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The programme is an evolution of the Climate Innovation Leadership pilot programme merged with the Journey Summer School programme from EIT (European Institute of Technology) Climate-KIC. Dedicated to empowering the future leaders and innovators, the Climate Leadership Journey takes the year-round elements from the Climate Innovation Leadership (CIL) pilot (which is built on the foundation of the EIT Label framework) and puts the Journey summer school at its core with its strong methodological approach and pedagogy. The programme combines skill- and personal development with learning about systems transformation through contextualized and experiential learning.  

The Climate Leadership Journey is a 9-month programme with a 2-week residential summer school at its core hosted by EIT Climate-KIC and partner organisations around Europe. Participants will visit from 1 to 2 locations during the 2 weeks. 

Climate Leadership Journey is an extracurricular programme that equips participants with up-to-date knowledge on climate change challenges in terms of adaptation, mitigation, science, and policy. The programme allows them to work actively and collaboratively through their insights and apply them in a practical, meaningful way within a coherent ecological, social, economic, and societal context. By the end of the programme, participants gain a holistic understanding of the role of leadership, the ability to combine climate insights with new entrepreneurial and systems innovation skills to navigate complex systems and take on a leadership role in combatting climate change challenges.  

The programme methodology is comprised of three dimensions.  

1. Inspiration: Through the programme, participants are exposed to innovative climate initiatives, complete with systems innovation and entrepreneurship insights. Participants get inspired with new theoretical knowledge by the following major elements.  

• Digital Climate Leadership Journey Kick-Off event: is the opportunity for all participants to meet, connect and build a community for systemic transformation. During the event, participants are inspired with the importance of systems transformation and the necessity of leadership for systemic transformation. The objective of the event is to create sense of urgency, participants are united as a community and built a common vision that inspires action. 
• Spark!: Thought-provoking lectures and workshops for future-oriented skills development. Participants are inspired with new theoretical knowledge through the Spark! events. During the Spark! events, they have the possibility to virtually meet and network within the EIT Climate-KIC and universities community, whilst being inspired by innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders.  
• Digital Community Summit/Graduation Ceremony: is an opportunity for networking and citizen outreach where all participants and externals meet as one global community at this final event. The Digital Community Summit is open to young people around the world. The event focus on student’s success stories, common sensemaking, understanding and sharing of experiences, reflection, and planning of next steps. 

2. Experiential Learning: to complement the theoretical aspects of the programme, participants are equipped with practical tools for systems transformation and community building.  

• Two-week international residential summer school: Participants work in diverse groups on a Group Project focus on System Innovation Plans and develop their climate leadership and changemaking skills. The summer school, offered as a blended programme, allow participants from various locations to connect, interact and extend the network of climate innovators.   
• Individual Impact Project: Kicking off during the summer school with the support of coaches and local coordinators, participants start planning how to drive change in their preferred impact area (local context). The Individual Impact Project is a way to structure and document participants process towards realising their leadership skills and truly become a change agent in real world.  

  3. Personal Development  

• Group Coaching Sessions: For the duration of the programme, participants can participate in monthly group coaching sessions and work to strengthen their leadership skills towards solving complex societal challenges related to climate change, in different dimensions. Together with their group, they will learn how to assess themself in a peer-to-peer mode supported and facilitated by a coach.  
• Leadership Log: a student manual guiding the participants throughout the seven months entire duration of the programme with invitation to action and reflection.  
• Individual Coaching: Coaches will support participants on individual request on all personal and individual challenges. 

Throughout the whole Journey, the teams are accompanied by two coaches who support and inspire participants as they work through the challenges. Climate-KIC values diversity and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates regardless of age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnic background. 

In 2022, the Climate Leadership Journey will last 9-month with a 2-week residential summer school at its core hosted by EIT Climate-KIC and partner organisations around Europe. Participants will visit from 1 to 2 locations during the 2 weeks. The Climate Leadership Journey is an immersive programme and participants are required to be present throughout. You will not be excused for exams, interviews, or other obligations. 

From 2022 onwards, participants recruitment will be handled by our delivery partners. Please go to the section “Join us as participant” for further updates and/or links to recruitment processes. 

Until association agreements start producing legal effects either through provisional application or their entry into force, the transitional arrangement set out in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021-2022 is applicable (for the entire Programme, including ERC, EIC (European Innovation Council), EIT and the institutionalised European partnerships) regarding the UK and legal entities established in this country. 

