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EVEC Microgreens
Microgreens for Horizon Europe outreach and citizen engagement
Practised science communication, a working urban growing space in Athens and direct reach to non-academic audiences — the tools a Horizon Europe consortium needs for communication, dissemination and citizen engagement on food systems, urban agriculture and science education. This portal is the method and the evidence; the civil-society partner behind it, EVEC Athens, joins consortia from evec.org.gr.
Who this is for
You are building a Horizon Europe consortium at a university, research organisation or innovation agency, and your call asks for communication, dissemination and exploitation, citizen engagement or outreach beyond academia. You need a civil-society partner who already does this work rather than one who promises to start after the grant agreement is signed. The organisation behind the methodology, EVEC Athens, is an NGO practice partner in Athens, not a research institute, and that complementary role is precisely the value it brings to a consortium. This page is the evidence; the partnership itself is arranged with EVEC at evec.org.gr.
What the method brings a consortium
Science communication in practice
Our Science Library republishes open-access microgreens research rewritten in plain language, with full credit and a link to every original study. We keep the caveats, the sample sizes and the uncertainty. The same method transfers directly to your project’s findings.
A real demonstration site
We run a physical microgreens growing space in Athens, available for demonstration activities, workshops and engagement events. Working infrastructure, not a plan on paper.
Reach beyond academia
This portal carries more than 110 free articles for young people, teachers, growers, entrepreneurs and the general public: audiences most consortia struggle to reach directly. Readers arrive mainly through organic search, looking for answers to practical growing questions, and teachers, growers and entrepreneurs use the libraries in their own work. We can share verified analytics on request.
Dissemination and exploitation
We turn research outputs into public material people actually use: plain-language articles, growing guides, workshop formats and tested recipes, all published open and free.
Citizen engagement activities
Hands-on workshops in Athens on growing microgreens in the city, harvesting at home and cooking them, run by our team and international volunteers.
Sustainability of results
The portal keeps project results visible and usable after funding ends, which gives your proposal a concrete answer to the exploitation and legacy questions evaluators ask.
Demonstration and engagement, in practice
Results you can use
Evaluators look for evidence of delivery, so here is ours, live and open for inspection.
The Science Library
Twenty open-access microgreens studies rewritten for the public, each crediting and linking the original research team. Read it as a sample of the communication quality your project would receive.
The Athens growing space
Our urban growing space is offered free to young entrepreneurs starting a microgreens business without capital. For a consortium, it doubles as a demonstration and citizen engagement venue.
The open knowledge portal
More than 110 free articles, including the 29-guide Varieties crop database, the 20 plain-language Science Library rewrites, grow-at-home and business growing guides and a cookbook of tested recipes, built and maintained as open educational content.
Everything above is live and in daily use today, alongside three free self-paced Academy courses, complete as first versions. We also publish work in progress openly: four educational toolkits are open drafts, each labelled as such and carrying a public feedback form. We keep that distinction visible on every page, because a partner who blurs the line between finished and unfinished work is a dissemination risk, not an asset.
The organisation behind the methodology is EVEC Athens, the European Voluntary and Educational Center (evec.org.gr), a non-governmental organisation in Athens working in European projects since 2017. On the question research managers rightly ask about small civil-society partners: EVEC, as the legal entity, carries the contractual and reporting responsibility, while day-to-day activities are run with hosted international European Solidarity Corps volunteers, an operating model that has run continuously since 2025. See everything we have built →
From the knowledge base
The latest additions to our Science Library show how we put peer-reviewed research in front of the public.
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Protein rich microgreens: pea, lentil, chickpea, and sunflower
Pea, lentil, chickpea and sunflower microgreens are a real source of plant-based protein. Which protein-rich microgreens to grow and why they stand…
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Fermentation of microgreens: a step further toward improving their nutritional value
In recent years, a new trend has emerged that takes the many properties of microgreens one step further: fermentation. This process, known…
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Microgreens as the space food
The title of the article sounds cosmic to you? Let’s dive with us into space where we share all the fascinating facts…
Every article credits and links the original study. Browse the full collection in the Science Library.
The roles the method can fill
In a Horizon Europe work plan, the method supports three named, recognisable roles:
- Communication and dissemination work package contributor — turning project outputs into plain-language material published open on this portal.
- Citizen engagement and demonstration activities — run at our working urban growing site in Athens, not a demonstration corner.
- Plain-language science communication — with the Science Library as a live sample of the standard we would apply to your findings.
To bring EVEC into a consortium, tell EVEC the call, the topic and the role you need filled at evec.org.gr; together you scope which of these roles the call actually needs, put it in writing, and EVEC provides the formal commitment for your application. Reach out early enough to shape the work plan together.
An example of the role we could take
The following is an illustrative example, not a commitment; the real scope is agreed with your consortium against the call text. In a project on urban food systems, EVEC contributes to the communication, dissemination and exploitation work package as follows:
- We rewrite the project’s key outputs as plain-language summaries published on this portal, each crediting and linking the original work: the Science Library method applied to your results.
- We run demonstration open days at the Athens growing space, giving citizens, teachers and young entrepreneurs a hands-on route into the project’s themes.
- We carry the project to non-academic audiences through the existing article platform, so its findings meet readers who are already searching for practical answers.
Deliverables: a plain-language summary series published open on this portal, and a citizen engagement report documenting the demonstration activities and how audiences responded. Both remain publicly available here after the project ends.
Working on a different research theme? Citizen science, food systems, health, climate, education — most Horizon topics touching people have a microgreens hook. Find yours, then take it to EVEC.
The methodology: this portal is the home of the microgreens methodology — one hands-on way of learning that works for any vocation and any age, running since 2025.
The organisation behind it: EVEC Athens (European Voluntary and Educational Center), an accredited Greek NGO working in European projects since 2017 · OID E10172681 · PIC 909448430 · Erasmus+ Youth accreditation 2023-1-EL02-KA150-YOU-000188397 · ESC Quality Label 2023-1-EL02-ESC50-QLA-000195138 — both valid until 2027. Verify in the EU organisation registry (search for OID E10172681), see the track record, or visit the organisation at evec.org.gr.
Ready to add EVEC to your consortium?
The methodology and its evidence live here on the portal; Horizon Europe partnerships are arranged with EVEC Athens. Start at evec.org.gr and the team will take it from there.
Co-funded by the European Union.
This portal presents the microgreens methodology; the organisation behind it is EVEC Athens — the European Voluntary and Educational Center (evec.org.gr). Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.