The Erasmus+ CLUVEX project (Jul 2023 – Jun 2026; https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/cluvex) continues steps for organization and carrying out the Virtual Exchanges (VE) or so-called the VE Weeks for students from the CLUVEX Partners’ Universities (Yerevan State University, Armenia; Odessa State Environmental University (now merged with the Mechnikov’s Odessa National University) and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine; University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and the coordinator – University of Helsinki, Finland).

Since May 2024, the CLUVEX 5 Trainings (TR) for moderators took place online: TR1 – CLUVEX concept & technical skills on 8 May 2024 (58 participants); TR2 – Climate University MOOCs on 14 May 2024 (43 participants); TR3 – Soft skills on 27 May 2024 (33 participants); TR4 – CLUVEX guidebooks (such as the Virtual Exchange Guidebook – VEG, the Climate Literacy Guidebook – CLG, and the Climate Messenger Code of Conduct – CMC) and materials on 5 Sep 2024 (40 participants ); and TR5 – CLUVEX Group Exercise “Climate Horizon” and web-based tools for climate-related data analysis, visualisation and interpretation on 12 Sep 2024 (46 participants).

It should be noted that after registration of moderators in DigiCampus educational platform (hosted by University of Helsinki), all moderators are granted access for all materials (slides and video-recordings of delivered presentations, and additional materials) from all 5 trainings for reading, repetition, and self-education. After the 1^st VE Week all these educational materials will be also publicly available at the CLUVEX website.

The 1^st Call for Virtual Exchanges for Students (1^st VE Week for students) has been announced, and information is actively distributed/advertised among students of the CLUVEX project Partners/ Universities (from Armenia, Denmark, Finland, Ukraine) and other collaborating Universities in these countries, as well as other European, Neighbourhood East, and NIS countries. Registration for DigiCampus for students was open since 15 Aug 2024. The 1^st VE Week for students will take place online during 14-18 Oct 2024. See more details at CLUVEX website (https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/cluvex/?p=952) by accessing VE Week program and registration instructions.

Moreover, the CLUVEX project overview and outcomes/ results of its activities will be soon presented at the Climate University (CU) Annual Meeting (5-7 Nov 2024; Oulu, Finland) & the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Centre (ACCC) and Finnish Atmospheric Science Network (FASN) Science Conference (11-12 Nov 2024; Helsinki, Finland).

The online Journal of Virtual Exchange (JVE; https://journal.unicollaboration.org) is an opportunity for disseminating the CLUVEX project outcomes, and it is open-access, and peer-reviewed journal which provides interesting insight to tele collaboration and virtual exchange across all disciplines and subject areas in higher education.

Text by: Hanna K. Lappalainen, Julia Karhumaa, Alexander Mahura, University of Helsinki