Author: Aniza Pourtauborde

The Aurora Student Conference is an annual event for students to exchange ideas and collaborate on improving student experiences across Aurora universities. Together, the Aurora Student Council and Aurora Student Ambassador programme support student engagement by increasing awareness, sharing opportunities and fostering connection within the alliance. Andy Li, student from the first cohort of European Joint Master Degree DIGISOC, shares his experience during the Aurora Student Conference hosted by University of Iceland.

Aurora, viewed from the sky. Photo credit: Klaudie Simeckova (fellow Aurora Student Ambassador)

As our plane drifted toward Reykjavík, a pale movement outside the window caught the corner of my eye. At first, it looked like the sky was breathing. A moment later, lights unfolded beyond the glass. Aurora had greeted us midair.

I first heard about Aurora through my study program DIGISOC. It is a joint master program made possible by Aurora, carrying Aurora values of innovation, inclusion, and societal impact. Enthusiasm led me to explore further and applied for an Aurora Student Ambassador role. What began as a simple interest turned into a meaningful journey, taking me beyond the classroom to a wider community built on openness, trust, and shared purpose.

Learning to Unlearn: From the Classroom toward a Living, Collaborative Space

At the Aurora Student Conference, the idea of learning to unlearn became reality. Students from across Aurora universities came together to represent their peers, share concerns, and support each other. Despite our different backgrounds, there was a shared enthusiasm and more importantly, a shared respect. What stood out was not just the diversity of voices, but the way each one was genuinely heard. At my first Aurora event, I realized that this was more than an international gathering, it was a space for stories, perspectives, and genuine listening.

Through discussions, intercultural workshops, and social activities, I learned to step back from my carried perspective and engage to listen openly, as every moment offers a chance to see the world through someone else’s eyes. There was no pressure to be the loudest voice or to give the best answer, only a space to pause, listen, reflect and collaborate. Beyond the conference, Aurora has evolved into a living, collaborative space shaped by the people within it.

Moments from the DIGISOC class and Aurora Student Conference

A Community Beyond Borders

What makes Aurora special is its strong sense of community, bringing together the unique perspectives and strengths of university alliance members.

Being an Aurora Student Ambassador gave me the chance not only to increase awareness about Aurora initiatives to more students, but also to listen to what students were looking for in their learning experience. What mattered most was not just sharing information, but initiating conversations. It is the conversations that made Aurora feel approachable and open to everyone. During intercultural activities, each student brings something unique: a way of thinking, a cultural value, or a personal story which together enrich the community. Within and beyond classroom activities, stories shared during conferences find their way into conversations, and connections made during the event continue to grow at home.

In-class and beyond-class conversations that bring us together

Looking Ahead Together: Cross-University Collaboration

Looking forward, I imagine Aurora as a space where these connections that were formed continue to grow. Peer learning and joint projects build understanding across differences and strengthen a sense of belonging within the alliance. Through initiatives like Blended Intensive Programmes and hybrid classes, students remain connected across universities while pursuing their own paths. Borders may still exist, but they no longer divide. What remains is a shared journey, shaped by dialogue, respect, and the willingness to listen.

A snapshot of collaboration today, with more to come in the future

I am ready to move forward with gratitude for the people I met, the conversations we shared, and the reminder that Aurora is not just a network of universities, but a shared journey built on connection, respect, and the courage to navigate across border, together.

The Winter School ‘Generative AI in Academia’ is an Aurora winter course within the Digital Society and Global Citizenship hub at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Open to students and faculty across all disciplines and nationalities, it focuses on integrating generative AI into academic work and research.

Hosted at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the programme teaches participants how to use models like GPT and Llama for tasks such as data analysis, hypothesis generation, and literature summarisation. The curriculum is divided into a lecture-heavy first week followed by a collaborative second week where teams design a formal scientific study. Beyond technical skills, the course emphasises ethical responsibility, addressing concerns like bias, fairness, and the transparency of AI-generated results. Students are ultimately evaluated through a project pitch and a written proposal, ensuring they can apply these transformative tools to their specific fields of study.

