Paul Schober

HEART

Healthcare Employee AI and VR-Assisted Resilience Training for Burnout Prevention

HEART – Healthcare Employee AI and VR-Assisted Resilience Training – supports care professionals in elderly and long-term care to recognize and manage stress and burnout early on. At its core is a digital training program that combines Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to strengthen mindfulness, resilience, and self-care in an engaging and effective way.

The immersive learning solution is aimed at care workers, VET learners in healthcare, and educational institutions seeking new, practical approaches to mental well-being in care professions.

What We’re Building

  • VR-Based Training:
    An interactive learning platform featuring guided meditations, mindfulness exercises, and stress management scenarios in realistic virtual environments.
  • AI-Powered Avatar:
    A digital companion that guides users through the training, offers encouragement, and supports implementation in daily routines.
  • Educational Framework:
    A didactic concept for integrating XR technologies into vocational education and health promotion programs.
  • Pilot Testing:
    Real-world testing with care workers and learners in Austria and Germany, providing valuable feedback for refinement.

Project Fact

📅 Duration: 1 February 2025 – 30 April 2026

🌐 Website: www.vr-healthcare.eu

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/vr-healthcare

Project Partners

EcoInnovate AI+

We empower Vocational Education and Training (VET) with AI-driven Product-to-Service competencies for a sustainable future.

EcoInnovate AI+ is an Erasmus+ project aimed at modernizing vocational education and training (VET) by integrating AI-powered Product-to-Service (P2S) systems. The goal is to equip learners with the skills they need for a sustainable, tech-driven future—including environmental awareness and entrepreneurial thinking.

Key Focus Areas:

  • Sustainability: Promoting reuse, repair, and recycling in line with circular economy principles.
  • Competitiveness: Innovative companies need skilled professionals with green and digital expertise.
  • Skills Development: Learners gain hands-on experience with digital tools, AI, and service-based business models.
  • Entrepreneurial Thinking: Creativity, innovation, and systems thinking are actively encouraged.

How It Works:

Learners work with interactive EduBots—AI-powered learning assistants—to explore real-world P2S strategies, build problem-solving skills, and develop competencies for the future job market.

Project Duration:

Start: February 1, 2025
End: April 30, 2026

Find us online:

🌐 ecoinnovate.eu
🔗 linkedin.com/company/ecoinnovate-ai

Project Partners:

  • thecritical (Lithuania) – Coordination, Product-to-Service content, curriculum and training
  • Hafelekar Consulting (Austria) – AI development for EduBots, methodology, curriculum and training

Guiding Symbols

A new approach to career guidance

The Guiding Symbols project aims to support career counselors in adult education by providing innovative methods for working with individuals facing complex life situations. Through the use of symbol-based tools, personal resources, competencies, and goals can be visualized and structured. The methodology is particularly suitable for adults with limited formal education, language barriers, or lack of access to conventional career guidance services.

Results:

  • Training for Career Counselors: Development and delivery of a practice-oriented training program for the application of symbol work in counseling settings.
  • Method Adaptation: Cultural and contextual adaptation of established symbol-based methods from Austria to the French context.
  • Digital Resources: Creation of digital training materials and tools to support long-term use in career guidance.
  • Pilot Implementation with Target Groups: Practical testing of the methods with real clients to evaluate usability and effectiveness.
  • Sustainable Implementation: Establishment of multiplier structures and open access to materials to ensure long-term availability and integration into professional practice.

Duration:

Start date: 1 November 2023
End date: 30 April 2025

Website:

https://guiding-symbols.eu

Project Partners:

Vol-Pecil Project

(Project number 2023-2-IT02-KA210-ADU-000178036)

Volunteers in Preventing Elderly and Chronical Illness Loneliness

The VOL-PECIL project (VOLunteers in Preventing Elderly and Chronic Illness Loneliness) aims to empower volunteers and staff members in their efforts to alleviate loneliness among elderly and chronically ill individuals. By providing specialized training, resources, and digital tools, the project seeks to enhance the quality of care and support offered to these vulnerable groups.

Results

  • Specialized Training Program: Development of a 16-hour blended learning curriculum tailored for volunteers.
  • Digital Educational Resources: Creation and deployment of user-friendly digital tools to support volunteers.
  • Pilot Training Sessions: Conduct pilot sessions to refine training materials based on feedback.
  • Enhanced Communication and Support: Address communication challenges and provide comprehensive self-help guides.
  • Sustainable Implementation: Ensure long-term availability and accessibility of training materials and resources.