In summary, yes, you would be eligible to apply.  

Yes! We strongly believe that diversity and global reach enriches our programme. 

Applicants who are enrolled at European University can apply free of charge* for the Climate Leadership Journey, even if they are not EU/EEA citizens. You do not need to pay any fees* if you are a full-time student at a European university. As of December 2021, exempted from paying a fee are also students and passport holders of the following countries: Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey have applicable association agreements in place. Association agreements have also been signed with Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Ukraine. They are currently undergoing national ratification procedures and are expected to enter into force shortly.  Association negotiations have been concluded with Albania, the Faroe Islands and Tunisia. The agreements are yet to be signed. The United Kingdom will be associated by means of a Protocol to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Association negotiations with Morocco and exploratory talks with Canada are progressing. 

Please check this link for further information: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/updates-association-third-countries-horizon-europe_en 

If you are neither an EU-citizen, nor a student in a European institution, you are still welcome to apply for the Journey. In this case a fee will apply. Please reach out to us directly if this is your case at climateleadershipjourney@climate-kic.org  

*Please bear in mind that meanwhile you do not need to pay a fee to enrol the programme, you will need to cover your roundtrip travelling costs for the summer school destination. 

Yes! We believe that diversity enriches our programme, including in terms of career level. We welcome not only students from Master level and above, but also applicants with professional experience. You will be able to indicate this experience in your application form. 

All applicants must have completed a bachelor’s degree but participants in the last year of their bachelor’s studies are eligible to apply for the programme. Please, provide a document stating that you are in your last year of undergraduate education. 

From 2022 onwards, participants recruitment will be handled by our delivery partners. Please go to the section “Join us as participant” for further updates and/or links to recruitment processes. For your application you will need to include your latest university degree certificate, your CV (Curricula Vitae). We kindly ask you to upload only documents in English and in a pdf format.

Yes, we do have a waitlist for some participants after the interview phase.

If you are holder of an EU/EFTA/EEA passport, or a full-time enrolled student at an EU (European Union) University/Institution, the Journey is free of charge. * 

If you are neither an EU-citizen, nor a student in a European institution, you are still welcome to apply for the Journey. In this case, a fee will apply. Please reach out to us directly if this is your case at climateleadershipjourney@climate-kic.org  

*Please bear in mind that meanwhile you do not need to pay a fee to enrol the programme, you will need to cover your roundtrip travelling costs for the summer school destination. 

Travel: You need to organise and pay for your travel from your home country to the first summer school location, and from the last summer school location back home. During the official programme, travelling between locations is paid for and organised by delivery partners. We cannot reimburse your expenses for the travel to and from the summer school, these are at your own cost. 

For 2022, we have developed a partnership agreement with Eurail which will entail a 10% discount for Climate Leadership Journey participants. More details will be provided during your enrolment process. 

Accommodation: Successful applicants to the Climate Leadership Journey programme do not need to arrange or pay for their accommodation during the official programme dates. Accommodation is provided by delivery partners for Climate Leadership Journey participants for the duration of the programme. In case you would like to stay extra days before or after the official programme, you can contact the hotel (in some cases discount rates may apply). Rooms provided by the programme will usually be shared with another participant. 

After you have been successfully selected to the programme, you will receive a letter stating the exact summer school location/s you will be going to. The exact locations of each summer school will not be revealed in advance, and it is not possible to select or state preference for a particular location. 

Please understand that a lot of work and effort goes into allocating hundreds of students to the summer school ensuring diversity in the group. We are therefore unable to satisfy requests to change summer school location/s based on a desire to go to a specific location. Anyway – it is the content and group that really counts on the Climate Leadership Journey, not the location. 

Some participants require a visa to enter the Schengen countries or other participating countries such as the UK. If this is the case, please send us an email after you have been selected, and we can provide a letter for you to present to the embassy to apply for a visa. You need to cover the cost for the visa and apply for it yourself. EIT Climate-KIC does not do this for you. 

Participants who require visa need to have a valid residence permit and a valid passport, which will not hinder their travels. If you are unable to get a visa due to these circumstances, please understand that we cannot keep your place secure.

In case of an emergency, EIT Climate-KIC and delivery partners need a close family member or a friend whom we can contact. 

You will receive an overview of the main programme points and structure of your Climate Leadership Journey about a week before your journey commences. A more detailed programme will be distributed during the Climate Leadership Journey onboarding sessions. Please be aware that for the summer school, some programme points may be subject to change. 

