Annual Report 2017

President Statement

Message by the President of the Board Mr. Larry Fergeson.

Year 2017 has been a year of important decisions for reforms and transformations.

First, the Board has been internationalized, and no Associates is also member of the Board. The decision for complete separation between strategic direction an day-to-day management and project implementation is thought to serve multiple purposes and especially (i) compliance of organizational priorities with the core values and visions, and (ii) improved possibilities for taking measures to ensure long-term sustainability.

Second, it has been decided that projects and/or clusters of projects that meet two criteria, i.e., (i) they become (or have the potential to become) financially stable and self-sufficient and (ii) they evolve more into 'stable' operations, i.e, less entrepreneurial and more service-oriented, should spin off and become new entities. Therefore three entities entered this process:

• Humanitarian Affairs Unit: A new non-profit has been formed to host all projects of the unit under the name Cyprus Refugee Council.
• Cyberethics related projects: The Trade name CCS Cyberethics Cyprus Safer Internet Center has been registered with the intention of becoming a for-profit operation offering innovative educational courses and other experiential workshops bringing new technologies in more productive ways in the lives of growing kids.
• All Mental Attributes Profiling System related research activities were transferred in a new startup company called GNOUS Labs Ltd. with the aim of commercializing the IPR.

In 2017, Future Worlds Center has successfully implemented XX projects in collaboration with its ever-growing network of partners.

The Future Worlds Center Vision, i.e., to “operate at the interface of science & society” by using technology to promote social justice, development and peace has been strengthened. A total of Y new contracts with total value exceeding 3 million euros have been secured within 2017.

2015 was also a year of many audits. The Financial Unit has been overloaded with work in completing more than 12 new audits. All audits have been successful resulting in virtually zero ineligible amounts for Future Worlds Center. Unfortunately, some expenses of partners were found ineligible. The difficulty in recovering them, especially in cases where audits were for projects that took place 5-6 years ago and/or the partner is not loner in operation, results in some losses.

	The Futures Design Unit has launched one of the most significant projects, the Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era global project, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund. The activities of the project can be viewed at its page as well as on the website of the project at www.ReinventDemocracy.info.
	The New Media Lab participates as partner in an H2020 project focusing on the development of a marine knowledge sharing platform for federating Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) communities. It furthermore continues its work in raising awareness on creating a better Internet for Children. In parallel NML works on creating an active and assisted living for senior people through its coordination of the Senior TV project, while it contributes due to the combating of terrorism through its participation at the RiskTrack project.
	The Humanitarian Affairs Unit has been the one that has grown the most. With more than 13 full time people, it is considered as the most important national player in supporting refugees from all over but also especially from Syria. It has continued to provide services to asylum seekers and refuges through Strengthening Asylum for Refugees And Asylum Seekers in Cyprus and operated the Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. The Humanitarian Affairs Unit is now implementing additional projects, including Improvement of the Situation of Asylum Seekers in Cyprus and Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture (URVT) VII.
	The Global Education Unit continued its work at the Map Your Meal project, launching in addition several few others such as Making Fruit Fair, Supply Cha!nge and Global Education Goes Local.

I invite you to read our Annual Report and come back to us with suggestions and ideas. This short introduction could not cover all our projects, which are described in more detail in the following pages. We are proud to have you as a friend and affiliate and we look forward to strengthening our relations, communication and collaboration within our network and with new partners.

Board of Directors

The Organisation has invited Andreas Shoshilos to join its Board and replace George Tziapouras.