Duration:

  • Start Date: February 1, 2024
  • End Date: January 31, 2025

Website:

https://volpecil-project.eu

Project Partners:

Volontariato in Rete – Federazione Provinciale di Vicenza OdV (Italy)

Hafelekar Unternehmensberatung Schober GmbH (Austria)

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

EDU-Ment

Education in Mental Health for Nurses in Home and Residential Care

EDU-MENT enhances the ability of nursing professionals to early detect and manage mental health issues through a specialized, blended-learning certificate course (5 ECTS credits).

Project Outcomes

  • Analysis of Caregiver Requirements and Needs: Comprehensive analysis of the requirements and needs of nursing professionals for early identification, monitoring, and management of clients with mental health issues.
  • Development and Evaluation of Screening Tools: Development, testing, digitalization, and evaluation of screening tools to identify mental health issues.
  • Development of Competency-Based Training: Creation of a blended-learning training program in mental health specifically designed for nurses in home care and residential facilities.
  • Organizational Development Concept: Development of a concept for the sustainable implementation of digital screening tools in nursing facilities.

Project Duration

October 2023 to September 2026

Project Partners

  • UMIT TIROL (Austria) – Website
  • HAFELEKAR UNTERNEHMENSBERATUNG SCHOBER GMBH (Austria) – Website
  • UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS (Cyprus) – Website
  • AGECARE (CYPRUS) LTD (Cyprus) – Website
  • UNIVERZA V MARIBORU (Slovenia) – Website

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

DigEnYou – Pitch Perfect

Your AI chatbot for the perfect investor pitch

As part of the Erasmus+ project “DigEnYou – Digital Entrepreneurship for Youth” we present “Pitch Perfect”, an innovative chatbot that transforms your business idea into a convincing pitch.

By entering a short description, the chatbot structures your pitch, defines a use case and offers a professional assessment.

This is how “Pitch Perfect” works:

  1. Input: Short description of your business idea
  2. Structuring: Automatic creation of an investor pitch
  3. Evaluation: Automatic feedback on the business idea

Advantages of “Pitch Perfect”:

  • Efficiency: Saves time when creating pitches.
  • Professionalism: Provides a well-informed and compelling pitch.
  • Objective assessment: Helps identify areas for improvement

“Pitch Perfect” gives entrepreneurs and start-ups a tool with which they can present their ideas clearly and effectively.

Ideal for anyone who wants to present their business idea with confidence.

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Turkish National Agency. Neither the European Union nor Turkish National Agency can be held responsible for them.

Empowerment for Pandemias

Learning from CoVid19

The project “Empowerment for Pandemias – Learning form CoVid19” started on April 1, 2022. The three years project is funded by the EU program Erasmus+. UMIT TIROL, Austria, is the project coordinator.

The project focuses on the development of a professional education and training program for professionals and decision makers working in Public Health. The aim is to strengthen the individual and organizational resilience in times of crisis. The collected experiences and knowledge around CoVid19 will be incorporated into the training program. It is being implemented jointly with the University of Gloucestershire, the Technical University of Deggendorf, the European Academy of Bolzano, Hafelekar Unternehmensberatung Schober GmbH and the Portuguese partner Immersive Lab Lda.

Based on empirical research around Covid19, the project team will define the required competencies that significantly strengthen individual and organizational resilience, and subsequently operationalize them into innovative learning experiences.

A mix of different learning environments is used for this purpose:

  • With the establishment of an assessment tool, individual and organizational resources can be evaluated.
  • Furthermore, the partners are developing a web-based training, in which micro-learning units enable self-determined learning.
  • These will be supplemented with online seminars and face-to-face units.
  • One focus is the development of simulated crisis case studies, based on real experiences, that will support the participants to learn a more efficient handling of complex problem solving and coping strategies.

Project duration

April 2022 to November 2024

Web

Website: Empower4pandemias

LinkedIn – Empower4pandemias

Projektpartner

UMIT TIROL – PRIVATE UNIVERSITÄT FÜR GESUNDHEITSWISSENSCHAFTEN UND -TECHNOLOGIE GmbH (Austria)

HAFELEKAR UNTERNEHMENSBERATUNG SCHOBER GMBH (Austria)

TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE DEGGENDORF (Germany)

ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO (Italy)

UNIVERSITY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE (United Kingdom)

IMMERSIVE LAB LDA (Portugal) 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Partnership with ISRM

Institute of Strategic Risk Management

Following the agreement between the Director of the ISRM, Dr. David Rubens, and the CEO of Hafelekar, Dr. Paul Schober, we are pleased to announce the formation of a Corporate Partnership with the Institute for Strategic Risk Management (ISRM).

The The Institute of Strategic Risk Management has been established in order to create a global centre where practitioners, academics and policy makers can come together to share information, help progress and promote the underlying understanding and capabilities associated with strategic risk and crisis management, and develop their own personal and professional networks.