Young Eco Heroes:
Designing Future Homes

EURECA-PRO Lifelong Learning Academy
Autumn 2026 – Spring 2027

21 Sep, 2026

Upcoming events

Registration open

Course Type:
Educational Activities with Workshop Components

Number of places:
Maximum 15 participants (per participating school)

Starting:
Autumn Semester 2026

Ending:
Spring Semester 2027

Become a Young Eco Hero !

The Young Eco Heroes project is an initiative of EURECA-PRO, the European University on Responsible Consumption and Production. Its goal is to bring scientific knowledge on sustainability into society and to inspire young people to take an active role in shaping a greener future.

This year’s theme is “Future Homes: Designing for a Challenging Future.” As a participant, you will work in your local school team to design a sustainable future home adapted to a challenging environmental context — such as an extreme urban environment, a hot and arid climate affected by water scarcity, or a flood-prone area. Supported by your teachers and a university mentor, you will research, design, and present your ideas, strengthening skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and public speaking along the way.

The project is voluntary, taking place outside of the regular school curriculum. As part of the EURECA-PRO network, you will connect with peers from partner schools through joint online meetings and interactive activities, while also learning how sustainable design can respond to real environmental challenges — before coming together for an international mobility in Crete.

The participating schools in this year’s EURECA-PRO Young Eco Heroes initiative are: the 1^st Experimental Junior High School of Chania in Greece and the Primary School No. 4 in Mikołów, Poland. Each school will manage their own selection process for participants.

Those selected please register on our Learning Management Platform – Moodle. Your teachers will assist you, if needed.

Hard facts

Activities will take place locally at participating schools, online for inter-school collaboration, and in person during a physical exchange in Crete.

The programme begins in September 2026, with the final presentations and international mobility taking place in April 2027.

Evaluation will consider understanding of the environmental scenario, research, sustainability, resilience, people-centred design, creativity, reasoning, teamwork, and communication.

All participants will receive a certificate upon completion of the programme.

Key skills

Young learners will build key skills while exploring sustainability, including:

Understanding environmental and climate challenges and designing sustainable responses
Collaborating in teams to research, design, and problem-solve
Applying critical thinking, creativity, and design reasoning
Communicating ideas clearly to an international audience, and reflecting on accessibility and inclusion

Programme

September 2026 – Getting Started: Registration on Moodle opens on 21 September and closes on 2 October 2026. Moodle will serve as the central hub for programme information, guidelines, and resources.
9 October 2026 – International Kick-Off (online meeting): Introduction to EURECA-PRO and Young Eco Heroes, the project topic, timeline, and selection of environmental challenges.
2 November 2026 – Designing Homes for the Future (online meeting): An interactive session on sustainable homes, buildings, and materials with university researchers.
November 2026 – April 2027 – Local Project Development: Teams research their environmental scenario, develop their design concept, and create a visual representation of their future home, supported by educators and university mentors.
15 January 2027 – Sharing Progress and Ideas (online meeting): Teams present their initial concepts and receive feedback from mentors and peers.
12–16 April 2027 – International Mobility in Crete: Final presentation of the future-home projects, hosted by the Technical University of Crete in Chania, alongside collaborative activities and exchange with international peers.