Bridging the Gap in the Use of Generative AI

This insightful video documents the experiences of both the participants and the teacher. This course, a collaborative effort within the Aurora network, was born out of a necessity to bridge the gap between researchers using Generative AI tools and understanding how to use them properly, systematically, and considerably.

Course coordinator Dr. Ivano Malavolta, Associate Professor in Software Engineering and Director of the Network Institute, is joined by two PhD students from the University of Iceland, and a PhD student from VU Amsterdam to discuss the transformative nature of the programme.

Key highlights of the discussion include:

• The Power of Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Xin Chen (a sociologist) and Ahmed Hamdi Abdrabou Moghazi (a geologist) moved beyond their individual “bubbles” to co-design a project exploring the link between past climate change and human migration. In addition, Niels van der Heijden expresses the value of interdisciplinary composition of the participants.
• Moving Beyond the Basics: The participants reflect on how the course shifted their perspective from randomly writing prompts to a systematic A-Z approach for gathering information, verifying data, and structuring research proposals.
• Learning by Doing: Dr. Malavolta explains the deliberate design decision to combine theoretical lectures with intensive hands-on labs. This approach allowed researchers—even those without technical backgrounds—to use AI for coding, statistical analysis, and creating complex data visualisations.
• Ethical and Technical Depth: The group discusses the intense first week of lectures, which covered everything from the technical machinery of Large Language Models (LLMs) to critical debates on the ethics and perceived risks of AI in society.

Last spring, four students from Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) travelled to Reykjavik, Iceland, to co-create solutions to global challenges related to educational innovation and digital sustainability. 

From left to right: Natalia Rodríguez, Laia Daura, Mireia Mei and Ruth Prats, during their visit to Reykjavík, Iceland

Promoting Transdisciplinarity Within The Spark Social Programme

Every year, the University of Iceland organises Spark Social, an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), offered to students from Aurora universities across Europe. The objective of this blended programme is to gather Masters to third-year Bachelor students under one roof, to co-create social entrepreneurship projects that respond to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Four students were selected from URV to be part of the programme:

• Mireia Mei, student in the Interuniversity Master’s Degree in Health Data Science
• Ruth Prats, student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Public Relations
• Laia Daura, student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology
• Natalia Rodríguez, student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Audiovisual Communication and Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Public Relations.

A Blended Programme Fostering Creative Solutions

After several virtual sessions between January and April 2025, the programme culminated in a five-day stay in Reykjavik, Iceland, where the teams worked to define and test solutions to real challenges. The methodology used was a combination of transitional thinking and design thinking, which fosters creative solutions to complex societal problems, social innovation through empathy, collaboration and prototyping, and in this case, international and interdisciplinary teamwork.  

GEN NEXT: Education for a new generation of active citizenship 

Natalia Rodríguez and Ruth Prats were part of the team that created GEN NEXT, an educational project focused on motivating adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 through critical thinking to become active in the local community. Using a card game called A Can of Worms, young people explore different issues such as the environment, health and urban culture, and propose actions to improve their city. The project is completed with field research, urban observation and participation in municipal budgets, all fostering a culture of responsibility and real civic engagement. 

aqua.ai: Making visible the invisible impact of AI 

For their part, Mireia Mei and Laia Daura worked on the aqua.ai project, a proposal that addresses the environmental impact of technology. Focusing on the hidden water consumption of artificial intelligence systems, the project aims to develop an environmental awareness-raising package for governments, schools and institutions. This includes a browser extension that quantifies the water impact of digital queries, as well as educational materials on the subject. The objective of the project is to inform citizens and encourage change in the design of sustainable digital public policies to ensure that technological innovation does not work against the planet. 

The annual hackathon “Rethinking Food Systems in the Anthropocene” is one of the most established activities for social entrepreneurship and innovation within Aurora. The fifth edition of the hackathon took place in October 2025 at the Università Federico II of Naples (UNINA), hosting 47 international students coming from eight European universities involved in the Aurora network.

