#INFLUERA Project Focusing on 18 to 30 Year-olds

With the goal of promoting digital literacy, skills and entrepreneurship among young people, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences has joined Erasmus+ research project #INFLUERA. Starting from next March, Wittenborg’s Research Centre will be conducting studies focused on people aged between 18 and 30 for a period of 16 months, until July 2023.

The project includes three other organisations: Fundacja Eduvibes, from Poland, Social Cooperative Enterprise Drosostalida (Greece), and Tum Engelliler Kultur Sanat Dayanisma ve Spor Dernegi (Turkey). Together, the four partners will develop a mapping of digital influencers, which aims to enable young people to better understand this professional role and the skills that it requires, by highlighting the stories of successful individuals in the sector.

Additionally, a training kit on social media literacy will be compiled, by using the innovative method of learning nuggets – small, interconnected activities – with the purpose of making the process more interactive. The material will cover topics such as digital skills & media literacy, as well as entrepreneurship, and will instruct its target audience on how to create a digital influencer’s campaign.

All the information will be included in an open-access online platform and mobile app that will be developed, meaning that young people from everywhere will be able to freely download and use the training kit. Apart from that, a handbook for trainers will be produced, covering topics that include how to build an online personal brand, strategies to monetise work as a digital influencer and the development of critical skills related to this field of work.

At the conclusion of the project, each of the participant organisations will hold a conference titled #INFLUERA #Infoday, aiming to present the results of the research as well as build the capacities of informal training for digital influencers. The events will be targeted at different groups, such as young people, youth workers, digital influencers and representatives of youth education authorities and other government bodies.

Collaborative Effort

According to Wittenborg’s EU project coordinator, Aydan Ismayilova, the initiative is not only intended to develop young people’s digital entrepreneurship skills, but also to help them in other spheres of life. Ismayilova added that Wittenborg has high expectations about #INFLUERA and said that the school will identify its lecturers and researchers who are specialised in the fields related to the project and invite them to join the team.

“This is a collaborative effort that will actively involve researchers from the four institutions participating in the consortium, and the data will be collected in the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece and Poland. Each of the participant institutions will be responsible for specific contributions that will add to the final result,” she stressed.

WUP 3/3/2022
by Ulisses Sawczuk
©WUAS Press