TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Their core work

Teachers College is Columbia University's graduate school of education — one of the most prestigious education research institutions in the world, based in New York. Their H2020 participation reflects two distinct research threads: first, participatory and hands-on learning environments using FabLabs, maker spaces, and citizen science as pedagogical tools; and second, critical sociological analysis of how EdTech startups and platform capitalism are reshaping education globally. As a US partner in European projects, they bring transatlantic comparative perspectives and strong theoretical grounding in both learning science and the political economy of education. Their involvement in MSCA schemes signals openness to hosting or collaborating with individual European researchers.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (Make it Open, 2020) was grounded in practical pedagogy — how communities learn through making, building, and experimenting in FabLabs and citizen science settings. By 2021, their second engagement (MORPHOGENESIS) had pivoted sharply toward critical theory: analyzing how EdTech companies emerge, how platform logic enters classrooms, and what privatisation means for educational systems globally. In just two years, the visible shift is from "how do people learn?" to "who profits from learning, and at what cost?" — a trajectory from educational practice toward structural critique.

Teachers College appears to be moving toward sociological and political-economy analysis of how digital platforms and globalization are restructuring education — a perspective increasingly relevant as EdTech investment and AI-in-education debates intensify across Europe.

How they like to work

Teachers College has never led an H2020 project as coordinator — they join as participant or third-party expert, functioning as a specialist knowledge contributor rather than a project manager. Their two projects span different funding schemes (CSA and MSCA-IF), suggesting flexibility in the type of collaboration they accept. With 12 partners across 11 countries from only two projects, they engage in genuinely international consortia despite their non-EU base.

Teachers College has built connections with 12 unique partner organizations across 11 countries through just two projects — an unusually broad geographic spread for such a small H2020 footprint. Their partnerships span both EU member states and likely non-EU countries given their own US base, reflecting a transatlantic collaboration orientation.

What sets them apart

As a US-based Ivy League education school, Teachers College brings a perspective and institutional pedigree that is rare in EU research consortia — they offer transatlantic comparative insight, deep theoretical grounding in both learning science and education sociology, and credibility with North American academic and policy audiences. Their dual track — hands-on STEAM pedagogy and critical analysis of EdTech platforms — means they can contribute meaningfully to projects that touch either the practice or the politics of digital education. For consortium builders, they add geographic and intellectual diversity without duplicating what European education research groups typically provide.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Make it Open
  The only project with EC funding (EUR 147,062), this CSA project is notable for combining FabLab infrastructure, citizen science, and service design into a community-centered open education framework — an unusually practical and cross-disciplinary approach for an MSCA-pillar project.
• MORPHOGENESIS
  An ethnographic study of an EdTech start-up through the lens of platform capitalism and globalization — rare in EU research for applying sociology of valuation and systems theory to the education industry as a market phenomenon rather than a public good.