Caroline Hornstein Tomić, PhD, participated as scientific advisor at the international Transformative experiences in civic education NECE Lab and the NECE Prep Lab „TRUST”; Lisbon, 09-11/03/2026

This Lab explored how civic education can move beyond knowledge transfer to create meaningful personal, social, and democratic change and it brought together researchers and practitioners to connect evidence, lived experience, and reflective practice to understand what makes civic learning truly transformative

Participants examined needs, examples, and opportunities for high-quality civic education in Europe, with a focus on participatory learning, critical reflection, and democratic values, while building a shared language across formal and non-formal education and identifying practical ingredients for long-term impact. The NECE Lab was organized by THE CIVICS Innovation Hub in cooperation with Znanje na djelu and ECEC Network.

The Lab was followed on 12-13 March by a NECE Festival Prep Lab on “TRUST” at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, co-organized by THE CIVICS Innovation Hub and ipav.pt/. In the context of growing social polarisation, disinformation, and socio-economic and democratic uncertainty that undermine public trust and encourage withdrawal from democratic life, the Prep Lab focused on trust as one of the central questions of contemporary civic education. The programme addressed trust through three interconnected pillars: trust in democracy, trust in education, civic education and civil society, and trust among people.

NECE Labs events are part of the Networking European Civic Education (NECE) platform that brings together stakeholders from civil society, politics, academia, media, and culture for an interactive and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and actions on civic education.