The Network of 500+: Connecting schools, teachers, and students across Europe to learn, teach, and innovate with hydrogen

The Network of 500+ is a school network founded and operated by the project European Hydrogen Academy (HyAcademy.EU), which is co-funded by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking under Grant Agreement 101137988.

It is intended as a network of over 500 European schools (‘Network 500+’) with approximately 5,000 pupils from primary schools, secondary schools, technical schools, and colleges, offering teaching and training on hydrogen topics.

HyAcademy.EU runs a website-based platform that hosts information about, and teaching material for each level of school education in hydrogen technologies. Visit our “Resource Centre” for teaching material on Hydrogen for all levels.

HyAcademy.EU actively supports school education on hydrogen fuel cell technologies in various ways and aims to develop a free digital library that provides access to workbooks, educational programmes and innovative teaching materials.

Why Talk About Hydrogen

Hydrogen is one of the key elements in the decarbonisation process and in the fight against climate change. Discussing hydrogen in schools helps students understand why it is necessary to reduce CO₂ emissions, what alternatives to fossil fuels are available, and how the energy systems of the future work.

Addressing this topic helps to educate informed and responsible citizens, enabling students to actively participate in public debate and to develop critical thinking skills regarding political and energy-related decisions.

Talking about hydrogen also promotes education for sustainability, responsible use of resources, and awareness that there is no single perfect or “magic” solution. At the same time, it highlights that ethical choices can and must be made in respect of the environment.

Finally, introducing hydrogen in the classroom represents an opportunity to guide young people towards the professions of the future, helping to build strong foundations for the skills and careers needed in the hydrogen sector and in the related technologies.

 Benefits to members (principals and teachers)

Membership in the “Network 500+” offers:

·    Sharing into best practices in hydrogen education.

·    Access to free teaching material offered by HyAcademy.EU, a.o. a digital multilingual open-access library of workbooks for teachers and pupils.

·    Participation in “Teach the Teachers” training programmes to increase knowledge and master new methodologies.

·    Peer-to-peer exchanges on teaching experiences.

·    Opportunities to get in touch with other schools for staff and pupil exchanges.

·    Participation in competitions and camps at national and European level.

·    Participation in vocational training at Technical Schools and Colleges.

·    Opportunities for placements and internships for teachers and pupils.

Active participations of memebers:

Membership of the “Network 500+” requires active participation and entails commitments to at least one of the following activities:

·    Providing feedback to teaching material available within the “Network 500+” in English and/or in other languages used by network members.

·    Providing language editing services for AI-pre-translated documents, preparing them for publication through HyAcademy.eu.

·    Sharing best practices in hydrogen education with other network members and HyAcademy.EU.

Facilitating staff and school exchanges between network members.

Recent updates

Our network is steadily growing and currently brings together 432 schools. These schools represent a diverse range of countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, and India.

Thanks to the strong commitment and dedicated work of our partners, the network has expanded significantly in recent months. In particular, participation from Romania has grown to 137 schools, while the United Kingdom is now represented by 111 schools. And a warm welcome to the 3 Irish schools!

Join our growing international community! If you would like to include your school in the network, simply complete this short questionnaire

Sign the Application form and you’ll receive The European Hydrogen Academy Welcomes Certificate 

By signing this application, the signatory accepts the ‘Terms & Conditions of the Network 500+’ and ‘Personal data processing and protection’

Please send the application form to network500@hyacademy.eu