The 2^nd Virtual Exchange (VE) Week took place online 12-16 May 2025. In total, more than 600 students had registered on DigiCampus for the second CLUVEX VE Week. Out of all registered students, about 150-200 students daily actively participated in the VE Week. The work was done online (3 hour per day). About 200 participants attended event starting Monday, 12 May. The majority (more than 60%) of participating students were from Ukraine. The remaining participants are from Finland, Armenia and Denmark, as well as also some students (about 10%) attended from outside the CLUVEX Partners’ countries such as China, France, Italy, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Romania. Majority of students (63%) are earning/or earned the Bachelor degree. The 38% of students have background in natural sciences, 30% – social and humanitarian, 10% – economical, 1% – art sciences background as well as 21% – in other fields such as mechanics, linguistics, environmental sciences, geology, law, etc.

In brief, this 5-day work online allowed participants to listen short lectures on climate related topics, learn and practice with web-based tools for visualisation, analysis and interpretation of climate related data, work online as a group/team on Individual and Collaborative “Climate Horizon” exercises, participate in discussions, etc. Note, during VE Week, the DigiCampus (as educational platform), Zoom (as communication platform), and Miro (as collaborative platform) was actively used by the participants. Many issues related to using zoom communication platform were supported by Mikko Kulmala (University of Helsinki, UH, Finland), and to using DigiCampus educational platform – by Aleksi Vauhkonen (UH).

On 12^th May 2025, the VE Week was opened with Welcome words from the hosts – Mykyta Rozvod (Mechnikov Odessa National University, ONU, Ukraine) and Maher Sahyoun (University of Copenhagen, UCPH, Denmark), and short introductions into the CLUVEX project (Hanna K. Lappalainen, UH) and the Climate Horizon exercise (Laura Riuttanen, UH). The plenary session was opened with the invited presentation by Prof. Antti Rajala (UH), titled ”Towards Sustainable Future Utopia: Pedagogy of Concrete Utopias”, and it was followed by other lectures such as “Climate Change, Disasters, Carbon-neutrality and UN Sustainable Development Goals” by Alexander Baklanov (UCPH); “Сlimate Change Impact on Water Resources” by Sergiy Snizhko, Taras Schevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK), Ukraine; “Nature Hazards – Floods” by Valeriya Ovcharuk (ONU); “Climate Change, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies” by Hasmik Movsesyan, Yerevan State University (YSU), Armenia; and “Artistic Research and Critical Thinking at the Intersection of Art, Science and Society” by Yvonne Billimore, BioArt Society, Finland.

On the first day, all students/ attendees were divided into small groups (1 moderator + up to 10 students in each group) and assigned to own break-out-rooms in zoom. Communication in these separate rooms started by introduction around-the-table and sharing pre-task (outcomes of home-work-assignment required to be done before the VE Week). After the plenary session with lectures, the VE Week participants also met each other for the first time in small groups (in total of 39 small groups of 1 moderator plus up to 10 students)  in zoom break-out-rooms. In these rooms, each group had a round table introduction of participants, followed by discussions on: what we have learned from lectures delivered? what we can learn from each other? and initial steps in developing personal/individual and collaborative/joint Climate Horizon exercise.

On 13^th May 2025, the “ERA-5 Past Climate Explorer (PCE)” tool (https://era5.lobelia.earth/en) was introduced and demonstrated by Alexander Mahura (UH). This tool is used to visualize historical climate statistics for any geographical location around the globe. The tool is user-friendly with a possibility to select relevant parameters and to generate location-specific climate statistics. Among options (aggregation period: average “year” and average “month”) are average, maximum, and minimum air temperatures; frost days and warm nights; precipitation; rainy, heavy rainy, and very heavy rainy days; relative humidity; average wind speed and wind gusts; cloud cover.

The CLUVEX Climate Horizon exercise was introduced in more details by Laura Riuttanen (UH). The focus is that throughout the VE Week, students will draft Individual Climate Horizon that describes a hopeful state of future from a climate change perspective. For that they will use the delivered lectures, demonstrated tools and group discussions as reference and inspiration for Climate Horizon exercise development. On the final day, students in each group will present own developed Climate Horizons to members of own group. Finally, the group’s collaborative Climate Horizon to be presented to all participants. To achieve it, 3 approaches are taken: (1) utilizing tools for climate related data visualization, analysis and interpretation; (2) preparing a reflective text (learning diary/letter to own group); and (3) visual reflection using images (e.g., a collage). Several examples (based on different approaches) were shared with participants. Importance of active usage of the Miro-board by groups was stressed for more effective and productive work on Climate Horizon exercises.

