Interview with partner organisation: University of Camerino-UNICAM
We aim to democratize science, foster active citizenship, and strengthen dialogue between academia and society.
The University of Camerino (UNICAM) is an international hub of knowledge and innovation that promotes excellence in research and education to contribute to the social, cultural, and economic progress of society at both national and international levels. Rooted in values such as inclusion, integrity, and sustainability, UNICAM places people, value, and science at the heart of its mission.
Our strategic vision, structured around Apertura (Openness), Innovazione (Innovation), and Benessere (Well-being), fully aligns with EPiCS’s objectives. Like EPiCS, we are committed to integrating citizen science, service-learning, and deliberative engagement into our educational and research frameworks. Both initiatives aim to democratize science, foster active citizenship, and strengthen dialogue between academia and society.
“We are committed to integrating citizen science, service-learning, and deliberative engagement into our educational and research frameworks.”
UNICAM has extensive experience in community-based and participatory research through several national and European initiatives:
Third Mission: Community Engagement for a Knowledge-Based Society. Led by UNICAM, this project promoted civic engagement through participatory academic deliberative arenas involving researchers, students, and citizens.
GRIT – Growth Mindset through Resilient Intelligent Technologies and ENHANCE – Enhancing Career and Service Learning in Higher Education .These initiatives explored community service-learning as an innovative educational approach to strengthen employability, resilience, and civic responsibility among students.
Bringing Excellence to Transformative Engaged Research in Life Sciences through Integrated Digital Centres - BETTER Life . The project will establish a European Digital Centre of Excellence for fostering Socially Engaged Research (SER) in Life Sciences, as well as seven regional centres operating in their surrounding ecosystems.
Open science technologies Acceleration for a new generation of Student entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainable development- OASIS. The project was about facilitating the adoption of OS technologies in education through practical applications, training and mentoring activities for managing real educational & labour oriented problems with a view to increase openness and not closed intellectual property.
These experiences have provided UNICAM with a solid foundation for combining education, research, and social impact in participatory frameworks.
“We have seen that effective citizen engagement requires continuous capacity-building and careful facilitation to bridge the gap between scientific and civic perspectives.”
From past projects, UNICAM has learned that:
Interdisciplinary collaboration greatly enhances engagement and the societal impact of academic projects.
Digital tools and open communication are essential for inclusivity and sustainability in citizen participation.
Deliberative dialogue and co-creation with local communities ensure long-term relevance and mutual trust. At the same time, we have seen that effective citizen engagement requires continuous capacity-building and careful facilitation to bridge the gap between scientific and civic perspectives.
Through EPiCS, UNICAM aims to:
Integrate Citizen Science and Service-Learning into its educational and research ecosystem.
Strengthen deliberative and participatory models that connect academia with communities and local institutions.
Develop “Citizen Science pills”, small-scale, hands-on projects co-created with students, researchers, and citizens.
Contribute to building an inclusive and sustainable model of university engagement aligned with the goals of the European Research Area and the UN 2030 Agenda.
Thanks to EPICS, UNICAM seeks to reinforce its role as a catalyst for social innovation, civic participation, and open science in the Marche region and beyond.