From 2 to 4 December 2025, a training programme was conducted at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, at the Bewohnerservice Lehen, and at the Gewaltschutzschirm as part of the Erasmus+ project PREV-HED (Prevention of Sexualized Violence and Harassment in Higher Education).
Around 30 representatives from higher education institutions in France, Portugal, Greece, Spain, and Romania traveled to Salzburg to engage in an exchange with practitioners from Austria and to gather insights for the implementation of their project activities.
The focus of the meeting was the dialogue between research, teaching, and practice in the field of violence prevention. Institutions from Salzburg (BWS Lehen, Neustart, and Gewaltschutzschirm), which work in counselling, awarenessraising, and community development, shared their concepts, experiences, and challenges. Through these exchanges, the international participants gained a nuanced understanding of how sexualized violence and harassment are addressed within societal and institutional contexts, as well as the support systems available.
Exchange Across Borders and Disciplines
In this way, the visitors gained in-depth insights into Austrian practice—ranging from community-oriented approaches to preventive and counselling structures. The gathered insights will contribute to the further development of the online modules created within the project, which are intended to serve as teaching and learning materials for higher education institutions across Europe in the future.
From the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Nedžad Moćević and Lisa Kiefinger participated in the exchange.
PREV-HED is funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme. The aim of the project is to support higher education institutions in developing effective strategies for the prevention of and intervention in cases of sexualized violence and harassment, and to anchor these sustainably both in teaching and in institutional structures.