After the demonstration of the ERA-5 PCE tool and more detailed explanation of the Climate Horizon exercise, the participants were redistributed again into the same small groups (with the moderator) in zoom break-out-rooms as on the first day to continue during 2 hours online discussions, practicing with the tool demonstrated, independently working on individual/ personal Climate Horizon exercise as well started discussions on collaborative/ joint Climate Horizon.

On 14^th May 2025, the “Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs)” tool (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator & https://tntcat.iiasa.ac.at/SspDb) as a global scenario framework as introduction to exercises on socioeconomical trajectories was delivered (video recording) by Stefan Fronzek, Finnish Environmental Institute, Finland. Presentation included scenarios for climate change research; SSP-based global scenario framework (narrative as sketch and storyline; quantitative elements as population, urbanization, rates of technological change, human development index, income distribution) with changes to mitigation and adaptation. To resolve the challenges, a different pathway along the “road” can be taken such as highway (fossil-fuel development), green road (sustainability), rocky road (regional rivalry), divided road (inequality), and middle of the road. It was demonstrated on example of Finland for socio-economic narratives for agriculture and food sector, for health and social welfare.

More details about materials in DigiCampus, daily assignments, aspects of the CLUVEX Climate Horizon exercise were given by Laura Riuttanen (UH). Following 3 suggested approaches on the previous day, the students have a choice to select and implement in the Climate Horizon exercise. For the 1^st approach, students have to imagine what a hopeful future would look like from climate change perspective; to select one of the data visualization tools demonstrated; to choose an area and parameters that are meaningful to student’s Climate Horizon, to take screenshots and to write a brief description that captures student’s Climate Horizon. For the 2^nd approach, students have to prepare a reflective text by writing about the thoughts and emotions student encountered during the VE; to include info from lectures, exercises, and discussions; to reflect own experiences – life and study experiences before VE and personal experience during VE and most importantly – the future; to include a reflection on group discussions (by writing down a couple of thoughts after each day). The implementation of the final report can be as: a learning diary, a short reflective essay, a letter to group. For the 3^rd approach, it can be an electronic collage for instance. For this implementation, students need to find pictures (or take own) reflecting the themes of VE and personal emotions and thoughts; to draw or paint if that is strong suit; to create own Climate Horizon,  a hopeful state of the future, using images or drawings.

After the demonstration of the SSPs tool and more detailed explanation of the Climate Horizon exercise, the participants were redistributed again into the same small groups (with the moderator) in zoom break-out-rooms as on the previous days to continue during 2 hours online discussions, practicing with the tool demonstrated, independently working on individual/ personal Climate Horizon exercise as well continued discussions on collaborative/ joint Climate Horizon.

On 15^th May 2025, the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Web-based Atlas” tool (https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch) was delivered (video recording) by Risto Makkonen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland. It is interactive and novel tool for analyses of much of the observed and projected climate change information underpinning the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, including regional synthesis for Climatic Impact-Drivers. Presentation included demonstration of the tool for interactive, flexible spatial and temporal analyses of observed and projected climate change information; for exploring global and regional observed data and model simulations and helps to investigate the effects of climate change in specific regions, for assess changes in mean climate at regional scales, in particular observed trends and their attribution and projected future changes.

Participants of were reminded by Laura Riuttanen (UH) about materials in DigiCampus, daily assignments for students, aspects of the CLUVEX Climate Horizon exercise with 3 suggested approaches (utilizing tools for climate related data visualization, analysis and interpretation; preparing a reflective text; visual reflection using images) to realise; implementation on Miro-board the collaborative Climate Horizon exercise, where everyone summarizes own Climate Horizons. Students were reminded about the steps after the VE Week – to prepare a short report (max up to 2 pages) and to submit (until the 23^rd May 2025) in the DigiCampus for evaluation and obtaining the ECTS credits.

After the demonstration of the IPCC Web-based Atlas tool and repetition of items/topics of the Climate Horizon exercise, the participants were redistributed again into the same small groups (with the moderator) in zoom break-out-rooms as on the previous days to continue during 2 hours online discussions, practicing with the tool demonstrated, independently working on individual/ personal Climate Horizon exercise as well continued discussions and work on collaborative/ joint Climate Horizon.