Name	Position
Larry Fergeson	President
Andreas Shoshilos	Vice President
Veronika Sudi	Board Member
Elia Petridou	Board Member
Dr Harry Anastasiou	Board Member & Senior Scientist
Romina Laouri	Board Member

Auditors

Nearchos Tsangaris CAT, Authorised Accountant
Active Management
Thermopylon 73 Emmar - Andria Court 2007 Acropolis, Nicosia
Tel 22427327
Fax 22515125

Legal Advisors

Kikis Makrides
Legal Advisor
K. Maklaw Management Secretarial Services Ltd.
P.O. Box 22463
1522 Nicosia
Tel 22 313680
Fax 22 313903

Aims as in Constitution

1. Designing and execution of studies and research programs with future orientation in areas related to the human brain and learning, technology and social change, global society, conflict transformation and global peace.”
2. Development of new models of education based on recent advances in cognitive science and computing.
3. World-wide operations focused on international development, cooperation, humanitarian support, justice, transparency and advocacy of human rights, especially the right of education and the enhancement of inter-ethnic and international peace.
4. Organization of scientific, technical and cultural events or programs in issues relevant to the aims of the organization.
5. Organize, conduct and supervise seminars, congresses, conferences, workshops; deliver courses; offer educational and/or information services in the above sectors with the aim of sensitization, enlightenment or training of the modern active citizens.
6. Collaboration with universities, other institutions, organizations, and individual active citizens in Cyprus and abroad to promote the aims of the organization.
7. Serve as provider of information and consultant in academic, commercial, scientific and technical subjects.
8. Discovery, research, study, encouragement, support and promotion of new innovative ideas and methods, techniques, scientific technological, electronic systems and generally intellectual property.
9. Promotion of research in Cyprus and abroad in collaboration with other organizations, public or private, local or international for the achievement of our aims.
10. Promote Cyprus as a supporter of Development & IT education, scientific research and peace in the three continents around her, thus contributing towards consolidation of peace and prosperity in the wider geopolitical region.
11. Publication of material in subjects relevant with the aims of Institute

Global Education Unit

Map Your Meal!

Overall objective(s)

• Contribute to the EYD2015 by enhancing public awareness and understanding of global interdependencies through exploring the global food system
• Mobilise young people to become engaged in promoting global social justice and sustainable ways of living
• Connect European initiatives for sustainable living with similar initiatives in Global South, fostering greater understanding of the concepts of food sovereignty and sustainable food production and supply chains

Specific objective(s)

• Based on a comprehensive smart phone application and accompanying interactive learning materials exploring the origins of their food, their individual components and the socio-economic and environmental impact of these, this project aims to raise people's awareness about interdependencies and injustices and about the need for more sustainable food systems.

Make Fruit Fair!

Overall objective(s)

• to contribute to more coherent and sustainable development policies of the EU, its Member States and the private sector integrating human rights, decent work and trade.
• to ensure better living and working conditions for small farmers and workers in the tropical fruit sector.
  

The action contributes to establishing the post-MDG agenda aiming at providing a Decent Life for All by 2030.

Specific objective(s)

• to raise the awareness of consumers and citizens in European Member States on the interdependencies between the EU and developing countries exporting tropical fruits
• to mobilise them to take action and urge corporate and political decision makers to ensure fair conditions in the tropical fruit sector.

Global Education Goes Local (GEGL)

Overall objective To foster commitment of European citizens to take an active role towards meeting the challenges of the interdependent world we live in, based on awareness and critical understanding of their two-way relations with the issues of global development.Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity (see here). GEGL focuses on the following SDGs: 5: Gender Equality 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Expected Results

• Awareness and commitment on global issues connected to SDGs 5, 11 and 12 significantly increased in 30 small localities;
• Citizens in 30 small localities and especially young people engaged in learning and action around global issues;
• Innovative approaches on engaging young people in global learning (connected to SDGs 5, 11 and 12) developed, tested and disseminated;
• Increased capacity and competences among stakeholders on local level to further utilise global learning with local communities;
• Improved understanding of policy makers and influencers at local and national level for the value and approaches of global learning

The Long Way to Europe

Overall objective To contribute to citizens' understanding of the EU, its history and diversity and to raise awareness of remembrance, common history and values and the aim of the EU.

Expected result: During the international events, young participants will learn, see, reflect and act about the lesson of our history. Thanks to the visit of museums and historical sites, the testimonies of witness and experts, discussions and debates within the groups, the participants will be able to tackle these issues and to focus about today situation in Europe. These reflections will be expressed by the young participants with draws, murals or graffiti. They will also be trained to share their visions and expectations about the future of Europe as active citizens and to share it with the tool called ‘Porteurs de paroles”. These innovative and participative practices of public place interaction will be used to promote directly in the streets the debate and the participation of the citizens about the European Values. These methods to raise awareness will be not only experimented during the International Events, but also organized by the youth in their communities (30 local events with the possible initiative of the European Solidarity Corps).

