EU-CONEXUS selected by the European Commission to pursue its development!
Selected by the European Commission this summer on its call for the intensification of transnational institutional cooperation of European universities, EU-CONEXUS will be able to pursue its development with its support for the next 4 years.
With his success, come along lots of novelty for EU-CONEXUS: new partners, new organization, new courses and trainings, new stakeholders… Hence, 2022 marks the beginning of a new era for EU-CONEXUS.
Partners and stakeholders: altogether we are stronger
With this new call, EU-CONEXUS is growing… in number!
First of all, EU-CONEXUS is integrating three of its members as associated partners: South East Technological University (Ireland), Rostock University (Germany) & Frederick University (Cyprus).
At national levels, the university is also welcoming new stakeholders. National and local companies, ports and institutions are joining EU-CONEXUS, attesting our willingness to get closer to the territories we are represented on.
Finally, as EU-CONEXUS is committed to building up the next generation of experts on Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS) accordingly to the needs of the field: the needs of businesses, organizations and ports operating on these matters. To do so, we are better integrating our stakeholders in the creation of our study programmes, working “hand-in-hand” with them.
Courses and trainings: a wider range of opportunities to continuously train the experts of tomorrow.
Until now, EU-CONEXS offered only 2 minors programmes: one about “Blue Economy and Growth”, the other one about “Coastal Development and Sustainable Maritime Tourism”. This year, we are launching our very first joint programme: the Joint Master Programme in Marine Biotechnology whilst members of our university are already working on the creation of a second joint master programme.
Other than the range of students’ courses, EU-CONEXUS is also widening the range of its professional trainings by launching new courses and workshops. A beta version of a Stakeholder Academy aiming for a better transmission of knowledge and skills to national and local stakeholders will also arise this year.
Finally, in the line of the summer schools EU-CONEXUS has been offering to its PhD students those past years, the European University is now ready to create European co-supervised theses. The creation of a PhD School is also being discussed. This doctoral school would allow PhD Students’ to take part in cross-disciplinary courses and to benefit from grants for European theses.
Accelerating European cooperation in research and innovation
Since its inception, EU-CONEXUS has sought to accelerate research and innovation on a European scale by promoting the circulation and sharing of knowledge, skills and best practices.
In this order, we intend to provide greater support for intra-alliance mobility and exchanges with researchers from outside the Alliance by organising and participating in diverse international scientist events as well as by funding research projects.
Research groups have already emerged within EU-CONEXUS in order to gather the scientific strength of the Alliance and accelerate joint research on smart urban coastal sustainability’s main themes:
- Coastal Engineering,
- Environmental Science and Biodiversity,
- Life Science and Biotechnology,
- Social, Cultural, and Human Sciences.
Finally, this year was marked by the nomination of 80 researchers from EU-CONEXUS as part of the 2% most quoted researchers worldwide according to the international ranking published by Stanford University (USA).
A new impulse in the internal organisation of EU-CONEXUS
Internally as well, this new call is a sign of change and novelty.
First of all, with the launch of EU-CONEXA, an International Non-Profit Association (AISBL), EU-CONEXUS expects to facilitate and centralise the management of scholarships, mobility, prizes, as well as common funds, for the benefit of the university community.
Common services will also be set up to support the development of joint training courses (offered by the university’s teaching staff) and the development of projects related to education, research and innovation.
Finally, an office dedicated to the organisation of challenges about innovation and technology transfers will also be created to promote the exchange of best practices in both areas.
Celebrate diversity in a united European University
These next 4 years, we will keep promoting the cultural diversity that lay within our European University. In the line of festival held in Klaipeda University (Lithuania) in 2020 which gathered stakeholders, educational and research staff, and students, La Rochelle Université (France) and Fredercik University (Cyprus) will respectively organise similar festivities in 2023 and 2025.
Always on the hunt for new ways to improve its offer, EU-CONEXUS will keep paying attention to its Student Board recommendations to implement the best structuration, the best courses and the best campus life in order to give our students the best learning experience possible.
On a similar hand, EU-CONEXUS will work on a common environmental strategy in order to reduce our impact on the environment to become a “Green Campus”: a european campus in line with the Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the United Nations.
Finally, because the success as well as the development and civic engagement of our student community is at the core of our university, EU-CONEXUS will provide funds to support them in their projects.