On 15^th May 2025, from the beginning of the last day, after welcome word from the Hosts and reminder about the collaborative Climate Horizon exercise, all participants were redistributed into the same small groups (with the moderator) in zoom break-out-rooms as on the previous days to continue and finalize during about 2 hours online discussions in groups; to present for members of own group the personal/individual Climate Horizons developed based on lectures delivered on the first day and tools for visualisation, analysis and interpretation of climate related data such as the ERA-5 PCE, SSPs, and IPCC Web-based Atlas – all demonstrated during previous three consecutive days; and to prepare, using the Miro-Board, the group’s collaborative Climate Horizon exercise based on contributions from all members of the group.

During the last hour, after returning to the main Zoom room, the hosts provided a summary of the session. A final feedback questionnaire was distributed among the students who attended the 2^nd VE Week. The Hosts shared online with all participants the collaborative Climate Horizons of groups on common Miro-board. At the end, reminder by Laura Riuttanen (UH) about the Climate University (https://www.climateuniversity.fi) courses, which are available now for students successfully completed this VE Week and reminder by Aleksi Vauhkonen (UH) about personal (by students and by moderators) reports to the DigiCampus for obtaining the ECTS credits.

On a daily basis, the questionnaire for the moderators (by Laura Riuttanen, UH) was also released at the end of each day to understand situation in each group working online & the polls of the day (by Mikko Kulmala, UH) for participants at the beginning of each day. The hosts and members of the CLUVEX Partners/Teams actively moved between the zoom break-out-rooms and assisted  groups to solve issues with web-based tools, Miro-board, communication, etc. Technically, the Zoom communication platform was provided/ hosted by UH & the Miro-board (as collaborative platform) and the DigiCampus (as educational platform) were actively utilized during the 2^nd VE Week for students.

Polls of the Day. Several pool questions in zoom showed interesting results. The Poll (on 13^th May) showed that participants’ expectations for this VE Week included (with multiple choices): to meet other students – 44%, to learn more on climate change – 70%, to get credits – 31%,  to get international experience – 64%, and to have a positive impact on the world – 46%. The Poll (on 14^th May) showed that participants’ think about the biggest challenges behind the climate change (single choice) such as: dirty industries – 32%, consumerism – 19%, greed and selfishness – 16%, overpopulation – 13%, political system – 18%, and several participants mentioned that all mentioned above are the biggest challenges. The Poll (on 15^th May) showed that participants’ think that there are people who should solve the climate change (with multiple choices): politicians – 73%, entrepreneurs – 46%, scientists – 75%, students – 42%, celebrities – 27%. The Poll (on 16^th May) showed that among the most rewarding parts of the CLUVEX VE Week, participants chose (single choice): meeting with other students – 16%, learning about the climate change – 17%, new ideas and perspectives – 17%, getting international experience – 28%, working with different tools – 22%, and nice polls at start of each day – 1%.

The CLUVEX project 2^nd VE Week wrapped up on 16^th May 2025, marking another successful step in the development of an innovative, interactive online learning model focused on climate and sustainability. This week-long event brought together up to 200 participants, offering students the opportunity to collaborate in small groups, engage in the “Climate Horizon” group exercise, and exchange perspectives across borders. Organized as part of the Climate University initiative, the VE is still a relatively new format. Organizers emphasized the importance of interaction in CLUVEX online learning environments — an aspect they are actively developing and studying.

Thanks to All Participants of the 2^nd VE Week for exiting and productive work!

We are also looking forward to seeing some participants/students who would like to serve as new moderators (earning more ECTS credits) during the 3^rd VE Week in October 2025.

The CLUVEX project Partners/ Teams encourage all participants to continue their learning journey through the Climate University’s open online courses, which cover a wide range of topics in climate and sustainability sciences. Note especially the schedules for courses, yearly at UH curriculum: Sustainable.now, Climate.now, Leadership for sustainable change, ClimateComms.now, Solutions.now.

The next, 3rd VE Week for students will take place during 6-10 Oct 2025.

Follow information in news on the CLUVEX website (https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/cluvex).

See participants in zoom during the first day of the 2^nd VE Week.

See list of Collaborative Climate Horizons exercises (by groups).

See Miro-view with Collaborative Climate Horizon exercises (by groups).

Text by: Hanna Lappalainen, Laura Riuttanen, Aleksi Vauhkonen, Mikko Kulmala, Alexander Mahura, Univ of Helsinki CLUVEX team