Javascript must be enabled to continue!
PolyCIVIS Handbook on Participatory Methodsfor Teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education
Online full text edition of the handbook
Table of Contents
Prologue The PolyCIVIS Initiative for Polycrisis
Chapter 1 Gamification elements
Chapter 2 Serious play / playful design techniques
Chapter 3 Playful brainstorming techniques
Chapter 4 Lateral and visual thinking techniques
Chapter 5 Thick participation techniques
Chapter 6 Thin participation techniques
Chapter 7 Embodied participation techniques
Chapter 8 Arts-based participation techniques
Chapter 9 Making-based participation techniques
Chapter 10 Data-based participation techniques
Chapter 11 Cognitive style-based peer reflection / role-play approaches
Chapter 12 The JRC Polycrisis Exploration Workshop
Chapter 13 Challenge-based education approaches
Chapter 14 Service-learning education approaches
Take the Online Survey
for this Chapter Now!
Chapter 12
Participatory teaching for the polycrisis in Higher Education using: The JRC Polycrisis Exploration Workshop
Preamble

This Chapter is part of the PolyCIVIS Handbook on Participatory Methods for Teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education. The objective of this Handbook is to serve as a reference resource for teaching about the polycrisis in Higher Education in a participatory manner, a need which has not only been foreseen by the PolyCIVIS project in its inception phase, but also confirmed and further substantiated in a number of meetings and workshops during the project’s lifetime.

This Handbook is not a coursebook to teach what the polycrisis is, but a methods book, to provide instruments for teaching about the polycrisis in a participatory manner. It is to be made available online as a multimedia live resource, presenting different participatory teaching methods for uptake by the Polycrisis-interested community in Higher Education, together with supporting materials such as method descriptions, references, examples and case studies.

The different methods proposed are presented in one chapter for each group of methods, which also includes, in the digital edition of this Handbook, a live survey to collect peer feedback from the community itself, on the usefulness and ease of use that community members (Higher Education tutors, students, researchers as well as practitioners) may themselves find specific methods to have within, and for, their own contexts and audiences.

What do we mean by thin participation techniques?

The JRC Polycrisis Exploration Workshop is a foresight-oriented workshop model developed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre / EU Policy Lab to help participants explore how risks may interact, cascade and generate future polycrises. The tool supports strategic dialogue, risk awareness, future polycrisis mapping and identification of possible policy interventions. It can be adapted for higher education as a participatory learning method in which students examine multiple risks, connect them into systemic maps, discuss blind spots and test responses. For teaching the polycrisis, it is especially useful because it turns complexity into a structured, collaborative and future-oriented inquiry process.

Indicative starter sources for information about these methods
  • JRC / EU Policy Lab. “Unraveling the polycrisis with foresight and innovation.”: Introduces the Polycrisis Exploration Tool as a foresight method for policymakers and complex risk thinking.
  • Knowledge4Policy. “Polycrisis Exploration Workshop.”: Core official toolkit page describing the workshop purpose, uses, activities and downloadable materials.
  • JRC. “Navigating uncertainty: A new polycrisis exploration tool for policymakers.”: Presents the workshop as a three-step model for strategic thinking, dialogue and policy output.
  • Knowledge4Policy. “Future Risks.”: Provides wider context on future risks, risk awareness and foresight resources related to polycrisis.
  • EU Policy Lab. “One year navigating complexity with the Polycrisis Exploration Workshop.”: Reflects on the toolkit’s development, use and role in exploring blind spots and critical uncertainties.
  • JRC poster: Activity 2 Future Polycrisis Map: Practical visual template for mapping future polycrisis relations, cascading impacts and risk interactions.
  • Polycrisis.org resource on the JRC tool.: Secondary hub summarising the EU Policy Lab’s Polycrisis Exploration Tool for broader audiences.
  • Global Sustainability polycrisis literature. Useful for connecting the workshop to academic debates on definitions, mechanisms and responses.
Additional sources of information about these methods
Indicative participatory teaching scenarios for these methods

Scenario 1. Future polycrisis map

Students select three or four risks from a risk-card set, such as extreme heat, food insecurity, AI misinformation, conflict, migration or financial instability. They map how these risks could interact over ten years. The class then identifies cascading impacts, affected groups, blind spots and possible early interventions.

Scenario 2. Blind-spot risk lab

Groups examine risks that are uncertain but potentially high-impact: ecological tipping points, digital infrastructure failure, water conflict, public-trust collapse or democratic fatigue. Students discuss why such risks are hard to see, which disciplines notice them and which institutions may ignore them.

Scenario 3. Intervention stress test

Students propose one policy intervention, such as climate adaptation funding or emergency-alert reform. They then test how the intervention might affect other systems: housing, migration, health, trust, energy, education and inequality. The goal is to identify unintended consequences before implementation.

Scenario 4. Policy futures briefing

Students act as foresight analysts preparing a short briefing for a university, municipality or ministry. They summarise interconnected risks, possible cascading effects and three resilience interventions. The briefing must include uncertainty, affected stakeholders and ethical considerations.

Scenario 5. Polycrisis dialogue circle

Instead of beginning with expert lecture, students sit in groups and share which crisis interconnections they already notice in daily life, media or study. These observations are then connected to official JRC-style risk categories and mapped into a future polycrisis diagram.

prev Previous chapter
Back to chapter list
Next chapter next
Take the Online Survey for this Chapter Now!

Please help us with your voluntary participation in this survey, to enrich this chapter with more views and ideas on the participatory methods reported for teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education. Your responses will be collected, stored securely, and used only for research purposes. Data will be analyzed and reported in anonymized form. Otherwise, the legal basis for processing your personal data is your explicit consent, in accordance with Article 6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You may withdraw at any time without penalty. You have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your data. For questions or data requests, please contact polycivis@ulb.be. By proceeding, you confirm that: you are at least 18 years old; you understand the information above; and you voluntarily consent to participate in this survey and to the processing of the following data: a) first and last name, email address, and institutional affiliation, for potential follow-up regarding survey results and related activities of the Handbook b) status and region, for statistical purposes only.

*
*
*
*
* You are responding as:
(This information is used for statistical purposes only, to help balance respondents across regions and status)
* You are responding from an institution/organization in:
(This information is used for statistical purposes only, to help balance respondents across regions and status)
1. What would you think of using these methods/approaches within scenarios of participatory teaching about the polycrisis in higher education?
* Would you think that they would be useful to apply?
(please tick one option only)
* Would you think that they would be easy to apply?
(please tick one option only)
2. Would you have any more specific ideas about how to apply these methods/approaches, or any comments about their advantages and/or limitations?
*
(1,000 characters max)


* Consent:

Get New Code
[Get New Code]

* Fill in the code as it appears in the image

PolyCIVIS is a 3 year project starting from October 2023. It is funded by the European Union, Erasmus call: ERASMUS-JMO-2023-NETWORKS-HEI-NON-EU-AFRICA

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

PolyCIVIS

Confronting the Polycrisis in Europe and Africa through Research, Policy and Education

The PolyCIVIS Polycrisis Handbook

Created By

styletts