« Forschungslandschaft: Projekte

The CLEAR project investigates how area-based, community-led rural partnerships, particularly Local Action Groups (LAGs) established under the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) frameworks (former LAEDER approach), contribute to implementing a low-carbon economy (LCE) in rural Europe. Rooted in the EU’s participatory development model, LAGs represent bottom-up governance, enabling local communities to shape development priorities according to their territorial needs. This project recognises LAGs as pivotal intermediaries in bridging local realities with European climate and sustainability policies, while also addressing their underexplored potential to advance low-carbon transitions. LAGs have historically supported economic diversification, social inclusion, and innovation, creating resilient local economies through sustainable agriculture, renewable energy projects, and preserving cultural and natural resources. However, existing research shows that while LAGs are vital for local governance, their engagement in energy transition and carbon reduction remains limited. Furthermore, their collaboration with research institutions, a key requirement of the EU rural development policy, is weakly institutionalised. These gaps hinder the effective transfer of knowledge and innovation between universities and rural actors. CLEAR aims to address these challenges through two complementary dimensions: socio-organizational and analytical preliminary studies.

In the socio-organizational scope, the project will:

• Integrate and develop research collaboration among EU GREEN network partners, particularly PhD candidates and established researchers who have not previously worked together on rural sustainability issues, even though their research topics are similar.
• Foster direct cooperation between universities and LAGs associations in region, through structured interviews, seminars, and field meetings to enable two-way knowledge exchange and innovation transfer.
• Build a transnational research-practice community, enabling engagement in joint applications for European programs such as Horizon Europe or COST Actions.
• Promote EU GREEN partners and project outcomes through seminars to strengthen visibility and collaboration across the European Research Area (ERA).

In the analytical scope, the project will include:

• The implementation of simple, cost-free comparative research will allow for the development of a methodology and the selection of a scientific theory for description, thus allowing for the submission of further, more advanced research proposals in the future.
• Examine the factors that limit or facilitate LAG participation in the low-carbon transition (preliminary study for future project proposals).
• Theoretically ground findings in regional governance theory, behavioural economics, or sociological rational choice theory to explain decision-making mechanisms and motivational drivers influencing LAGs’ environmental engagement (preliminary study for future project proposals).

CLEAR adopts a mixed-method approach, combining (a) team building using online meetings, face-to-face seminars, internal actions at home universities, and (b) preliminary study for future full project proposals using content analysis of LAG strategies, semi-structured interviews, and theoretical interpretation. This project will map LAG engagement in low-carbon activities, identify best practices, and propose recommendations for improving cooperation between academia and LAGs. Ultimately, CLEAR seeks to enhance territorial resilience, social inclusion, and scientific collaboration by empowering rural communities and academic institutions to co-create solutions for sustainable and low-carbon development. By linking research, education, and community engagement, the project aligns with the EU GREEN mission and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDGs 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, and 17, advancing the EU Green Deal aims.