As lead partners of the Erasmus+ funded Educate to Innovate: Developing and Sustaining Female Food Entrepreneurs project, GMIT were delighted to host the first Transnational Partner Meeting on the 4th April 2019.
Dr Lisa Ryan and Maria McDonagh (GMIT Department of Natural Sciences, School of Science & Computing) are leading this two year project in conjunction with partners from Baltic Education Technology Institute (BETI) Lithuania, Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori Toscana (CIA Toscana), Italy, Comunitatea Pentru Invatarea Permanenta (CPIP) Romania and The Polish Farm Advisory and Training Centre, in Poland. The first project meeting was held at GMIT’s Galway Campus, Ireland with representatives from each partner organisation in attendance. “The first project meeting is always quite significant as it is often the first occasion that the project consortium have to meet one another face to face. It marks the beginning of what is usually a very enjoyable research journey. We were delighted to welcome our international project partners to the West of Ireland to launch this project and are looking forward to developing project outputs that will play a key role in growing and sustaining female food entrepreneurs (FFEs) across Europe”, Maria McDonagh, Project Manager (GMIT).
The primary aim of this innovate project is to develop FFEs by providing Vocational Education and training (VET) teachers with an innovate training guide and resource tool that will provide the VET teachers with the knowledge and materials to develop female focused entrepreneurial training that will be influenced and delivered by food entrepreneurs.
Head of the Department of Natural Sciences (GMIT), Dr Lisa Ryan spoke with enthusiasm about the project “GMIT are very excited to be leading such a unique European project. With female entrepreneurs underrepresented in the Agri-Food sector, we are delighted to be in a position to introduce innovative methods of peer led training and resources that will support the growth of female entrepreneurship in this sector. The European collaboration will allow for access to a broader, more diverse target group enabling an in-depth evaluation of the challenges for European FFEs. The project outputs will be developed with contributions from each partner ensuring a European perspective”.
Further information concerning the project will be available on GMIT’s website, www.nurtureher.eu, and social media channels, Twitter and Instagram.