Outstanding success for Fulda University of Applied Sciences :
Citizens can play an active role in shaping the future

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is once again supporting cutting-edge research at Fulda University of Applied Sciences with a so-called "research impulse". The research network "Making eParticipation usable for transformations: Exploring fields of application, influencing factors and effects (eParT)" will receive six million euros over the next five years to investigate how digital participation can contribute to successfully implementing social change processes. What makes the project special: Not only are researchers from different disciplines working together in eParT, the collaboration between research and society is also being strengthened.

Across Germany, 77 universities of applied sciences (HAWs) took part in the extremely prestigious call for proposals. The best five applications were finally chosen as part of an extensive review process. Fulda University of Applied Sciences is the only HAW in Hesse to have been successful. Fulda University of Applied Sciences was already one of the few HAWs to receive funding in the DFG's first round of proposals two years ago. Nationwide, apart from Fulda University of Applied Sciences, only Nuremberg Institute of Technology has been successful in the two previous rounds of proposals.

Hesse's Minister of Science Timon Gremmels congratulated the five funded universities on the announcement: "The success in such an important funding line with tough academic competition and great rivalry is a voucher for the research strength of Fulda University of Applied Sciences."

"The fact that we were also successful in the DFG's second call for proposals for research impulses is truly outstanding," says a delighted University President Professor Dr Karim Khakzar, who is convinced: "The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research at our university has thus received a further major boost. Five out of eight departments are involved in the research network and the researchers come from different disciplines. We are particularly proud of this. Another aspect that characterises this project is the involvement of non-scientific stakeholders. The search for solutions to major societal challenges is highly complex and only possible through collaboration."

Eight researchers from the health and social sciences, electrical engineering, political science, applied linguistics and computer science are working together in the eParT research network with the aim of gaining insights into how e-participation, i.e. digital participation and decision-making processes, can support transformation in the areas of health, energy, mobility and education. In view of the growing social challenges and the rapid progress of digital technologies, digital participation is becoming increasingly important. But there are still many unanswered questions. For example, it is not yet clear how digital forms of participation can be made more inclusive and utilised efficiently and in the long term.

Publicly accessible experimental spaces: citizens as co-designers of the transformation
Professor Dr Benjamin Ewert, spokesperson for the research network, explains the eParT research approach: "The project is based on a transdisciplinary understanding, so we are also incorporating resources and knowledge from outside the university. We also consistently utilise the citizen science approach, which means that citizens can actively participate in research processes - from the development of questions to data collection and analysis. And in the spirit of applied research, we pursue the goal of developing solutions related to practice for everyday problems."

So-called pop-up labs at various locations in Fulda and the surrounding area are intended to make it easier for citizens to get involved. These are short-term, real-life experimental spaces at publicly accessible locations in cities and rural areas. They serve as analogue counterparts to digital participation platforms and create low-threshold access for a broad section of the population through direct encounters and personal exchange. Here, researchers work together with citizens on issues relevant to everyday life, develop ideas, test solutions and discuss results.

"The population can directly contribute their experiences, perspectives and concerns, gain insights into research processes and actively help shape solutions to social challenges in areas such as health, mobility, energy and education," says Professor Ewert, describing the advantages for the region.

Practical use of digital participation: Testing new participation formats with practical partners 
In addition, eParT is working with regional partners who provide important offers and structures for citizens in Fulda. Together with the practical placement partners, the researchers want to test new ways in which digital participation can be used in practice. Here, too, citizens can help shape the future of their region.

Through the Hessian Working Group for Health Promotion (HAGE), for example, citizens could use digital participation platforms to help decide which prevention services are needed in schools and neighbourhoods.

In cooperation with Region Fulda GmbH, a pop-up lab is to be set up in the city centre where citizens can contribute their ideas for designing mobility concepts or climate-friendly urban development.

RhönEnergie Fulda GmbH is working together with eParT on solutions to enable citizens to contribute their perspectives digitally on issues such as the charging infrastructure for e-mobility or energy-saving measures in the region.

And with the city of Fulda, the project wants to test new participation formats with a view to municipal development, for example on sustainable urban planning or study programmes offered.

Comprehensible and freely accessible: practical tools for citizens
To ensure that the results of the project do not disappear into a drawer, the research network is setting up a Participation Hub, a digital platform. Results, methods and recommendations relating to digital participation are to be bundled here in a way that is easy to understand and freely accessible.

For citizens in Fulda and the surrounding area, this means that they can easily find out what opportunities there are to participate in decisions in the areas of health, energy, mobility or education - both online and locally. Practical tools, examples and tips are designed to help people start their own initiatives or make better use of pass participation processes.

The Participation Hub thus brings research and everyday life together: It strengthens the voice of citizens, supports transparency and creates new ways to actively shape social change together - in Fulda, the region and beyond.

About the DFG Research Initiative
The DFG Research Initiative is regarded as a competition for excellence between German UASs. The funding instrument is intended to support UASs with strong research capabilities in further developing their academic profile, increasing their competitiveness by concentrating and complementing existing research approaches and improving the conditions for knowledge-oriented research at universities in the long term. In 2023, Fulda University of Applied Sciences had already received DFG funding for the SaFe research network (Shaping Future Society - The Mutual Constitution of Future-Oriented Practices and Community).