METEOR is a Horizon Europe programme that reimagines doctoral education as a driver of societal transformation by developing early\u2011career researchers\u2019 transversal skills in teamwork, collaboration and project design across disciplines and countries. Eco\u2011outwards research is the guiding principle: research is expected to radiate outwards from the individual scholar to broader ecosystems of people, institutions and environments, so that project results create tangible benefits beyond academia.<\/p>\n
Within this frame, an eco\u2011outwards Theory of Change (ToC) starts from the transformative impacts METEOR seeks \u2013 more equitable, sustainable and resilient societies for people and planet. ToC is developed through backwards mapping. First, we identify the desirable future, expressed as the relevant impact. Second, we work backwards to specify the outcomes, outputs, activities and inputs that would make that impact achievable. Third, the resulting ToC map becomes a shared planning tool: it helps partners negotiate who will lead which activities, based on interests and expertise, and supports the development of a realistic schedule (for example, a GANTT chart).<\/p>\n
Proposals are invited to articulate how their teams will move along this chain, showing how researcher development, collaborative practices and institutional conditions combine to produce outward\u2011facing, sustainability\u2011aligned change..<\/p>\n
Doctoral training and early\u2011career research often emphasise individual excellence and publication metrics, while offering limited structured support for collaboration, societal engagement or mental wellbeing. At the same time, the challenges framed by the Sustainable Development Goals demand research that can navigate complexity, work across boundaries and co\u2011create solutions with diverse stakeholders.<\/p>\n
Eco\u2011outwards proposals respond to this gap by positioning researchers as relational agents who connect knowledge domains, sectors and communities in order to generate positive social and environmental impact. By explicitly adopting a backwards\u2011mapped ToC, they demonstrate that impacts are not accidental by\u2011products but the result of deliberate design choices about how people will work together, learn from one another and translate insights into action.<\/p>\n
In METEOR, the primary actors are doctoral candidates and early\u2011career researchers, who are supported to become \u201ceco\u2011outwards\u201d in both mindset and practice\u2014connected researchers, project coordinators and network leaders who can operate confidently in transdisciplinary and intersectoral teams. Around them sits a wider ecology: academic supervisors, institutional leaders, NGOs, community groups, businesses, public bodies and international partners who co\u2011shape research agendas and share responsibility for impact.<\/p>\n
Eco\u2011outwards proposals narrate how these actors will relate to each other over time: how peer mentoring groups will function; how cross\u2011institutional teams will co\u2011design projects; and how external partners will be involved not only as data sources but as co\u2011researchers, co\u2011educators and co\u2011owners of the knowledge that is produced. This \u201cwho\u201d is therefore less a static list of stakeholders and more a description of a living, evolving community of practice.<\/p>\n
In practical terms, using an eco\u2011outwards ToC means that, once the impact and main outcome pathways are sketched, teams deliberately bring\u00a0all sectors linked to that impact<\/strong>\u00a0into the conversation from the start: citizens and communities, enterprises, NGOs, government bodies, education providers and research centres. In METEOR, the primary actors are doctoral candidates and early\u2011career researchers, who are supported to become \u201ceco\u2011outwards\u201d in both mindset and practice\u2014connected researchers, project coordinators and network leaders who can operate confidently in transdisciplinary and intersectoral teams.<\/p>\n Around them sits a wider ecology of academic supervisors, institutional leaders, NGOs, community groups, businesses, public bodies and international partners who co\u2011shape research agendas and share responsibility for impact. When designing their ToC, project teams are encouraged to map how these actors will work together over time\u2014how peer\u2011mentoring groups will function, how cross\u2011institutional teams will co\u2011design projects, and how external partners will be involved not only as data sources but as co\u2011researchers, co\u2011educators and co\u2011owners of the knowledge that is produced\u2014so that the \u201cwho\u201d becomes a living, evolving community of practice rather than a static stakeholder list.