On weekdays of the Programme, breakfast and lunch are provided. During evenings and at the weekend you will have to buy and organize your own food. Sometimes the accommodation is equipped with kitchens, so that you can cook together with other participants. If not, the local manager will be happy to give you tips for local restaurants. 

Please also be aware that we try to keep the carbon footprint of our Climate Leadership Journeys down by limiting our meat consumption and providing only vegetarian and vegan food wherever possible.   

The Climate Leadership Journey is an extremely popular programme with a very selective recruitment process and limited places available. It costs us at EIT Climate-KIC a lot of effort and resources to organize accommodation, food, and tuition, so please understand that we cannot accept people into the programme or facilities who have not been selected via the competitive recruitment process. 

Delivery partners can only provide accommodation for the selected participants, and this will often be in a shared room with another participant, so it will not be possible to host someone external in your room. Likewise, you and your colleagues have been carefully selected to participate in the programme elements, so we cannot welcome externals into these sessions. 

Your beloved pets cannot join you on the programme unless there is an official medical reason. 

You can always contact the climateleadershipjourney@climate-kic.org mailbox for any type of questions. Once accepted, in case you have more programme-specific questions, please always look for the contact details of the local managers of your Climate Leadership Journey locations in the acceptance letter we will send you. 

By accepting your place to the programme, you have agreed to the legal terms and conditions. If you are unable to participate in the programme and you tell us shortly before the Climate Leadership Journey begins, fees will apply. Please understand that our delivery partners have booked accommodation, catering and tuition for you and we cannot give your place to other interested applicants at short notice. 

Yes, upon completion of the Journey programme participants will receive a certificate stating the workload, and final grade. You may be able to receive ECTS points from your university by presenting them with this certificate. This is, however, up to your University. In the past a number of universities have accepted these ECTS, but it is at the discretion of the individual university. We recommend clarifying this with your university in advance of the Journey if you do intend to try to gain the ECTS.

The Climate Leadership Journey is a non-formal, experiential learning format. As a result, the most important things you will get out of the Climate Leadership Journey are experience, personal growth, tools for the future, an entrepreneurial spirit, further climate knowledge, a fantastic network, and new friends! This is not a traditional academic programme, and as a result we do not like to put a strong emphasis on grades and paper outputs. We believe that every participant who has completed the Climate Leadership Journey has gone through a massive learning curve, should be applauded for this, and is taking with them a wealth of experience for their future career. 

Having said that, we do offer students a grade following the Climate Leadership Journey based on completion of the mandatory points below: 

• 2-day Digital Climate Leadership Journey Kick-Off event – online, full time present  
• Group coaching sessions: min attendance 4 sessions out of 6 Spark! events (hosted by partners): min attendance 3 sessions (online) 
• Spark! events (hosted by EIT Climate-KIC): full time presence at both dedicated events (Systems Transformation and Sense Making) (online) 
• 2 weeks summer school– full time present  

• 2-day Digital Community Summit– online, full time present 

However, to emphasize once again – we strongly encourage participants to step away from their usual academic habits and not focus on the grade! This is all about the experience and personal journey, which has been worth a lot more for our alumni than a grade on paper. 

The Climate Leadership Journey is a very flexible programme divided in 9-month period, which will allow for plenty of flexibility on your personal tasks and study/work situation. You must be aware of the mandatory commitments though like the summer school at its core which is a full-time, very intensive course – with a packed schedule each week Mon-Friday, often late into the evening, and regular preparation work or travel over the weekend. Full-time attendance is expected by all participants. 

This also means that you must arrive in time for your first summer school day (it will be a Sunday), and only depart after the last day of the programme. The last day will be a Saturday. Therefore, your first opportunity to depart will be on Saturday evening. 

The Climate Leadership Journey is a very flexible programme divided in 9-month period, which will allow for plenty of flexibility on your personal tasks and study/work situation. You must be aware of the mandatory commitments though like the summer school at its core which is a full-time, very intensive course – with a packed schedule each week Mon-Friday, often late into the evening, and regular preparation work or travel over the weekend. Full-time attendance is expected by all participants. 

The Climate Leadership Journey is a collective learning experience. If you have rich knowledge about topics, you are expected to offer this knowledge to your peers and team members to help them learn faster and better. Sessions at the Climate Leadership Journey are interactive, to ensure that you are also utilized as a contributor.