Building New Career Pathways: Key Highlights from Day 1 of our Porto Meeting
The journey towards creating a more inclusive and human-centred labour market took a massive leap forward this week. The DIAMOND consortium gathered at the beautiful Porto Innovation Hub for Day 1 of our 4th in-person Consortium Meeting, warmly hosted by our partners at Proportional Message.
While our previous sessions focused heavily on identifying the deep structural challenges and barriers facing modern job seekers, Day 1 in Porto was a celebration of positive solutions, real progress, and hope. We spent the day evaluating the rich data gathered during our first reporting period and looking directly at the practical digital tools that will soon uplift individuals navigating the employment market.
Mapping Hidden Potential: Empowerment Capabilities
A traditional CV only tells part of an individual’s story. It often completely misses their drive, internal resilience, and hidden talents. To change this, our partners at the University of Vienna (UNIVIE) and Aarhus University kicked off Day 1 by presenting the latest findings on Empowerment and Transformative Capabilities.
These findings help feed into the project’s signature framework: the ᴱGROW Index and the MOVEᴱ pathways. By understanding what truly motivates individuals and builds their professional confidence, DIAMOND is paving the way for employment support that treats people with the dignity, respect, and individuality they deserve.
Tech with a Soul: The Platform and AI Prototype
One of the highlights of Day 1 was an exclusive look at the project’s digital evolution. Our partners at CETIC presented the working platform prototype and AI recommender model.
This isn’t just another job-search database. This platform is being engineered from the ground up to support learners, educators, and civil society networks by:
- Using human-centred AI logic to offer personalised educational pathways.
- Seamlessly integrating ᴱGROW user profiles so individuals can easily understand and showcase their growing strengths.
- Creating an accessible, non-intimidating onboarding system for grassroots community support organisations.
Prepping for Community Classrooms: Living Labs & Microcredentials
The final block of Day 1 shifted directly into localised action. Through hands-on workshops spearheaded by Universidad de Burgos (UBU) and EMiT Feltrinelli, the consortium laid the administrative groundwork for upcoming Living Labs and Microcredentials.
These flexible learning structures ensure that whether someone is looking for a fair starting point or trying to confidently rebuild their career after an unexpected economic disruption, they have access to bite-sized, recognised training modules that fit into their actual life.
Looking Forward
As the sun set on a productive first day, the consortium gathered for a celebratory dinner at Restaurante Esplanada Do Molhe along the stunning Porto coastline. The evening was a reminder that while our data models and software prototypes are highly complex, the heart of the DIAMOND project is wonderfully simple: ensuring no individual’s potential is lost due to rigid or unsupportive employment systems.
Stay tuned for our upcoming summary of Day 2, where we dive into the deep co-creation workshops that brought these models to life!
Funding Agency: European Research Executive Agency (REA)
Learn more about DIAMOND: https://diamond-empower.eu/
Project: 101178081 — DIAMOND — HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA).
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
