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Aurora Alliance Mini-Grant Programme 2021

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The International Division of Palacky University Olomouc (UP) is launching Aurora Alliance Mini-Grant Programme to further support the development of the European Universities strategic partnership goals of the Aurora Alliance. This scheme aims to strengthen the cooperation of Palacky University Olomouc with other eight Aurora Alliance university partners beyond the current project activity scope.

It primarily offers an opportunity to UP Faculties, Education and Research Centres to engage in academic and professional cooperation across the disciplines within the Aurora Alliance. The scheme supports the bottom-up approach and invites academicians and professional staff to build the working teams with Aurora partners by prioritizing their own international academic collaboration ambitions.

Duration and length

The mini-grants programme aims to have three calls – February 2021, January 2022, January 2023. The first call in February 2021, is aimed as initial support of project start and will allow the successful projects to commence in April 2021. The following two calls will be open to supporting both continuation of the commenced projects and the new mini-projects each year.

Procedure and Selection Criteria

The project application form is to be submitted by 29th March (First Call Opening on 16th of February 2021). Aurora Central Team with a Selection Committee consisting of Vice-Dean for Internationalization will announce the successfully awarded projects by April 14th 2021.

Interested? Apply before March 29th, 2021. For more information, please view the document.

Join a short course in Europe this summer

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Ready to make the most of your summer? Want to study in another part of Europe?

Learn a new skill, develop new knowledge to enhance your degree studies and graduate prospects?

All Aurora university students have the benefit of learning what’s on offer this summer at other Aurora universities, through this one-stop-shop of your Aurora options this summer*. From Global Health to International Criminal Justice and from Central Europe and European Integration to Global Transitional Sociology, there’s a range of subjects to suit everyone, and in many cases, special discounts are provided for students from other Aurora universities.

So what are you waiting for?

Click the button below to access the summer school courses, find out more, check dates and deadlines, and find out how to apply.

Summer schools

Each Aurora Alliance university has an allocation of Aurora Alliance funding to support outward mobility and this may be available for short courses in Europe this summer. Please check with your home university’s study abroad office for details on how to access relevant funding.

Would you like to be kept updated with Aurora university short courses and summer schools and associated funding opportunities? Please register your interest by completing this short form. You can also use the form to ask questions that we can direct to the appropriate Aurora university.

We hope you will be able to take the opportunity to study abroad at another Aurora university during your degree!

*Please note that some dates are to be confirmed and delivery modes may change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please get in touch directly with the hosting university for final details.

Join Aurora Alliance CDS Network of Universities

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The Capacity Development Support Programme (CDS) of the Aurora European Universities Alliance is looking for universities to collaborate with.

The CDS programme is designed to help reduce the disparities between the research-leading and research-emerging countries in Europe by assisting universities in Central-Eastern Europe and Neighboring Countries to develop their institutional capacity for academic excellence and societal relevance. The expected outcomes are to spread the Aurora Alliance principles, values, skills, working processes and practical learnings to some 30 target universities in Europe and beyond.

To this end, Aurora Capacity Development Support Network of Universities (CDS Network of Universities) is being set up, with the purpose to articulate and strengthen the collaboration in supporting universities that are interested in the same objectives as Aurora Alliance member universities: in equipping diverse student populations with the skills and mind-set to address societal challenges as social entrepreneurs and innovators; in engaging with students and stakeholders at regional, national, European and global level; and in making our universities sustainable organisations.

The Aurora CDS Network of Universities is an inclusive platform for universities that want to work with Aurora’s common objectives. Applicant universities should freely express interest in the Aurora Alliance CDS mission as described in the Introduction section of this document by submitting a Letter of Intent and a University Fact Sheet to Tereza Kalousková via email at

The criteria for joining us is the following:

  • Applicant universities understand the key objectives of the Aurora Alliance programme and are interested in furthering in at least some of these objectives at their institutions.
  • Applicant universities express willingness to invest time and bring their resources and expertise to the collaboration.
  • Applicants are made aware of external funding needed for collaboration activities developing in the Network.

