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Village Education Research and Training (VERT) is the ecovillage working group that is committed to the development of the ecovillage as a destination to demonstrate best practice in research and education.

In the first few months of 2012 there has already been a lot of

educational activity in Cloughjordan. On January the 22nd and 23rd a group

of French (postgraduate?) students visited the ecovillage to learn

about sustainability. 20 students from Coláiste Dhúlaigh visited

on February 9th and on the 13th over 52 students from Cork Institute

of Technology came for a presentation and tour. On February the

29th a Sustainable Development Field Trip from the University

of Limerick visited and on March 1st a SERVE, Sustainable Energy

in Rural Village Environments seminar was held.

VERT was also a partner on the hugely successful Growing Together

course and conference held by the Cloughjordan Community Farm

on the weekend of the 17th to 19th of February. Hundreds of people

from all over Ireland, and seven European countries, participated

in this three-day event on community-supported agriculture

(CSA). With panels hosted by RTE's Ella McSweeney and Peter

Young from the Farmers Journal, participants from organisations

like the Irish Seed Savers, Organic Centre, and Trocaire, GIY

(Grow it Yourself), and numerous Transition Town groups learned

about what exactly a CSA is, and how they could go about setting

one up. It has been estimated that the event brought in approximately

€5000 to the local economy of Cloughjordan.

Several PhD students from UCD Innovation Labs spent two weeks

on a Problem Based Learning project researching how we might

attract people and businesses to the ecovillage.

VERT has been invited by the Deep Democracy Foundation (a group

based in Poland who visited us last year) to participate in an EU

funded learning partnership on participatory decision making

processes for communities.

A full programme of courses for 2012 is currently being preparing by

VERT. These include the Ecovillage Experience Weekend which

will be held a number of times over the year, a ‘Cloughjordan Summer

School’ for post grad students and academics, and ‘Fostering

Active and Collaborative Learning’, a five day course for adult

educators in Cloughjordan Ecovillage.

Ecovillage Experience Weekend

Cloughjordan Summer School

Totally Tipperary - Village Craft Workshops

Fostering Active and Collaborative Learning

VERT will also be involved in association with third parties hosting courses in the ecovillage.

Problem Based Learning - LIT

Natural Building & Cob Workshop - Cob Cottage

Exploring Where Our Food Comes From - Cloughjordan Cookery School

Permaculture Design Course - Cultivate

Exploring Participatory Group Work - Trish Kinsella

More information on the Cloughjordan Experience Weekend  here