<\/p>\n The\u00a0when<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0how<\/strong>\u00a0of eco\u2011outwards transformation in METEOR are organised around the CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO framework, which underpins the upSkill.Map competence instrument and the programme\u2019s academies and online resources. CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO runs longitudinally through the METEOR journey: from initial online preparation and self\u2011assessment, through the in\u2011person academies, to subsequent proposal development and legacy activities.<\/p>\n CARE<\/strong>\u00a0is activated early, as participants reflect on their values, responsibilities and wellbeing in relation to global challenges and local contexts. Activities such as guided self\u2011assessment, narrative exercises and mentoring conversations help researchers recognise how issues of justice, equity and sustainability intersect with their own trajectories, laying the ethical and emotional foundations for collaboration and impact.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n KNOW<\/strong>\u00a0becomes prominent as teams begin to explore knowledge ecologies: comparing disciplinary perspectives, integrating academic and practitioner insights, and engaging with open science and responsible research and innovation. Through seminars, peer\u2011learning tasks and collaborative inquiry, participants practise epistemic humility, learn to navigate uncertainty and build shared conceptual frameworks that are robust enough to inform serious proposals.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n DO<\/strong>\u00a0crystallises during the academies and subsequent project development phases, where groups design and refine eco\u2011outwards research proposals aligned with the SDGs and Horizon Europe priorities. Here, engaging methodologies\u2014interactive workshops, challenge\u2011based sprints, scenario design and co\u2011creation with external partners\u2014enable researchers to translate CARE and KNOW into concrete plans, work packages and impact pathways that are both ambitious and feasible.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Because CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO is embedded across time, the ToC is not a one\u2011off planning tool but a living ecology: participants revisit and adjust their assumptions as their understanding of contexts, partners and opportunities deepens.<\/p>\n Framed in this way, METEOR\u2019s eco\u2011outwards approach offers several lessons for transformative proposals. First, starting from impact and backwards\u2011mapping the ToC helps teams to be explicit about whose lives they hope to change, in what ways, and through which mechanisms of knowledge exchange and capacity\u2011building. This avoids the common trap of designing attractive activities that are weakly connected to societal outcomes.<\/p>\n Second, centring CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO demonstrates that researcher development is itself a pathway to impact: as individuals and teams become more reflective, more critically informed and more capable of acting collectively, they increase the likelihood that their work will make a meaningful difference in the systems they inhabit. Proposals that show this developmental logic\u2014how participants move from inner alignment (CARE) through shared understanding (KNOW) to collaborative intervention (DO)\u2014are better positioned to convince reviewers that transformation is possible, not merely aspirational.<\/p>\n Third, eco\u2011outwards narratives help institutions and funders see how investments in transversal skills, teamworking and engaging pedagogies can leave a durable legacy in doctoral education and research culture, beyond the lifespan of individual projects. When proposals tell this story clearly\u2014linking\u00a0what<\/strong>\u00a0they are doing,\u00a0why<\/strong>\u00a0it matters,\u00a0who<\/strong>\u00a0is involved,\u00a0when and how<\/strong>\u00a0CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO will shape the journey, and\u00a0so what<\/strong>\u00a0in terms of societal and ecological futures\u2014they contribute to METEOR\u2019s broader ambition: to normalise research that is outward\u2011looking, ethically grounded and transformative in practice as well as in rhetoric.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes and Glossary<\/p>\n The verbs that research proposals typically consider, in increasing order of strength:<\/p>\n Fun in Designing TRIPS pathways Transformative Research Innovation Proposals: a challenge of METEOR Programme: Methodologies for Teamworking in Eco-Outwards Research 1. What: Eco\u2011outwards transformative research in METEOR METEOR is a Horizon Europe programme that reimagines doctoral education as a driver of societal transformation by developing early\u2011career researchers\u2019 transversal skills in teamwork, collaboration and project design … <\/p>\n
\n4. When and How: CARE\u2013KNOW\u2013DO as the developmental spine<\/h2>\n
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\n5. So what? Lessons learned for eco\u2011outwards proposals<\/h2>\n
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