The PolyUnderstanding BIP, forming part of the future Joint Master on the Polycrisis by PolyCIVIS, comprises a foundational learning offering on Polycrisis studies.

Bringing together an impressive line-up of more than 30 academic tutors from CIVIS Universities in Africa and Europe and world-class external experts from renowned international organizations, it takes stock of participatory, teamwork - and challenge-based pedagogies, games and COIL teaching, to delve into the mechanics of understanding what the polycrisis is, how it is triggered and keeps cascading across domains and geographies, how it relates to dimensions of fragility and how it can be countered through structural resilience.

Through an array of perspectives from crises in different domains, such as climate, environment, health, society, cities, migration, international security and development, coupled with crisis experiences and lessons learnt from Africa and Europe, and discussions for the interplay of the polycrisis with the digital transition, development aid, open government, humanitarian action, public-purpose innovation and other agendas, this BIP is addressed at doctoral, masters and advanced bachelor students from all CIVIS universities who want to understand robustly how to build resilience against the polycrisis in their own contexts, and form part of tomorrow's cohort of global awareness leaders and changemakers.

The BIP is offered during May-June 2026 in Athens, Greece and online, at a workload of 6 ECTS accredited to all successful attendees through active attendance and project assignments. It's a unique learning experience for forward-thinking, engaged students from across the disciplines, interested to see their own study contexts from a broader angle and explore the encounters of their learning and research paths with a global challenges perspective.

The physical section of the BIP will take place between 15-19 June 2026 in Athens, Greece. All the sessions will be held in the premises of the Dept. of Communication and Media Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. 

The gathering starts with an optional reception on Sunday, 14 June 2026 (6pm-8pm EEST) - for those students who can make it, without formal obligations. The Athens-based tutors will meet you on the spot, making sure all students have arrived and settled safely, and to finalize any practical arrangements (premises accessibility, wifi access, etc.)

The physical teaching week encompasses a series of 10 sessions for the physical teaching 5 days: one morning 4-hour session (9am-1pm EEST), and one afternoon 4-hour session (2pm-6pm EEST), with coffee breaks and a light-lunch break in-between, for each one of the 5 days.

Detailed schedule: 

1. Monday, 15 June 2026, 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 EEST: Module B - What is the polycrisis, based on the CI & WITS approach
2. Tuesday, 16 June 2026, 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 EEST: Module C - Domain crises (spanning climate, environment, health, society, cities, migration, international security, development and others) and Continent crises (spanning Africa and Europe)
3. Wednesday, 17 June 2026, 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 EEST: Module C - Domain crises (spanning climate, environment, health, society, cities, migration, international security, development and others) and Continent crises (spanning Africa and Europe)
4. Thursday, 18 June 2026, 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 EEST: Module C - Domain crises (spanning climate, environment, health, society, cities, migration, international security, development and others) and Continent crises (spanning Africa and Europe)
5. Friday, 19 June 2026, 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 EEST: Module D - The Fragiles vs Resilients game

The virtual part will take place between 4 May - 29 June 2026. We will start with a virtual reception on Monday (13:00 - 16:00 CEST), by all tutors and students, to pre-meet, make the tour de table, make sure that all preparations are in place and present to students the PolyCIVIS podcasts and webinars on the Polycrisis as an introduction to the BIP’s topics.

This is followed by a series of 4-hour afternoon sessions (13:00 - 17:00 CEST), covering:

• policies about the polycrisis;
• research about the polycrisis;
• fragility and the polycrisis: towards a poly-fragility concept;
• resilience and the polycrisis: toward a poly-resilience concept;
• topics on domain crises, on top of those covered in the physical teaching week;
• topics on continent crises, on top of those covered in the physical teaching week.

These sessions are to be delivered by academic tutors, as well as accommodate expert speakers from international organizations, who will be invited to make interventions in lecture or panel formats followed by discussion with the BIP students.

The webinars will take place on: 

• Monday, 11 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Monday, 18 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Wednesday, 20 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Monday, 25 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Wednesday, 27 May 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Monday, 8 June 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST
• Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 CEST

Taken all together, these 8 virtual seminars are covering Module A of the BIP, on Fragility, Resilience, Domain and Continent Crises, Policies and Research, with the specific tutors and topics of each seminar to be announced.

The virtual part completes with student assignments to be presented orally in a final virtual session on Monday, 29 June 2026 10:00 -13:00 & 14:00 - 17:00 CEST and delivered by that date (10 days after completion of teaching).