The recent lockdowns and remaining restrictions to public life in almost all EU Members States had a severe impact on most EUKI projects. Despite the easing of physical distancing measures, it is foreseeable that many activities cannot be implemented in the way originally planned and impact the way we are working.

This calls for new digital formats with which all EUKI implementers are experimenting in one way or another. Whilst classical web seminar in the form of lectures including a Q&A are already well established, the implementation of interactive dialogue formats and trainings proves to be more challenging. This starts from finding a suitable IT platform, different levels of IT literacy of target groups, or lack of experience with online-didactics and moderation. Furthermore, the barriers for bringing together different stakeholders with limited trust in each other are much higher when done virtually. And how to compensate for the informal talks and networking during the coffee breaks which are an essential element of any face-to-face gathering?

We would like to address these questions in the seminar under the following heading: How can we effectively facilitate collaboration on complex issues between multiple stakeholders in a virtual setting?

This seminar will

• capture lessons learnt so far and share the facilitators emerging practice on virtual collaboration: What works virtually, what doesn’t?
• provide a space for peer advice between EUKI projects on various challenges when it comes to virtual collaboration
• jointly explore the New Normal of virtual collaboration