YoW

Youth of the World (II) Project is an 18-month-long Key Action 2 project supported by Erasmus+ of the European Commission. Youth of the World (II) intends to enhance the skills and performance of Youth workers and educators in general, through the promotion of innovative integrated approaches, such as inclusion, diversity, equality, and non-discrimination in youth activities. Particularly, Youth of the World fosters the development of social, civic, intercultural competences, media literacy and critical thinking, but also combating discrimination, segregation, racism, bullying and violence.

Supply Cha!nge

Overall objective The Specific objective of this project is to improve the sustainability of production and consumption patterns of supermarket store-brands in the context of the EYD2015 and beyond.

Making these widely consumed store brands more sustainable will have a huge positive impact on environmental, working and living conditions in developing countries. By increasing the accessibility for consumers to information about the impact of the life cycle of store brands will enable consumers to choose sustainable products.

The specific objective is broken down into four overall objectives: O1: Support and promote all the objectives of the EYD 2015; O2: Facilitate and contribute to pan-European debates on sustainable development in the post-MDG framework; O3: Contribute to the achievement of previous MDGs 1,2,3,7 and 8 (valid until 2015, then further elaborated in SDGs and post-MDGs); O4: Enhance the understanding of European citizens of the interdependencies between sustainable consumption and production patterns in Europe and global sustainable development.

Humanitarian Affairs Unit

Strengthening Asylum

As implementing partner to the UNHCR representation in Cyprus, the Future Worlds Center is responsible for monitoring the access of asylum seekers to the asylum procedure of the Republic of Cyprus as well as to advocate for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, provide individual advice, support and counselling. The purpose of the particular action is to reduce the difficulties of asylum seekers to get access to general information on the refugee concept, rights and obligations under the national asylum procedure, the provision of legal advice and counselling as well as the necessary well targeted interventions with the relevant staff in the ministries to address shortcomings in policy and practice. In practical terms the legal advisors of the project also provide assistance to asylum seekers with deserving cases to prepare their appeals for the Reviewing Authority. The current project is also responsible for facilitating the local integration of persons of concern to UNHCR and raising awareness over the plight of refugees within the local community. Since 2014, psychological support is also provided to individuals and groups of people seeking assistance, with a particular focus on the Syrian population.

Results of the action: Strengthening Asylum in Cyprus is an ongoing process of awareness raising, and legal support services. Nevertheless the expected impact concentrates on the protection of the beneficiary population, with particular sensitivity towards women refugees and children, including adolescents. In addition, associates, volunteers and friends working with the action have carried clothes and gifts drive for asylum seekers, refugees and their families while solid outcomes of the action also include a booklet with information for Asylum Seekers and Refugees on applying for Asylum in Cyprus.

Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture

The Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture (URVT) aims to support and promote the empowerment and rehabilitation of torture victims and victims of trafficking who are asylum seekers or persons granted with international protection status in Cyprus and to assist them to integrate into the local society. It takes a holistic approach, offering legal advice and social assistance directly to the persons of concern and their families, as well as referring them for medical and psychological care. Its services are facilitated through a structure designed on the standards of the Istanbul Protocol - United Nations Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment - and its services are offered to the beneficiaries by specialised, experienced and well-trained personnel. In addition, URVT functions in association to a network of volunteer service providers, medical professionals, and interpreters.

Results of the action: During 2015, URVT continued to assist victims of torture and their family members in a holistic manner consolidating a victim-centered approach in designing services tailored to the needs of each individual. A significant number of the beneficiaries during the reporting year was subjected to sex and gender based torture and/ or gender-specific forms of ill-treatment due to their gender and sexual orientation. The Unit’s services integrated with a gender mainstreaming approach have successfully addressed the needs of this particular vulnerable group.

