in an environment of sharing experiences, methodologies, and practices focused on participatory action research with young people.
The meeting highlighted the importance of active citizenship, social inclusion, and community innovation through an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach to the collective construction of solutions. Discussions and activities focused on urgent social and environmental challenges, such as housing insecurity, social inequalities, and the ecological crisis, highlighting the direct involvement of the community of Bairro do Segundo Torrão, in Trafaria, where MARE-NOVA carries out ongoing work in collaboration with the EBANO Collective.
The AYE project, funded by ERASMUS+, aims to boost new dynamics of cooperation between higher education institutions and civil society organizations. Planned actions include the creation of a transnational charter of common values, the co-construction of training modules based on non-formal education, the identification of learning spaces outside the university context, and the implementation of local experiences that will feed into a collaborative synthesis of the results obtained throughout the project.
MARE-NOVA plays a central role in the AYE project, promoting alternative research co-constructed with civil society through its Ocean Literacy Observatory (OLO). In line with Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy, MARE-NOVA adopts a participatory approach that strengthens the links between the university and local communities. In collaboration with the EBANO Collective, it seeks to deepen its territorial roots, promoting joint work with associations and young people from Trafaria.
In the context of this European project, MARE-NOVA leads Work Package 4 (WP4), coordinated by Mônica Mesquita and Daniel Oliveira, who are responsible for monitoring the local activities of each partner and centralizing the results. The third transnational meeting, held at NOVA FCT, focused on sharing feedback on the creation and implementation of teaching modules (WP2), the search for new learning spaces (WP3), and marked the beginning of the analysis of new dynamics of cooperation between higher education institutions and civil society (WP4).
The next international AYE meeting is already scheduled for 2026 in Helsinki, and its main objective will be to present the final results of the project and the lessons learned throughout this collective journey.
Among the most significant impacts are expected to be the transformation of professional practices in the youth sector, the recognition of intermediate spaces as legitimate learning environments, and the strengthening of synergies between universities, civil society organizations, and young people. Through this work, the AYE project actively contributes to building fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable European societies.