Academic Open Budget 2023
The Academic Open Budget of 2023 has officially started. Initiate. Decide. Vote. Do.
The first pilot edition of AOB ’22 showed us that our academic community is very creative and has a lot of ideas waiting to be put into action. 15 amazing projects were chosen to carry out through voting. We believe that the next initiatives are going to be as riveting as the previous ones! Just like last year’s, this year’s AOB budget is PLN 150 000. At the University of Wrocław, we want our academic community to participate in shaping the facility’s budget. Cities have participatory budgeting – the University has an open one. The Academic Open Budget is an initiative thanks to which 15 projects submitted by our students, doctoral students, and employees of UWr will be funded with PLN 150 000. We are starting on March 6. We will know the voting results in spring and carry out the winning projects until the end of November so that we can enjoy them together. The students, doctoral students, and the University’s employees will decide on what to spend the PLN 150 000 from Rector’s reserve. Project propositions estimating around PLN 10 000 will be submitted by leaders and their teams. We draw inspiration from our Wrocław experience, refer to WOB (Wrocław Open Budget), and microgrants.
How to submit your project?
Gather a team of 4 people (leader and 3 members) up to 6 people (leader and 5 members). Read the rules and regulations, come up with your own project idea, and send your submission! The form is easy. Our goal is to awaken the creativity and involvement of our academic community. The teams will come up with and carry out the projects on University premises. We will be dreaming and creating together! And just like that, we will change our part of the world!
Submit your project here: https://forms.office.com/e/cS4bqtC09P
The AOB projects have to:
1) be located on the University’s premises (“fixed” projects, for example, chill out zones etc., or actions carried out on university’s premises)
2) fit into the budget frame – a single project funded from AOB cannot cost more than PLN 10 000 together with the costs of the necessary documentation and the upkeep of the project throughout its duration*;
3) be carried out together with all the expenses until November 30, 2023. The projects may cover an investment, renovation, equipment purchase, as well as support of cultural, scientific, and social projects.
*the PLN 10 000 is a fund from Academic Open Budget for a particular single project. In the case of need for funding another purchase/project as an additional element of the project, the cost must be covered by internal funds of the team. Descriptions of the submitted project must cover only the expanses of PLN 10 000. In the case of submitting a project exceeding the given amount or noting additional expenses exceeding the given amount which could potentially attract additional votes, the contest committee will not allow the submission to move to the voting stage.
Contest schedule
1) developing projects and submitting them accordingly to form – from March 6, 2023 to April 6, 2023
2) official verification of the projects, and announcement of qualified projects – until April 13, 2023
3) promoting the projects by the teams in the academic community and the voting – from April 14, 2023 to April 27, 2023 (11:59pm).
4) voting results announcement and making a list of projects to carry out – April 28, 2023
More information and detailed rules and regulations of Academic Open Budget are available on the University of Wrocław’s webpage from March 6, 2023.
45 projects were submitted in the previous, pilot edition of AOB. Can we beat it this year? This, we will learn soon but we hope we do! We encourage you to make your own teams, come up with your ideas for the projects, and submit your work! Should you have any additional questions, please contact the Social Responsibility Office of UWr: odpowiedzialnosc@uwr.edu.pl.
Translated by Anna Kobylowska (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
