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Aurora Autumn Biannual 2020

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in News.

On November 4th and 5th 2020, the eighth Aurora biannual was organized using an online social video conference platform called Gatherly. A total of 264 participants connected remotely during the two-day biannual to take part in the 27 Aurora parallel sessions, two plenaries and a reception.

The two biannual plenaries – one for the Aurora Universities Network plenary and one for the Aurora European University Alliance, were well attended with over 80 participants listening in to various presentations. David Richardson – stepping down as Aurora president during the Biannual – opened the network plenary. Guest speakers Ann-Sofie van Enis and Tim Strasser from SOS International presented the Green Office movement model and the Green Impact model.  Afterwards, Maurice Vanderfeesten shared progress on the SDG Bibliometrics tool.

The Alliance plenary was opened by Mirjam van Praag, president of VU Amsterdam and of the Aurora Alliance Board; with all presidents of alliance university members sharing their pride in being part of the alliance. To quote some of them:

Tilmann Märk – The University of Innsbruck: “We are together on a journey to become a more united group of universities, with an own identity and own culture. We’ve had challenging weeks and months. Times are changing but here within this project we are luckily in the driver seat to steer the change we want to see. And so, therefore, we can build on our individual strength and the excellent working plan we have put up together.”

Ulrich Radtke – University Duisburg-Essen “Aurora Alliance is a network of excellence and trust. It is very important for me, and it’s a joy to work together in Aurora, and the University of Duisburg-Essen is proud of being part of the Aurora European University Alliance”

David Richardson –  University of East Anglia “I think we have a real opportunity to go together as a university alliance in how to co-develop our curricula in ways which can become more inclusive, more representative, and more reflective of the global issues. Our students must understand and are educated in sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. So they become future leaders for us. In our alliance, we have 350.000 students who are in the most entrepreneurial, enterprising, creative, innovative, and actually risk-taking stages in their lives. We have a real opportunity to grasp that as an alliance by taking forward and prepare people who can make a real difference to the world when they graduate from our alliance and go on to pursue their lives across the globe.”

Copenhagen Business School message was given by Mirjam van Praag:  “For Copenhagen Business School, the Aurora project is a great opportunity to form international partnerships and network across countries. It is particularly positive that the EUN partnership addresses the scientific field of societal impact and social entrepreneurship and innovation. These core aspects mirror important priorities in CBS’s new strategy. So to put it mildly, we are very happy to join the project.”

After the impactful speeches by the alliance presidents, Bernhard Fugenshuh inspired us on how universities can equip graduates with the right skill set and mindset. Aurora Student President Callum Perry from the University of East Anglia presented his vision for Aurora and launched the Aurora Student Championship to the Aurora community.

During the biannual, it was also announced that David Richardson’s term ended as president of Aurora universities Network. We thank Mr Richardson for his continuous efforts of being part of the network and being the driving force behind Aurora. Without his profound vision of creating a network of united universities who are not only societally engaged but also excel in academics, Aurora would not have been where it is now. Jon Atli Benediktsson, the rector of the University of Iceland, succeeds Mr Richardson and will be the president for the coming two years.

Aurora also hosted a reception where all could raise the glass while listening to the musical interlude prepared by the University of East Anglia choir. Enjoy the interlude here. Aurora invited Simon Anholt to speak about his book The Good Country Equation and share key observations about a university’s role in society. Since many participants were keen on reading Mr Anholts book, his publishers, Berrett-Koehler, have offered a 30% discount on the digital editions (e-book and Audiobook) of The Good Country Equation to attendees of the conference and the wider Aurora network.

During the Biannual, a total of 27 separate working groups met during the five time slots for parallel sessions. Among these were the vice-rectors education, the Aurora Student Council, the Alliance teams for Health & Well-being, for Social Entrepreneurship, as well as the coordinating teams for Learning for Societal Impact, Engaging Communities, and Sustainability Pioneers.

Note from the President III: Introducing Jon Atli Benediktsson

Written by rostanetek on . Posted in News.

At the Aurora Autumn Biannual, it was announced that Jon Atli Benediktsson has succeeded David Richardson as Aurora President. In this note, Mr Benediktsson introduces himself to the wider Aurora community.

When the general council of Aurora appointed me as the new president of Aurora, I accepted this role with pride and humility.

I accepted with pride because Aurora is such a great network. Such a great group of universities, dedicated to helping each other in becoming as good as we possibly can in the things that we cherish most: matching academic excellence with societal relevance, enhancing the societal impact of both learning and research, supporting our societies in the most equitable and inclusive way possible, and making our organisations and communities as sustainable as we can.

I accepted with humility because I step in great footsteps. David Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and my predecessor as Aurora president, has really played a crucial and central role in making Aurora the strong and vibrant community of students, academics, and support staff that it currently is.

