On 19-20 June 2022, the International oMERO Partners Meeting took place in Kaunas, Lithuania, organized by the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU). The oMERO project aims to overcome high-skills gap and to formalize a new curriculum taking to a new specialist figure, the visual disabilities rehabilitators providing physical, mental and sensorial rehabilitation services, in a new trans-disciplinary, user-centred and ICT-based approach. The meeting was attended by Federica Calabria and Sonia Agrebbe from the David Chiossone Institute, Aldo Vagge from the University of Genoa, Oranne Colombier and Cecile Terrier De La Chaise from La Mut’, Agnė Kručaitė and Aušra Povilauskienė from LSMU, as well as by the project’s new partner University of Gothenburg and its representative Inger Berndtsson.
The meeting started with a welcoming speech by Professor Ingridos Janulevičienė, Dean of the International Relations and Studies Centre of LSMU, and an overview of the activities of LSMU. The morning of the meeting was devoted to the evaluation of the ongoing work of the project’s working group 6, that is the development of a localized curriculum for the visual disabilities rehabilitators. The strategies adopted by LSMU, the University of Genoa and the University of Nice were discussed, as well as the design of the curriculum modules and the distribution of learning outcomes between modules. The Steering Committee meeting discussed the current status of each of the ongoing working groups in terms of the implementation of their plans and the risks that have been identified. The afternoon of the meeting was dedicated to discuss the lesson plans developed by Working Group 4, and to analyze some of the examples that have been made. The first day of the meeting ended with a social dinner to discuss any remaining issues and share impressions of Lithuania. The second day of the meeting started with the General Assembly, which confirmed the good news that the National Agency has approved the University of Gothenburg as an oMERO project partner. The financial aspects of the project were also discussed and deadlines for the completion of the work of the working packages were agreed. Oranne Colombier then outlined the work foreseen for Working Group 7 when the list of learning materials will be developed. A major part of the afternoon discussion focused on the organization of a short training course for future teachers in Genoa. Confirmed training course date: 21-25 November 2022. The programme will be tailored to the needs of the project partners. In order to raise the awareness of oMERO project, we concluded the meeting by renewing the agreements on the dissemination of the project in the University information sources, on the project website, on facebook and on twitter. For a more detailed overview of the oMERO project, please contact omero-coordination(a)chiossone.it