Group gathering at the 5th edition of the seizmic Hackathon hosted by Università Federico II of Naples (UNINA)

Sustainable and Regenerative Food Systems

The hackathon kicked off with opening remarks by Aurora Institutional Coordinators at UNINA, Alessandro Arienzo and Bruno Catalanotti, followed by an introduction from Ramon Rispoli, Associate Professor of Design at the Department of Architecture at UNINA. Adam Arvidsson, professor at UNINA’s Department of Social Sciences, delivered his lecture “Anthropocene/Capitalocene”, exploring critical perspectives of societal transformation due to human activities, and capitalism. One of the main sessions of the day focused on creative cultural processes, via an insightful talk by Ottavia Semerari, co-founder of Variabile K, a social enterprise based in Ercolano, nearby Naples. Guest speaker Yaiza Agata Bocos Mirabella of Universidad de La Laguna, also gave a lecture on the “Aesthetics of Complexity: Between Art and Life”.

Following a morning of thought-provoking sessions, the afternoon continued with the Design Brief. During this briefing, participants were introduced to the central challenge of rethinking food systems in the Anthropocene. UNINA doctoral candidate Nunzia Ambrosino delivered a lecture on “How to Transform Cities in Regenerative Environments”. Her lecture was followed by an engaging talk with Giulia Sodano, one of the founders of N’SeaYet, and further opened a discussion led by Rosanna Laudanno from Parco Viviani, Comunità del Parco. This discussion emphasised the social and ecological value of community gardens in Naples.

Academics and guest speakers deliver lectures on urban agriculture, circular economy, civic responsibility, and the seizmic tool

After a full day of lectures and a preview of the hackathon challenge ahead, participants had the opportunity to experience the knowledge they had acquired during a field trip to Parco Viviani the next day. Representatives from Aurora universities Isabel Froes of Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and Begoña Alonso-Fernández and Léa Chambaudet from Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), offered insights into ecological regeneration through a talk on permaculture. From the talk to the table, students enjoyed local vegetarian dishes especially made by the amazing cooks of Tavuliata, a female empowerment project by Variabile K.

Day two continued with a lecture on “Seeds of Liberation” by Valentina Gómez Alcade from the seizmic MSCA Doctoral Network. The lecture zoomed in on transition design and the politics of traditional food. Following this talk, UNINA doctoral candidate Benedetta Toledo facilitated an interactive workshop called “Build your toolbox to co-design food systems”, where students worked in groups to learn to recognise the key values for sustainable and social innovative food systems.

Circular Economy and the Role of Society

As the first two days concentrated on introducing students to sustainable and regenerative food systems, day three started with an exposure to themes related to society and societal impact. Martina Bosone from UNINA’s Department of Architecture, gave a talk entitled “The Circular Economy as a Regenerative Model to Reshape Production and Consumption Processes in Cities”. This talk was followed by Vincenzo Capasso, President of Let’s Do It Italy, who presented “Citizen Science: The Role of Civic Responsibility to Regenerate Agricultural Lands”.

Then, UNINA doctoral candidate Edoardo Amoroso delivered “Feeding the City: Rethinking Food Infrastructures for the Smart Land”. The day concluded with a field trip to the Florist Bar and a conversation on urban food production and permaculture with Stefania Salvetti, owner of the bar and gardener.

Field trips for hackathon participants to experience urban food production, permaculture, and sustainable food systems

Transdisciplinary Hackathon to Rethink Food Systems in the Anthropocene

The final two days of the week-long in-person hackathon was fully dedicated to teamwork and the development of final deliverables in response to the Design Brief provided. Through collaboration and practical discussions, participants applied frameworks from the previous lectures and used the seizmic app to refine their design concepts. Mentors guided the process, encouraging each team to integrate ecological, social, and technological perspectives into their solutions.

Since students come from different educational backgrounds, such as Design, Business, Social Sciences and more, the hackathon fostered innovation, cooperation, and transdisciplinary dialogue throughout the entire week. During the submission of the final deliverables, participants presented their projects, showcasing their diverse approaches to rethinking food systems in the Anthropocene. The event concluded with final remarks and acknowledgments, celebrating an inspiring week of cross-disciplinary and international collaboration and creative engagement across cities, communities, and nature.

This hackathon is part of the seizmic courses undertaken within the framework of the Aurora 2030 Work Package 3 “Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation”. Discover more about seizmic, its different activities, and its learning impact for students engaging in social entrepreneurship.