New Media Lab

MARINA

The Marina proposal overall aim is to create an all-inclusive Knowledge Sharing Platform (KSP) catalysing and organising the convergence of already existing networks, communities, on-line platforms and services providing an online socio-technical environment that facilitates and stimulates the direct engagement of researchers, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), citizens, industry stakeholders, policy and decision makers, research funders and communicators for improving Responsible Research and Innovation.

Objectives:

• Engage citizens and stakeholders in a highly participatory debate/consultation/process for federating Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) communities and initiatives, by supporting the Science with and for Society Community by facilitating new and lasting partnerships, cultivating joint visions and scenarios that connect societal needs with future expected advances in Science related to marine issues and their impact on the Societal Challenges.
• Create and validate a comprehensive networking and knowledge sharing platform (KSP) for relevant projects, service contracts, marine actors, educational institutions and citizens, to support and enable discussion, Mobilization and Mutual Learning, knowledge exchange and co-production of different communities related with the MARINA key strategic issues (environmental issues, sustainable development, policies and educational challenges) in the perspectives of the societal challenges and the RRI topics.
• Federate RRI communities including citizens in the KSP also by using an online platform for experimentation, training and knowledge and expectation capturing for facilitating the dialogue and shared understanding among scientists, policymakers, citizens and other stakeholders.
• Deliver guidelines and good practices for RRI assessment and promote them to CSOs, industry stakeholders, policy and decision makers, research funders, educational institutions to foster their adoption as a potential benchmark in setting-up RRI processes.
• Provide recommendations and policy options for RRI relating to marine issues at EU, national and subnational levels.
• Communicate and Disseminate broadly in Europe early in the project for enabling the MARINA activitiesand creating RRI and Marine issues awareness; and outside Europe through the partners and associated partners’ wide professional and social networks to promote the European leadership in RRI governance.

RiskTrack

The RiskTrack project aims to help in the prevention of terrorism through the identification of radicalisation by assisting in the identification and tackling of factors or indicators that raise a red flag about which individuals or communities are being radicalised and recruited to commit violent acts of terrorism.

The specific objectives for the universal learning environment are: The project will particularly aim to:

• study indicators of radicalisation in terrorism in order to create a formal risk assessment methodology in this field;
• develop a software tool with the ability to gather, represent, pre-process and analyse the information extracted from web sources;
• enhance the cooperation, knowledge sharing and awareness raising among judges, prosecutors, LEAs and other actors in the fight against terrorism.

Providing ICT-based formal and informal care at home (SENIOR-TV)

SENIOR-TV is a system that “resides” at home, in the living room at the homes of older adults, a place that is very familiar, using a domestic appliance that has always been with them, and that now gets “smart” in order to promote their activity, avoid their physical and cognitive deterioration, and keeping them in contact with their loving ones for as long as possible.

Overall objective

SENIOR-TV project will design and implement a multichannel intelligent platform for offering formal and informal caregiving services to older adults that live at their own homes, with special attention being paid at active prevention, and fostering a high-quality, long, and healthy life. Results, as illustrated here bellow, clearly reflect a trend: in homes of older adults, the intelligent TV must become the central ICT hub.