Applicants will be assessed on a rolling basis 2021-2022 by the CDS Task Team, led by Palacky University Olomouc with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as co-lead. In the assessment, the opinion of the Associate Partners will be sought.

What We Offer – Network Programme

During the 2021-2023 period of collaboration, we focus our exchanges on awareness-raising training events and projects developed together, focusing:

  • Virtual Mobility/Internationalization at home
  • Co-creation and Service Learning
  • Inclusive, Equal and Diverse Education
  • Academic Competence Skill in Social Entrepreneurship.

The continued programme and activates of the Network will be a subject of evolving collaboration and co-sharing of interests in the internationalisation of higher education.

Cooperation Arrangement

There will be no legally binding duties between the members as a result of entering into the Network collaboration. Any bilateral agreements between the Network universities are subject to the inter-institutional arrangements and internal institutional regulations and policy in international cooperation.

For more information, please access the information sheet .

Ample opportunity for UI in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

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Leads of the Aurora SDG Education Dashboard,  Auður Pálsdóttir, assistant professor at the School of Education, in collaboration with Lára Jóhannsdóttir, professor of environment and natural resources at the School of Social Sciences have led an in that analysed over 3300 courses at the University of Iceland on the sustainable content.

 

Over the past five years, the UN Sustainable

Development Goals have been guiding principles in international affairs, ever since the member states agreed to work towards them in September 2015. The SDGs, which total 17 and apply for the period 2016-2030, apply to all areas of society, since they are intended, for example, to combat global poverty and hunger and promote economic prosperity, peace, universal human rights, and sustainability in all areas to benefit the climate and environment.

The SDGs have started to receive more and more attention in the work of the University of Iceland. For example, the University has organized a series of lectures in which UI scientists and representatives of Icelandic society have explained the significance of the goals and targets, as well as pathways to achieving the goals. A review has also been carried out to find out where courses at the University of Iceland involve sustainable development and education in the spirit of the UN SDGs. This work was organised by Auður Pálsdóttir, assistant professor at the School of Education, in collaboration with Lára Jóhannsdóttir, professor of environment and natural resources at the School of Social Sciences.

Analysed 3,300 courses

“The project involved analysing the University of Iceland course catalogue for the winter 2019-2020, looking closely at course descriptions and learning outcomes for all courses at all five schools, a total of around 3,300. The goal was to map the available courses and their content in consideration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” says Auður.

Naturally, this was a considerable amount of work and so Auður and Lára recruited five students from the School of Education, each of whom completed a Master’s thesis based on the research. “Each Master’s student analysed all the courses at one school. Hafdís Ósk Jónsdóttir analysed courses at the School of Social Sciences, Guðjón Már Sveinsson analysed courses at the School of Health Sciences, Bjarni Bachmann analysed courses at the School of Humanities, Hildur Hallkelsdóttir analysed courses at the School of Education and Atli Rafnsson analysed courses at the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Each Master’s student also completed an individual project with a focus of their own choosing,” explains Auður.

Auður and Lára are both members of the UI Sustainability and Environmental Committee which has been working to shape the University’s new sustainability policy. “In other countries as well in Iceland, there is not much information about where university courses are working with the SDGs. We therefore decided to map all UI courses, whether they were taught this winter or not, because many courses are offered every other year but are part of an integral whole in the study programme,” says Auður of the inspiration behind the project.

We need to keep working with the SDGs within the University

In connection with the project, the team developed a special analytical key and a list of terminology in Icelandic and English containing key words for each SDG. These were used in the analysis. The Master’s students then created their own analytical key or criteria, each for their own individual projects, which were also used. The analytical keys were tested and fine-tuned in the course of the collaboration. “The aim was to ensure that working practices were as consistent as possible in order to guarantee reliable results and valid comparison between the schools,” explains Auður.

