2025 Laureates
Launched in December 2024, Aurora’s second Call for Incentive and Collaborative Research Projects received 29 high-quality applications from Aurora universities , gathering the expertise of at least 129 researchers from diverse disciplines. Nine projects were selected to receive funding over the next two years.
Project GRAMCMA
Michela Cennamo
Università Federico II of Naples
Thórhallur Eythórsson | University of Iceland (UI)
Claire Halpert | University of Minnesota (UMN)
Project GRAMCMA investigates grammatical aspects of endogenous and exogenous (migration-induced) multilingualism in three metropolitan/urban areas, European (Naples, Reykjavík) and extra-European (Minneapolis, USA), integrating different strands and tools of research, in line with recent and current work on multilingualism in the diverse European and extra-European scenarios.
Project SIHTED
Thomas Lerch
Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC)
Bořivoj Šarapatka | Palacký University Olomouc (UP)
Lucia Santorufo | Università Federico II of Naples (UNINA)
Saysongkham Sayavong | Ministry of Agriculture Lao PDR
Project SIHTED aims to develop indicators for the early detection of ecosystem degradation. It focuses on tropical forests in Lao PDR, a key biodiversity hotspot threatened by expanding intensive agriculture. By combining expertise in biogeochemistry, soil ecology, and modeling, it will deliver innovative tools for ecosystem assessment and management.
Project AppMedDD
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anita Weidmann
Universität Innsbruck
Assist. -Prof. Dr. Freyja Jónsdóttir | University of Iceland (UI)
Dr. rer. medic. Janine Biermann-Stallwitz, M.A. | University of Duisburg-Essen
Prof. Dr. Carmel Hughes | Queen’s University Belfast
Dr. Ivana Tadić | Universität Innsbruck
Med.Dr. Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson | Landspitali University Hospital
Project AppMedDD aims to collate comprehensive information on pharmacological risk associated with the causation, treatment and prevention of delirium in dementia patients and determine its relevance in clinical prescribing practice.
Project WAI@U
Claire Marzo
Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC)
Liana Razmerita | Copenhagen Business School (CBS)
Adam Jatowt | Universität Innsbruck (UIBK)
Project WAI@U has the objective to study the impact of AI and GIA on work in universities. This research focuses specifically on the three types of work found in universities: administrative work, teaching and research. WAI@U aims to compare the use and reception of G/AI at work in order to identify (IT), categorise, evaluate (Management) and regulate (Law) changes in an international and comparative context.
Project EUROPARKS
Photo (top first):
Salvador Anton Clavé
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Photo (top second):
Florian Freitag
University of Duisburg-Essen
Irene Stengs | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Szilvia Gyimothy Mørup-Petersen | Copenhagen Business School
Vít Voženílek | Palacký University Olomouc
Project EUROPARKS aims to build a transdisciplinary network of scholars and stakeholders to investigate the issue of sustainability in the European theme park industry. Objectives include results dissemination combining peer-reviewed papers and open source collaboratively produced texts, illustrations, maps, multimedia materials, and primary sources that may be used for research, teaching, and knowledge transfer.
Project SUNPOP
Thomas Lindner
Copenhagen Business School
Harald Puhr | Universität Innsbruck
Project SUNPOP investigates how subnational variation in populist rhetoric shapes the foreign policy pressures faced by multinational firms and how these pressures influence firm strategy. It integrates insights from international business, international relations, and regional studies research to advance theory and provide actionable guidance for policymakers and firms.
Project HONE
Elena Callegari
University of Iceland
L’udmila Lacková | Palacký University in Olomouc
Pietro de Lellis | Università Federico II of Naples
Eduard Mir Neira | Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Project HONE examines how dividing narratives spread and take hold. Focusing on immigration discourse, it uses tools from complex systems research to model how linguistic choices shape the circulation of narratives across media and online discussion, with the aim of identifying early signals of polarization.
Project BLOOM-DIGEST
Anna Ardevol Grau
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Maria Aponte | Università Federico II of Naples
Sanja Cavar Zeljkovic | Palacky University Olomouc
Project BLOOM-DIGEST will provide scientific evidence to improve the safe consumption of edible flowers, identify microbiological and chemical risks, and support food safety regulations and transparent consumer guidance.
Project BLUeDNA
Marianne Rasmussen
University of Iceland
Bettina Thalinger | Universität Innsbruck
Maria Refsgaard Iversen | University of Iceland
Pavlo E. Goldin | National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Oleksandr Zinenko | Karazin Kharkiv National University
Project BLUeDNA aims to combine several methods to not only gain valuable knowledge of one of these giants, the blue whale, but also to find a cheaper, more effective and less invasive way to evaluate the biodiversity in an area as well as on individual level by avoiding using the effort and financially consuming sampling methods in the future.