We go through very challenging times, generally and certainly also as university communities. The pandemic is still with us, although recent news about vaccination has been promising. The impact on the mental well-being of students is a grave concern and we must assume that this impact will last longer than the immediate duration of the COVID-19 waves.

In some respects, we should see the pandemic not only as a crisis in itself but also as a wake-up call on the longer-term concerns of climate change. Our recent Biannual shows that more is possible in the virtual world than we thought possible – although meeting in real life will remain important.

Digitisation and globalisation seem powerful forces which continue to breed uncertainty among large numbers of people in our communities. The role of universities in strengthening and maybe re-inventing the social contract and fabric of society will need to be explored more intensely than we do now. We may see ourselves as part of the solution, but we are maybe not always aware enough that others may see us as part of the problem rather.

In all these concerns and challenges, Aurora as a group of societally committed research universities has a unique role to play. We need to help each other – and we are in a unique position to help each other – to each serve our society in which we are embedded.

Jon Atli Benediktsson

Aurora Feedback on EEA Roadmap

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The AURORA universities network supports the development of a strong vision on the European Education Area, interconnected with the European Research Area. Although the roadmap points out the way to get a new EEA, it less specifically describes the goals and expected achievements Europe needs. In order to improve the text, including vision, goals and achievements or deliverables, we addressed some aspects.

In brief, the roadmap mainly focuses on training and skills/competencies (esp. on skills for digitalisation and green transition). We recommend adding aspects of “education” i.e. on citizenship, critical thinking, democracy and political polarisation, individual prosperity and growth, and wellbeing. In return, this will benefit from mentioning a strong vision on the connection between education, training and research and will be referring to EU-level flagship actions. More specifically, it will benefit from mentioning the strategic contribution of the European University alliances to both EEA and ERA. Currently, it does not specify how an all-inclusive, meaningful, structured and sustained engagement of stakeholders will be achieved apart from “targeted consultation”. As with the research agenda setting the development, implementation, execution and evaluation of a new EEA need proper co-creation and co-design in all phases with all stakeholders to fulfil all ambitions through broadly supported and effective EEA strategies.

As a university network, Aurora published its position paper on the EEA and ERA. We still emphasize that:

  • The EEA needs strong European and national funding to fulfil its ambitions;
  • Both EEA and ERA are open to the world beyond the EU fostering all dimensions of knowledge;
  • SDGs must be the guiding themes and compass for both EEA and ERA to engage (younger) people and contribute to the solutions;
  • EEA and ERA need to develop and strengthen the European identity, values, standards of education and research to complement existing identities, values and standards;
  • EEA and ERA need to be developed at national and institutional levels – and supported by champions at all these levels.

The higher education and research sector contribute to this. Therefore, AURORA recommends and supports:

  • A meaningful international experience as a component of all study and learning paths rather than an obligation of learning abroad as such;
  • The acceptance of (subject-specific, general academic, personal) competences for the purpose of work, study and civil life regardless of the place where or the mode through which these competencies were acquired, rather than just qualifications recognised across the EU;
  • The matching principle of academic excellence with societal relevance in education, research and outreach to society, which is core to our vision;
  • A clear vision on the role of European University alliances in the establishment and achievement of an interconnected EEA and ERA from which the full European higher education sector should benefit.

A Horizon2020 SWAFs grant awarded to three Aurora universities

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Three Aurora universities, University Rovira i Virgili, University of Innsbruck, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and together with the Iberoamerican Knowledge Foundation (GECON) have won a Horizon 2020 “Science with and for society” or SWAFs grant in the amount of 297.500 Euros for a total duration of 24 months.

The SWAFs grants have been developed aimed at citizens, organisations and territories and to encourage their engagement in joint research and innovation activities in several strategic orientations. One of these strategic orientations is referred to as the “Research innovation needs & skills training in PhD programmes”. The call envisioned the development of open science and entrepreneurship skills related training to complement existing PhD programmes via innovative open methodologies, and aid PhDs in acquiring skills necessary for labour markets insertion and engagement. 

The winning project entitled Video gamEs foR Skills trAining or VERSA aims to complement the current soft skills training of PhD candidates in already existing PhD projects at three Aurora universities and thus improve their employability and engagement with the industrial sector in their respective countries. VERSA will approach the challenges of innovative training for soft skills of PhDs via an online and video game training methodology developed by GECON called soft skills games. 

The benefits of the VERSA project are two-fold: 

A) the novel methodology will certainly modernise PhD training provision at our universities by offering digital tools for soft skills training (the platform itself can be used for more than soft entrepreneurship skills there are over 20 skills that are covered by GECON’s methodology),

B) the project aims to stimulate employability of PhD graduates by providing training of selective skills that are considered as critical by employers in turbulent academic and non-academic labour markets. 

