The beautiful city of Pula, Croatia, hosted the Final Conference of the BOLSTER Project, a three-day event that celebrated achievements and launched new ideas for Just Transition across Europe.
The conference opened with great energy as all consortium partners reunited to share updates on their work packages, a collective moment of reflection on progress made and plans ahead.
A key highlight was the session by Burçak Çullu (Crowdhelix), who offered strategic insights into future funding opportunities and collaboration for sustainable innovation. Her presentation emphasised how platforms like Crowdhelix can drive impact through cross-sector partnerships, particularly within Horizon Europe, Interreg, and Erasmus+.
Day two opened with a welcome by the project coordinator Michiel Stapper and Asel Doranova (TiU), followed by a presentation by the keynote Prof. Joyeeta Gupta, who addressed climate injustice as a core challenge of our time, calling for bold, fair, and inclusive solutions.
Participants then explored Creative Reading Techniques with the TiU researcher Anastasiya Ansteeg, discovering playful and research-driven ways to enhance critical reflection and foster fresh perspectives.
The conference continued with deep dives into project findings:
• WP2 cross-regional insights were shared by the RMIT Team (Nevelina Pachova, Ralph Horne and Adriana Véran), revealing shared patterns and unique lessons from diverse European contexts.
• WP3, led by Marcin Baron (UEKat), explored participatory visioning methods, emphasizing the importance of community imagination in shaping inclusive futures.
• WP4, presented by Asel Doranova (TiU) and Sabina Hodžić (FTHM), focused on participatory impact assessment, demonstrating the value of involving communities directly in evaluation processes.
The session “Community in Action” was a great opportunity to know real-life stories of resilience and creativity from regions across Europe. This session had presentations from almost all the partners.
The third and final day began with a keynote by Ivica Mitrović on “Adriatic: A few notes for the (hope) future”, inviting participants to envision bold, hopeful futures for the Adriatic region through the lens of just transitions.
Momentum continued with the Writing Camp, moderated by Marcin Baron, where small groups collaboratively developed research questions and abstracts for future co-authored publications.
In the afternoon, participants explored:
• The Just Transition Priority Scorecards, in a session with Ralph Horne, Nevelina Pachova, and Adriana Véran (RMIT), assessing project progress and outlining next steps.
• The Reactivate Campaign Dissemination Workshop, led by Zafar Saydaliev, Marina Bykova, and Daniela Schmitt (CGE), shared impactful strategies to engage communities and advance the just transition narrative.
• The creative session “(Un)learning Together”, led by Anastasiya Ansteeg, Anaëlle Bueno Patin, and Julius Veenstra (TiU), which blended art and collective memory to reflect on the BOLSTER journey and imagine what’s next.
Finally, Michiel Stapper and Asel Doranova closed the conference with heartfelt words of gratitude, and a strong call to carry the BOLSTER spirit forward into new chapters.
After three days of collaboration, reflection, and inspiration, the consortium departed Pula with renewed commitment and a shared purpose to build a fairer, greener, and more inclusive Europe.
Learn more about the results of the Project here: https://bolster-horizon.eu/outcomes/
