TED kick-off event (Programme)
TED – Teaching Environmental Democracy: Kick-off Meeting in Lecce and Brindisi
On 16–17 March 2026, the cities of Lecce and Brindisi hosted the kick-off meeting of TED – Teaching Environmental Democracy, an Erasmus+ KA220 project co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Université Catholique de Lyon (UCLy).
The project brings together an international consortium composed of UCLy, the Università del Salento, the Democracy and Culture Foundation (Athens), and CESUE / Focus Europe Italia, with the aim of developing innovative teaching methodologies combining European environmental law, democratic participation and active citizenship.
At the core of the project is the creation of a Students Assembly, an innovative pedagogical tool through which students will discuss and deliberate on concrete environmental law cases, experiencing participatory and deliberative democracy in practice.
The kick-off meeting opened at the Rectorate of the Università del Salento with a public session dedicated to the importance of teaching environmental democracy. The project coordinator, Stefania Attolini, presented the objectives and long-term vision of TED, highlighting the need to strengthen environmental awareness and democratic participation among younger generations.
The programme continued with operational working sessions dedicated to the design of TED’s pedagogical methodology and with meetings involving academics, researchers and student representatives from the partner institutions.
On the second day, partners visited the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) – UNHRD Base in Brindisi, exploring the role of environmental sustainability within humanitarian logistics and international cooperation.
The kick-off concluded with a public event at Palazzo Nervegna in Brindisi focused on democracy, environmental awareness and European cooperation projects, followed by the first official coordination meeting of the consortium.
The TED project will run from 2025 to 2028 and aims to create a joint training programme and certification in Environmental Democracy, integrating innovative educational practices into the curricula of the partner universities.