Courage in UPF news: 13.06.2019 & 29.04.2024

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After four years of work and dedication, the Courage Project has come to an end. Funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, the project aimed to research and develop tools to enhance skills in the use of social media networks. Members of the Courage team in Barcelona organized a dissemination event to present the main research findings.

On April 30th, researchers Davinia Hernández-Leo, Emily Theophilou, and J. Roberto Sánchez-Reina presented the final dissemination event of the Courage Project. With this activity, the Courage project was formally concluded. As part of the program, the speakers provided a short presentation of the Courage findings and a video to recap the project’s social impact and outcomes. 

(In Catalan without subtitles, with Spanish subtitles, with English subtitles)

A four-years journey on the Social Media Road

Social media plays a crucial role in the socialization and development of teenagers. However, numerous studies have raised concerns about the increasing intensity of social media use and the problematic behaviors exhibited by minors on social networks. In response to these challenges, researchers from European universities including Milano Bicocca (UniMiB), Ruhr West (HRW), Regensburg (UR), the National Research Council in Italy (CNR), the Rhein-Ruhr Institute (RIAS), and the research group on Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education (TIDE) at Pompeu Fabra University initiated the Courage Project in 2019. The project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, aimed to conduct applied research addressing the primary challenges adolescents encounter in the digital society, with a focus on equipping young people with the necessary tools to navigate social media safely.

Through the development of the Courage Instareal educational platform—a tool designed to simulate the social media environment—the Courage project has explored methods of educating and training teenagers in social media literacy skills. Both research activities and training workshops conducted by the Courage Team have covered topics such as the importance of managing one's digital footprint, fostering critical thinking, and questioning image manipulation on social networks.

Last Dissemination Event at C.E. Dolmen (L'Hospitalet, Barcelona)

One of the milestones of the Courage Project has been the extensive dissemination of research work and the involvement of schools to test Courage innovations and provide social media literacy training. A significant contributor to the project has been the Centre d’Estudis Dolmen, an educational center located in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. With over 50 educational workshops on Social Media Literacy, students from the Dolmen school have had the opportunity to test the Courage virtual learning environment, become familiar with the Virtual Learning Companions, and learn about topics such as Empathy.

As part of the last dissemination event, researchers from the Courage team in Barcelona, along with some of the participating students, provided a quick recap of their experience within the Courage project. To conclude the event, Aina Nadal and Andreu Sangristá offered some final words expressing their gratitude and commitment to society by training students in relevant topics such as the increasing digitalization and its impact on the collective wellbeing of teens.

Although the Courage Project comes to an end, the learning continues. Both the research and educational materials will remain as open resources for the public through the Courage Project's main communication channels. To access the project resources, visit: https://www.upf.edu/web/courage