The event also served as a platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to the project's sustainability. Participants highlighted the project's potential to address the scarcity of free training in Programming in Portugal, which is crucial for increasing the supply of labour in a growing sector. Additionally, the philanthropic nature of Code4SP, aimed at empowering individuals in vulnerable situations, was praised for its societal benefits.

The team expressed their gratitude to all participants for their experience and insights, which will contribute to the successful expansion and sustainability of the Code4SP project.

Popi Aresti, EU Project Manager

Tell us a few words about your background: 

Graduated from the University of Strasbourg,FR, with a BSc in Languages and Intercultural studies and is currently attending a Master’s Degree in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in Cyprus university of Technology (CUT). Have worked in multiple positions over the years one being an english language teacher and project management with projects focusing on education. 

What organisation do you work for?

Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), Cyprus

What does your organisation do? 

Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) is a Research and Development organization which focuses on fostering social innovation that can bring about a positive change to local, national, regional and global contexts. CSI belief is that the four pillars of Social Interaction, Education, Development and Economic Rationalization coupled with fundamentally sound and sustainable solutions as well as disruption to streamlined solutions to systemic social problems can lead to creative solutions that impact significant change to the social fabric of every society. CSI is working closely to address social, economic and cultural challenges with governments, local administrative agencies, non-for-profit agencies, commercial entities, and educational institutions. CSI identifies and addresses systemic challenges through evidence-based research, state-of-the-art investigation of global, national, regional and local solutions, developing solutions by taking into consideration the local ecosystem, and cultural dynamics, meet the stakeholders' needs and implementing those solutions as CSI keeps constant vigilance to ensure continual feedback loop and adjustments. The areas of expertise are in the fields of social integration, intercultural education, Vocational Education and Training, labour, education planning and e-learning, project management, project evaluation services, product validation, and training.

What is your role in the Code4SP project? What are you currently working on?

Popi on behalf of CSI, will primarily concentrate on providing top-notch social assistance for the implementation of the Code4SP project and in particular, training activities that directly affect disadvantaged people.

Why is being part of the Code4SP project important to you? 

Coding is challenging, but it is a key skill in many industries today. To me, it is crucial that Code4SP recognize the significance of creating training programs and providing assistance to socioeconomically vulnerable populations in order to increase the number of ICT experts in Mediterranean nations, including Cyprus. Given that vulnerable populations have few possibilities to learn ICT skills, including coding, and grow in the quickly evolving digital world, this must be taken into account on a very serious level.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Watching theatre performances, reading books, studying languages etc.

Loucas Georgiou, EU Project Manager

Tell us a few words about your background: 

Loucas Georgiou studied Automotive Engineering (BSc), Sustainable Energy Systems (MSc), Business Administration (M.B.A.) and Mechanical Engineering (PhD) at Frederick University. His research focuses on numerical analysis, 3D modelling and building energy analysis using state-of-the-art software tools (SOLIDWORKS, COMSOL Multiphysics). His professional experience in previous jobs in the Automotive Industry focused on team coordination, customer service, technical support and business planning. His current interests focus on project management concerning various European Union projects. He is an accredited Scientific Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK) member.

What organization do you work for?

Citizens in Power (C.I.P.), Cyprus

What does your organization do? 

C.I.P. Citizens In Power (C.I.P.) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization. C.I.P. constitutes one of the leading organizations in Cyprus in the fields of global education, social innovation, entrepreneurship, STEM and sustainable growth. Our team designs and implements cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approaches to respond to fundamental social, educational and environmental challenges and policy gaps, mainly by employing technology transfer and operationalizing the research findings. C.I.P. has been striving to satisfy citizens' needs without compromising future generations' potential. Correspondingly, our values guarantee actions and promote methodological approaches which can bring about social, economic and environmental prosperity.

What is your role in the Code4SP project? What are you currently working on?

Loucas is involved in various aspects of the project, such as dissemination and training. He primarily focuses on communication with the participants, ensuring their good understanding of the material and providing them with opportunities to be involved in real-job tasks by connecting them with a company for an internship.

Why is being part of the Code4SP project important to you? 

The Code4SP project allows you to interact with several participants and understand their needs and discover their coding skills, even if they have no strong background. Software engineering is vital for a developed country, and the demand for coding is at a high peak. By providing the opportunity to individuals from vulnerable socio-economic groups, we significantly increase their chances of finding a job or initiating their start-up company, consequently contributing to the need for more "Coding Experts" in the market.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Training, travelling and creating.