soc open call, 2026

School of Commons (SoC), a global learning community, is looking for individual and collective projects to form the SoC learning environment from April 2026 - December 2026.

What is School of Commons?

School of Commons (SoC) is a community-based initiative dedicated to peer learning, and the study and development of self-organized knowledge production, located at the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

To date, we have supported 157 projects since our foundation in 2017, with the content and position of SoC being defined by our community. Over the 8-months of the SoC program, research is conducted as peer-based collaborative endeavours with annually changing members. Each cohort brings together a wide range of participants, guests, and contributors who share their curiosity, skills, and visions - producing a broad, integrative understanding of knowledge. We offer personal support, financial resources, and an active community of peers and experts engaged in a wide range of topics.

SoC’s program is developed bottom-up rather than top-down. Instead of providing a fixed curriculum, we encourage participants to actively shape our program, either by organizing and hosting events themselves, introducing new lines of study, or by inviting guest speakers and tutors who are relevant to their research. SoC is there to support and help organize the educational program our participants would like to have.

In short, SoC:

• Is a global community-learning environment dedicated to the study and development of self-organized knowledge through commons-based methods and practices
• Is located at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), but mostly hybrid in format, taking place online, with some select offline events at the ZHdK, and selected venues across Zürich
• Brings together practitioners, researchers, facilitators, and activists from all disciplines for its 8-month peer-led learning program.
• Has a structure which is shaped based on the needs, requirements, and wishes of the participants
• Works with a broad network of partners who help to explore, shape, and share the future of Peer Education as an important strategy and method of lifelong learning.