Abstracts of the different subsessions:

Island schools and island proofing
This session lays focus on island schools and their specific challenges in the European context. We will also show how island schools play a leading role in island community life and can keep islands alive. We discuss how future-oriented teaching can be facilitated and transitions addressed in a proactive way, together with the pupils. Policy recommendations will be presented and discussed together, especially island proofing as a tool will be introduced.  

Experiences of rural poverty – invisible to policy?
This session draws on new research on experiences of rural poverty and its causes, in the Netherlands and in Britain, and asks whether policies tend to neglect vulnerable citizens in rural areas. The session will explore the role of place and class as well as potential sources of support including the state, voluntary and community organisations, and family, friends and neighbours.

Keeping it real: providing young people with a better view on quality of life and career in Zeeland (live/study/work)
This session provides an insight into the ways in which the region of Zeeland joins forces to unlock the ‘hidden’ potential of living a good life (live/study/work) in Zeeland for young people (+- 16 – 25 years old). An approach that is not so much aimed at persuading the group to stay, but rather on providing a complete and realistic view of (future) life in Zeeland and on building and maintaining a lasting on- and offline relation. Zeeland, a border province in the South-West of the Netherlands deals with an aging population, dejuvenation and a restricted ‘image’ as a holiday province. This combination creates a serious challenge on the Zeeuwish labor market. After the presentation, a plenary discussion will follow, including space for questions. 

Facility-Wise: a serious game for participatory planning of rural facilities and services
This session will provide an introduction and demonstration of the serious game 'Facility-Wise', which can be used for co-creation and participatory planning of rural facilities and services. The creators will first introduce the co-creative tool and then demonstrate the game by playing a fictitious case. There won't be time to do a full session, since we want to leave time for questions and a discussion about the development and implementation. 

The Digitalisation of the Countryside – The Role of “Smart.Rural.Regions”
This session will provide an overview of digital projects in the frame of the Federal Rural Development Scheme (BULE+) of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. More in detail, it will focus on the pilot initiative “Smart.Rural.Regions”, which includes the examination and implementation of an open and standardised digital platform. After the presentation, a plenary discussion will follow.’

Building strong communities through cultural projects: the Frisian case of mienskip
How to get communities on the move, working together on a cultural project in order to increase rural liveability? In this session, a card game will be presented and tested that is developed for cultural projects initiators that want to work with communities. It is based on experiences in the Dutch province of Friesland, where community art projects are flourishing (for instance, Leeuwarden European Capital of Culture) and where the Frisian word 'mienskip' stands for the alleged broadly felt willingness to collaborate.