EUROPEAN STUDENTS'UNION

Their core work

The European Students' Union is the umbrella organization representing national student unions across Europe, giving it direct access to student communities in 40+ countries. In H2020 projects, they contributed the student and youth perspective to science education and public engagement initiatives — not as technical researchers, but as the bridge between research and young audiences. Their practical value in consortia is mobilizing students for participation, co-designing science outreach that actually reaches young people, and anchoring community-based research in the student population. They also bring established networks in higher education institutions that help diffuse project results where they matter most.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 engagement (SciChallenge, 2015–2017) centered on challenge-and-award formats and STEM promotion through social media — essentially science marketing aimed at young people. By 2017–2020, the focus shifted to structuring the relationship between civil society and research more formally, through science shops and community-based participatory research frameworks. The direction is away from youth entertainment and toward institutionalizing how students and citizens co-produce knowledge with scientists.

ESU is moving from science communication toward structured science-society co-production — making them a relevant partner for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) projects and open science initiatives that require genuine civil society participation, not just dissemination.

How they like to work

ESU has never led an H2020 project — they join as a participant, contributing their network and representational role rather than technical expertise. Despite only two projects, they engaged 23 distinct consortium partners across 14 countries, suggesting they work in large, multi-stakeholder consortia. This is consistent with their mission: their value is broadest in diverse European networks where a student-representative voice adds legitimacy and reach.

ESU built connections with 23 unique consortium partners across 14 countries from just two projects, indicating they join large, geographically dispersed consortia. Their natural network extends through national student unions in 40+ European countries, far beyond what their H2020 project footprint alone suggests.

What sets them apart

ESU is the only organization in Europe that can claim to formally represent student unions at the continental level — this is a unique institutional asset in any project that needs youth participation, student co-design, or civil society legitimacy. For consortia building projects under Horizon Europe's mission areas or Widening programmes, having ESU as a partner signals genuine engagement with the student community, not a token consultation. No research institute or NGO can substitute for this kind of representative mandate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SciShops.eu
  The larger of ESU's two funded projects (EUR 100,125), it tackled the institutionalization of science shops across Europe — a topic at the intersection of open science, citizen science, and higher education reform — making it ESU's most substantive research contribution.
• SciChallenge
  An early attempt to use digital challenge formats and awards to drive STEM career interest among youth, demonstrating ESU's capacity to co-design outreach tools that reach student audiences at scale.