Action Research Summer Camp
Participatory and community-based forms of social problem analysis are core elements of empowerment and change “from below” around the globe. Related processes and methodologies have proven effective in fighting social inequalities and finding useful and sustainable solutions leading towards progressive social transformation.
The course with a one-week in-person meeting at its core (Jun 11 to 18, 2023) invites students, activists, academics, unionists, community workers, members of non-government organizations and governmental entities alike to build a community of practice in Participatory Action Research. Together with our social partner in Innsbruck, Austria, we learn about and reflect on participatory problem analysis and political action.
The current course is already fully booked.

Facts
Duration: | 1 in-person week plus 4 preparatory virtual meetings |
Certification: | Micro-Credential with Certificate of Attendance |
ECTS: | 6 points |
Form: | Short course / summer school |
Group size: | 25 participants |
Working language: | English |
Fee: | € 275,- plus student union fee (summer term 2023: € 21,10 per semester) |
Application deadline: | The current course is already fully booked. |
Program start: | April 1, 2023 (for preparatory phase with virtual meetings) |
In-person week: |
June 11 to 18, 2023, in Innsbruck, Austria |
Peparatory virtual meetings |
Mon. March 13, 2023, 14:00-15:30h UTC (GMT) |
Why should you take part in the Action Research Summer Camp?
- Goal-oriented: Our teaching and learning activities center around your personal and professional development interests, previous experience and project ideas.
- Student responsibility: We actively involve you in identifying expectations and planning activities for the Camp week.
- Teaching through real social projects: For one week, we turn a grassroots organization that gives a home to transnationally mobile European Roma into a place for real-life learning.
- Community engagement: We engage with residents and local members of the progressive Waldhüttl project in a stimulating natural environment.
- Active learning: We build a community of practice, celebrate life, and use experiential methods and pedagogical means to go beyond traditional didactics.
- Our goal is inclusion: Costs are generally kept as low as possible. We work on a sliding scale, e.g. to enable participation from the Global South.

Participatory Action Research fosters social entrepreneurship in order to remedy the social issues that community or groups are suffering from. In our teaching, we use scenarios that reflect the needs for a just development, e.g. related to work conditions, social exclusion, ecological crises, or public health. Our course is embedded in a real social project that teaches us how human beings and other creatures can live together peacefully.
Prof. Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College (MA, USA)

In the Action Research Summer Camp, we not only showcase hands-on knowledge about the particular use of participatory problem analysis in different contexts; we also contribute to networking and continued exchange. The Waldhüttl project in Innsbruck, our venue, is a welcoming place for people from all walks of life.
Prof. Eberhard Raithelhuber, Bertha von Suttner Private University (Austria)