Specific objectives

• To use Smart TV in combination with Smartphones and tablets, as main interfaces; and to use other secondary peripherals (e.g. Wii, Kinect) for certain services.
• To identify the best technological opportunity for offering a caregiving system targeted at older adults during the first six months of the project. We will conduct research on the systems that were identified in Section 2.1, always having as a reference the technological platform SAM-TV, whose success was proven.
• To design formal and informal caregiving services targeted at older adults that live at their own home. From the very beginning, end user associations that are part of the consortium will be involved in the identification of needs, establishing priorities for an iterative development. Secondary and tertiary end users that have demonstrated its commitment14 to the proposal will form an integral part of the design process, facilitating its participation online in all cases where it is not possible to participate in person—the presence of partners from the same country pretends to promote their involvement.
• To design services aimed at helping older adults to keep in touch with friends, family, caregivers, and other members of the community. Thanks to the use of very simple interfaces in a familiar platform—the TV—the still existing digital gap between older adults and relatives and young caregivers will shrink (e.g. the communication via Facebook or Twitter could take place from a TV in the side of the older adult and from a smartphone in the side of their grandchildren or caregiver).
• To take into account the cultural and administrative diversity Southeast Europe, in terms of systems of care for the elderly. The participation of end-user associations from countries like Cyprus, Slovenia and Romania with the involvement of research institutions and companies with experience in this sector guarantees this fact.
• We will carry out pilot tests of the developed systems with a minimum number of 300 different users, distributed among the three countries in three different cycles, one for each year of the project. Each cycle is composed of a set of iterations, thus allowing for rotating the same devices (HTPCs, TVs, or any other element identified at the beginning of the project) among different homes in each country, and enabling an efficient use of the material for which financing is being requested in this proposal. The objective of structuring the project in several cycles is to facilitate the gathering of feedback in order to refine services, guarantee an efficient integration of all the services of SENIOR-TV, and identify particular elements of each country that may influence the final design of a holistic system.
• To develop a business plan that allows for the companies involved in consortium to start marketing the product SENIOR-TV no later than one year after the finalisation of the project. All the end-user organisations involved in the consortium will take part actively in the development of the business plan—including secondary and tertiary end-user organisations. Likewise, we will use the feedback gathered during the third cycles of testing pilots and direct opinion from older adults. This line of action will start from the first month of the project.

Epods

EPODS supports teachers/trainers in Second Chance Education in their continuous professional development. It assists these educators to set their own development goals, take courses and monitor their progress. In this way, the EPODS online professional development services enable teachers/trainers to maintain the high level of support to learners. E-learning courses and an e-learning creation tool further support the accessible and continuous learning of teachers/trainers.

Objectives:

• To promote European integration of professional development of teachers/trainers in second chance education
• To set up an organic / growing database connecting tools, schools, teachers/trainers and beneficiaries

Staff

Name	Position
Yiannis Laouris	Executive Director & Chair of the Board
Corina Drousiotou	Head of the Humanitarian Affairs Unit
Kerstin Wittig	Head of the Global Education Unit
Elena Aristodemou	Head of the New Media Lab
Andreas Drakos	Senior IT Manager
Manos Mathioudakis	Social Advisor
Danae Psilla	Integration Officer
Demetris Katsarides	Legal Advisor
Marie Vassiliou	Legal Advisor
Mary Zalokosta	Legal Advisor
George Varnavas	Legal Advisor
Constantinos Constantinou	Public Information Officer
Annagrace Messa	Project Coordinator & Public Information Officer
Sophia Arnaouti	Project Coordinator
Memnon Arestis	Project Coordinator
Tonia Loizidou	Psychologist
Georgia Nathanael	Psychotherapist
Anna-Maria Drousiotou	Project Coordinator & Media Promotion
Maria Georgiou	Project Coordinator
Aliki Economidou	Project Coordinator
Iliada Spyrou	Project Coordinator
Anna Pavlina Charalambous	Project Coordinator, Trainer & Researcher
Andreas P. Andreou	Project Coordinator, Trainer
Constantinos Tsiourtos	Public Policy & Communications Director
Katerina Fotiou	Software Developer
Constantina Spanoude	Programmer
Savia Christou	Programmer
Aspasia Ksidea	Graphics Designer
Eleni Philippou	Software Developer
Isaac Pyrillis	Financial Director
Ngam Leslie Timngum	Intern
Maria Macheridou	Intern
Andreas Andreou	Intern

Equipment and Offices

The organization is operating in 4 offices located in the 1st and 2nd floors of the building at Promitheos 5 Street. The offices are located at the business center of Nicosia , behind the Hotel Cleopatra, just off Stasicratous Street and 50 m from Makarios Avenue. Its premises are fully furnished with extra office spaces for visiting associates and part-time personnel. The office areas include a conference rooms, a seminar room one study room with a small library and two small kitchens and 4 restroom areas. The internet has been upgraded to have to ISPs serving our facilities. The most important addition to the equipment was setting up a TV studio.