The training will be provided for eight soft skills in total: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving, Cognitive Flexibility, People/Team Management, Time Management, Judgement and Decision Making and Goal Setting. Over 70 PhD candidates from different PhD programmes across the three universities will be able to play selected video games in intervals of 2-4 months and enhance all or one of the skills mentioned above.  

Aurora European University Alliance Programme Accepted

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Proud and happy, we announce that the Aurora European University Alliance programme has been accepted by the European Commission. The Aurora European University Alliance programme will be one of 41 projects leading the way in helping to create a European Higher Education and Research community.

The Aurora Alliance has been selected by the European Commission as one of the now 41 European University initiatives supported through the Erasmus+ programme to lead the way to a European Higher Education and Research sector that contributes to a Europe of prosperity and well-being.

The Aurora Alliance stems from the Aurora Universities Network. Originally formed in 2016, Aurora is a network of research-intensive universities deeply committed to the social impact of our activities, and with a history of engagement with our communities.

The Aurora Alliance consists of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of East Anglia, University of Iceland, University Duisburg-Essen, University Rovira I Virgili, University of Naples, University of Innsbruck, Copenhagen Business School, and Palacky University in Olomouc. The Alliance has a number of associate partners, four of which are universities in Central and Eastern Europe.

Aurora President Prof David Richardson said: “I’m extremely delighted with this news. Universities are here to serve society, and therefore they have to be socially inclusive. Aurora is a socially inclusive network with exciting ideas on how to deliver relevant inclusive curricula for the future.”

Aurora Board member and Vrije Universiteit President Mirjam van Praag shares her gratitude as the Aurora Alliance receives the European Universities Alliance Grant. She says that the Aurora Alliance can now start building programs based on social entrepreneurship and apply it to societal relevant topics.

Callum Perry, President of the Aurora Student Council, finds Aurora to be remarkable and is honoured to be part of such a grand network of students and staff. The crux of Aurora lies in that Aurora doesn’t ask what society can do for universities, but what universities can do for societies. Please watch his video testimonial below:

We are looking forward to implementing and executing our strategy in the coming months to kick off the Aurora Alliance Programme.

For further information please contact Aurora Program Director Sabine Allain Sainte-Rose: s.allain-sainterose@vu.nl

The World after COVID-19

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On July 7th 2020, Kees Kouwenaar and Peter van der Hijden contributed to the ACA weekly Think Pieces series to respectively share their expertise on European Universities Alliances after COVID-19.

The ACA weekly think pieces are authored by well-known experts in the field of international higher education and are published every Tuesday since May 2020. The basic question posed to them all is if and how the post-COVID-19 world will differ from the one we have until recently been used to.

In the current edition, both experts share their perspectives on physical mobility and internationalization, long term requirements of online education, and strengths of the European Higher Education.

Access the interview by clicking the button below.

Cooperation between URV and Mozambique in the area of malnutrition

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The Erasmus project forms part of the cooperation project between URV Solidària, the URV’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Infant Nutritional Support Centre on the island of Ibo.

The work begun by URV professor Maria Eugènia Vilella Nebot in Mozambique in 2007 to combat malnutrition on the island of Ibo has led to new forms of collaboration involving students and researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Health. Through a project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission, these collaborations will pave the way for a new research line in malnutrition at the URV.

Specifically, until 2022, five Mozambique students will study at the URV to complete their Bachelor’s or Master’s theses as members of research groups, and a doctoral student from the URV will carry out fieldwork in Mozambique. There will also be an exchange of five professors and researchers between the URV and the Eduardo Mondlane University (Maputo) and Lúrio University (Nampula), who are also members of the project.

This Erasmus project will form part of another cooperation project by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (with support from URV Solidària), which funds initiatives from the university community for cooperation in development. This initiative will enable two students of Nutrition from Lúrio University to carry out an internship and Bachelor’s Thesis at the Infant Nutritional Support Centre on the island of Ibo, accompanied by Maria Eugènia Vilella and two professors from the Lúrio University. It will also allow a student on the Interuniversity Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Metabolism run by the URV and the UB to complete their master’s thesis at this centre.

In the centre, the professors from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, M. Eugènia Vilella and Josep Ribalta, head of the Postgraduate and Doctoral School, with members of Lúrio University in Nampula, Mozambique.

A specialist in developing countries

The origins of these projects lie in the work of Professor Maria Eugènia Vilella Nebot, a specialist in nutrition in developing countries. In 2010 she created the Infant Nutritional Support Centre in Ibo, with the Ibo Foundation, for studying, providing training in and treating infant malnutrition on the island. The nutritional intervention was also subject of Vilella’s thesis, who managed to reduce rates of malnutrition in children under the age of five on the island of Ibo and to encourage their mothers to adopt healthy nutritional habits.

