The following 5 themes are at the forefront of the Alliance's civic commitment, and we aim to become a vector of change and innovation in these areas:

• Health
• Cities, Spaces and Mobility
• Climate, Environment and Energy
• Digital and Technological Transformations
• Society, Culture and Heritage

By structuring its actions around these priority areas, CIVIS has given itself the means to remain relevant and useful to our societies. This approach enables us to anticipate and meet emerging challenges, by providing concrete and innovative responses, both locally and internationally.

To achieve these objectives, CIVIS combines training and research, and develops a culture of collaboration through innovative pedagogies that encourage critical thinking, adaptability, resilience and future-oriented skills.

Selected by CIVIS, these themes constitute genuine"spaces for academic collaboration" aimed at developing multinational, multidisciplinary teaching and research offerings. In particular, they enable :

• the creation of joint degrees
• innovative learning practices
• mixed mobility at Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate levels
• multidisciplinary research programs
• public and/or private partnerships

Conceived as open, collaborative spaces, CIVIS Open Labs' mission is to create a meeting place where university and society exchange and co-construct projects from a multidisciplinary approach, and develop innovative, inclusive initiatives for high-impact solutions.

>> 11 universities, 11 cities, 11 Open Labs in Europe and 6 African partners <<

CIVIS Open Labs are distinguished by the fact that they are university-based Open Labs, and as such, supported by both CIVIS management and the host university.

In a way, they are incubators for citizen projects within our universities, enabling us to draw on the knowledge and expertise of our teachers and researchers, as well as enabling our students to open up to the region. It's also an opportunity to recognize the different ways in which knowledge can be created, and to value the empirical knowledge of our partners in civil society. The CIVIS Alliance Open Labs foster participatory, inclusive and impactful collaboration and promote innovation and co-creation at local, regional and international levels.

After a^1st experiment from 2020 to 2022 during which we ran exclusively local projects, we are now running transnational projects.

The CIVIS Open Labs aim to federate a committed and inclusive community, providing a unique global entry point for students, stakeholders and academics. True to the principle of thinking globally, acting locally, they are at the interface between territories and international issues.
As such, Open Labs encourage innovation, strengthen collaboration between academic and non-academic players, and stimulate civic engagement in the service of societies.

Their main objectives are to

• Promote service-learningactivities : encourage students and researchers to engage with communities through experiential learning that responds to real-world challenges.
• Support participatory and citizen-based research: actively involve citizens and stakeholders in the research process to co-create knowledge and develop solutions.
• Advance design thinkingmethodologies : facilitate innovative problem-solving by integrating diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches.

As part of the CIVIS Open Labs program, a range of activities are carried out in the territories, but also at European level, in collaboration with our African partners.
Various themes are addressed, such as health, ageing and well-being, youth and education, migration, inclusion and cultural diversity, heritage and civic identity, or sustainability, climate and the environment.
Conferences and workshops are also organized to disseminate best practices.

-> How can we meet the challenges facing young people?

• Vénères & Solidaires, led by Citizens Campus, 4 associations and 1 institutional partner.
  Objective: to bring together and train 400 young people over 1 year in collective intelligence workshops via a Discord platform created for and by young people.
  
• Get lit, led by Eurasia net, 10 associations, 3 amU university departments and 3 institutional partners involved
  Objective: to open up spaces for innovative cooperation between civil society and higher education, enabling students to gain recognition for the soft skills they have acquired during their academic careers.
  
• Accompagnement à la scolarité: Ecole, famille, quartier, on s'y met tous, supported by the Laboratoire Population Environnement Développement (LPED), 3 associations, 1 academic partner and 2 institutional partners involved.
  Objective: To better understand the realities of schoolchildren's families and improve parent-school relations through action research in schools, combining the approaches of forum theater and non-violent communication.
  
• Walk for the LAMAs...and discover the super power of your muscles! supported by LAMA2 France, 11 associations (including 5 amU students), 1 amU component, 8 amU research laboratories, 2 amU departments, 1 institutional partner, 5 Fuveau schools and 2 companies.
  Objective: Raise awareness, unite patients, translate and share information on congenital muscular dystrophy caused by laminin-alpha deficiency (LAMA2-DM) by co-constructing a new form of scientific mediation aimed at schoolchildren.
  

-> How can we build the city of tomorrow together?

• Smart & Civic Port, supported byAccélérateur M, 2 associations, 8 private groups and 3 institutional partners.
  Objective: Involve citizens in implementing innovative solutions in a Think/Do Tank to transform the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille.
  
• Interstice, led by Nos Quartiers Demain, 6 associations and 1 amU component involved
  Objective: Validate an intuition about the value of collective intelligence through an urban democracy toolbox for local players.
  
• Lab'Citoyenneté Villa Air Bel, led by the SoMuM institute, 2 associations, 1 amU department, 1 doctoral student on a complementary assignment and 1 institutional partner involved.
  Objective: To join the approach of a cultural third place and bring to life the elements of the collective memory of the inhabitants of a city to encourage them to participate in the sustainable and positive transformation of their living space.
  
• Nos cultures, nos futurs (Our cultures, our futures), supported by the Master of Arts in Cultural Arts Mediation, 14 Master's students and an institutional partner.
  Objective: to energize cultural policies aimed at bringing together people who would otherwise be estranged, by co-creating mediation tools based on encounters with users of the La Criée theater in Marseille.