Auður says that the results of the project have revealed that there is ample opportunity for the University of Iceland related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. “In many aspects, the University appears to be in a similar situation to other universities who are finding their way in the introduction of the SDGs. However, it seems we urgently need to focus on the key competencies which the UN defined in parallel to the SDGs as a requirement for work towards the goals and which apply to all studies,” adds Auður.

Key competencies are abilities that people acquire regardless of the content of the academic subject. “For example, the ability to analyse and understand different systems and how they are linked, the ability to apply critical thinking and be creative and the ability to collaborate and deal with conflict. Students acquire these key competencies through studying any of a wide range of subjects related to many kinds of knowledge, but also people’s preferences and interests. In light of this, the United Nations has long emphasised that students should be able to influence what and how they learn.”

Auður adds that the SDGs are extremely broad and much of this is not, at first sight, relevant to Iceland. “So we have to discuss and work with the SDGs so that everyone at the University understands their content and aims and how we at UI can do our bit for the global community in sustainable development and sustainability education. We are doing a lot at the University that fits in well with the path to sustainable development, but this is not made sufficiently explicit in the course catalogue,” says Auður.

Aurora Universities support The Guild’s concerns and recommendations related to European AI Act proposal

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Aurora Universities support the concerns, statements and recommendations provided by The Guild[1] regarding the proposal of the European Commission for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act)[2].

The proposal for the AI Act was published in April 2021 and is being discussed by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. The Act describes harmonised rules on the use of AI and may impose a burden on research and researchers. The statement and recommendations by The Guild call upon the European Commission to also meaningfully engage academic researchers and other research actors in future monitoring and amending processes of the Act.

Main concerns deal with 1) the AI approach attempting to regulate AI systems while not banning some practices, 2) defining AI too broadly, thereby encompassing non-AI technologies and not being future-proof, 3) the additional burden to EU research grant applicants as they already have to provide information on potential ethical risks, and 4) the consequences of unharmonised interpretation and harmonisation across EU and EEA member states.

Recommendations include a call to 1) establish a high-level expert group of academic researchers to advise on amending the body text or annexe of the AI Act, 2) setting up regulatory frameworks enabling banning jeopardizing practices, 3) ensure a harmonized implementation of the AI Act across the EU, 4) ensure avoiding an overall prohibition of some AI systems, and 5) ensure that universities can act as ‘regulatory sandboxes’ and can test AI systems in safe environments, e.g. by supporting research projects on the concepts introduced by the AI Act and the compliance to the Act.

Aurora will share and discuss these concerns with relevant stakeholders and policy and decision-makers at national and European levels.

[1] The Guild of European research-intensive universities. The Guild sets recommendations for the AI act. Weblink: https://www.the-guild.eu/news/2021/the-guild-sets-recommendations-for-the-ai-act.html

[2] Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence act) and amending certain union legislative acts. Com/2021/206 final. Weblink: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/txt/?uri=celex%3a52021pc0206

Manifesto to promote the discussion on R&I issues within the Conference on the Future of Europe and beyond

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AURORA has signed and supports the manifesto and call on the Conference on the Future of Europe, European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the European Union to discuss and deepen Research & Innovation issues as a contribution to solving global challenges over the months to come.

Research and Innovation are at the heart of contributing to achieving the green and digital transitions, ensuring a fair, sustainable, competitive and depolarized society and economy, and addressing health and geopolitical challenges. This should be reached in co-creation and co-design with citizens and all actors. Several European and national programmes are supporting this. While the Conference is discussing many themes related to the challenges including education, Research and Innovation risks are being omitted from the discussions. Therefore, we emphasize that Research and Innovation should be even more at the core of the debate on the EU’s future challenges and priorities. For more information, read the full manifesto, being signed by over 65 national and European umbrella organizations representing research and business:

Link 1 and link 2.

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