Generating knowledge is necessary for achieving these three tasks, hence the proposal for the URV to have a research line in malnutrition, which responds to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Objective of zero hunger. By analysing dietary habits and nutritional data in the population, researchers will be able to design and implement a specific and sustainable intervention for the population with supplements based on the foodstuffs from the area, which will been to be reinforced with nutritional education and the promotion of food safety and hygiene.

Sustainable Development at the University of Duisburg-Essen

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Long before the abundance of social and political attention had coined terms like climate crisis and flight shaming, students and staff at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) were already working systematically to build a sustainable university. UDE is a member of the Aurora University Network.

The “Sustainable Development at the University of Duisburg-Essen” report demonstrates how projects and people are shaping sustainable development at UDE. It covers the period 2014 to early 2020 and assigns the activities presented to the 17 goals for sustainable development of the United Nations.

The report is assembled by a team of the university’s internal project “Sustainable UDE – Designing a Sustainability Process (napro)” with the support of numerous university actors from all status groups. The napro team presents proposals for action in the areas of research, teaching, operation, social responsibility, transfer, networks and engagement. Access the report by clicking the button below.

 

Project coordination, text and editing: Prof. Dr. André Niemann, Ilka Roose, Elisa Gansel, Laura Briese
Contact: nachhaltigkeit@uni-due.de

 

Researchers at the URV are developing a device to quickly detect COVID-19

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The device aims to develop a serological test within 3 months that takes only 15 minutes to differentiate between patients that are infected by COVID-19 and those who have been recovered by it.

The research group Interfibio of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the URV, has been working for weeks on a device that can quickly detect COVID-19. The project, headed by Ciara O’Sullivan, aims to develop in three months a cheap, quick and easy-to-use serological test for detecting the disease, which can also identify patients who have the disease and those who have recovered from it. The test will consist of a device with a single lateral flux that requires only a drop of blood taken from the fingertip (like a sugar-level test or diabetic people) and it will give a result in less than 15 minutes.

The new device is being developed by Ciara O’Sullivan, Míriam Jauset, Vasoula Skouridou and Ivan Magriñà and it will detect the antibodies IgA, IgM and IgG, which are produced by the immune system of infected individuals to combat the infection. The antibodies IgA and IgM are the first to be produced, shortly after an infection, while the IgG antibodies appear later and are associated with long-term immunity and immunological memory. The presence of these antibodies in the blood of a patient can provide information about current and past infections and their detection will effectively complement efforts to contain the disease and determine its true extent, given the large number of asymptomatic patients with COVID-19. Furthermore, the test will eliminate the possibility of false negatives.

The device is quicker, cheaper and easier to use than those that have been used up to now, the most common of which is reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in real-time using specific primers of the virus. However, these RT-PCR molecular tests have certain limitations, such as the long time they take to provide a result and the fact that people need to be trained to carry them out.

In contrast, the device being developed by the URV research group will take less than 15 minutes to give a result, will cost approximately one euro and can be administered quickly and easily by anybody because it requires no additional equipment or laboratory facilities.

Once the prototype has been developed, it will be tested in various hospitals around Spain, including the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona and the Verge de la Cinta Hospital in Tortosa; the Health Research Institute at the Álvaro Cunqueiro Galicia Sur Hospital, The Clinical University Hospital of Valencia and the OSI Donostialea Health Research Institute. Once the test’s validity has been confirmed, it will be produced on an industrial scale.

The development of this diagnostic device is being supported by the Carlos III Health Institute through the COVID-19 fund to promote projects that improve the understanding and management of the virus in the short term.

Read more here

How is Covid-19 affecting our most vulnerable and their caregivers?

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The true impact of Covid-19 on some of society’s most vulnerable people and their caregivers were explored through an international survey from researchers at the University of Aberdeen.

In collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast, the project hopes to provide rapid feedback to the NHS and charitable organisations about the current needs expressed by patients with cancer, precancerous conditions and rare diseases and those who help to care for them.

It is understood that caregivers and patients are experiencing a major impact of Covid-19 on their lives with health services forced to change in order to ensure the safety of patients.

The survey will assess the impact that these and other changes due to the coronavirus pandemic have had on caregivers and patients.

Working with healthcare providers, patients and researchers it is hoped that the immediate, medium and long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic on caregivers and patients with cancer, pre-cancerous conditions and rare disease can be identified.

The information obtained will be shared with doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers and charitable organisations to identify the best ways to support patients during this time.

Read more here: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/14008/