Between November 15^th and 18^th, a UP delegation visited our partners at the University of Rovira i Virgili, to participate in the Aurora Autumn Biannual in Tarrgona, Spain. The biannual was a great success and an excellent opportunity to meet in person and strengthen the ties with all of our partners.

The Biannual combined plenary sessions with intensive workgroup and management meetings. The absolute highlight of the event was the signing of the Multilateral Aurora Mobility Agreement. This agreement opens up many new mobility possibilities for both students and staff, between all Aurora Universities. 

During the Biannual, the Aurora top-management met twice, during the Aurora Presidents’ Strategic session and the Aurora Council meeting. During these meetings, the Presidents and Institutional Coordinators of all Aurora institutions came together to discuss the progress so far, as well as the next steps and the road ahead. The ICs also met on Monday the 15th in preparation for the two Aurora top-management meetings on the following days.  

The plenary sessions covered topics such as the inclusion of soft skills and SDG-perspective in the teaching of Aurora Universities through the use of the Aurora Competence Framework, as well as approaches and opportunities to internationalization of the curriculum. Featured were several highlevel debates, with prominent keynote speakers such as Xavier Prats Monné, the former Director-General for Education and Culture of the European Comission.  

The voice of students was given center stage during the event. In the weekend before the start of the biannual, 

students for all Aurora Universities gathered in Tarragona early to participate in the Aurora Student’s Design Thinking Jam, and give their input on what the Aurora Universities can do to facilitate meaningful international experiences for their students.

The outcomes of this session, ranging from the need for Aurora Student Events to mental health support and tackling issues with inclusivity were presented to the Aurora community during the biannual by the students themselves. Palacky University was excellently represented by four its students from four different faculties: Hanus Patera (FF), Dominik Vorac (PdF), Serge Nengali (PF), and Dominik Hlubek (PrF).  

On the 18^th of November, a dedicated Kick-off for the Aurora Research & Innovation program took place. During the kick-off the leaders of the various Aurora RI activities got together to present their activities and the way forward, identifying the where and how to collaborate most efficiently.

A full overview of the presented materials, as well as photos and videos taken at the event can be found below:

VIDEOS

• Livestreamed plenary sessions
• Aurora Student Design Thinking Jam

 PHOTOS

• Aurora Autumn Biannual [photos]
• Aurora Student Design Thinking Jam [photos]

 PRESENTATIONS

• Aurora Autumn Biannual  [presentations]
• Aurora Student Design Thinking Jam [presentations]

There are many competing diagnoses and characterisations of contemporary societies: as capitalist, open, postmodern, transnational or polarised and divided. This Spring School aims to question such simplistic diagnoses and to analyse which, partly competing, partly complementary, ideas and hypotheses are hidden behind these labels. We want to understand which positionings and power relations are expressed in the various characterisations of contemporary societies and, based on this, question what is supposed to hold contemporary societies together – and whether it needs to be held together at all. In three panels we aim to investigate specifically how the humanistic ideals of public spirit and community, openness, and tolerance shape and are being shaped, striven for, as well as negotiated and contested by contemporary society. In addition, this Spring School features a performative societal laboratory, where we aim to generate a different, embodied and performative type of knowledge about the themes of the Spring School.

More information

The Spring School will take place in Duisburg, Germany in March 28^th to April 1^st 2022 and offers the opportunity to discuss recent advances in related research areas with highly regarded scholars in and invites students to present their related research agenda or outputs in three different and topically structured panels. Also we invite all participants to participate in an artistic performance with the aim to facilitate and foster reflection through collective action. The Spring School features panels on “Sense of Community in Transnational Societies,” “Cosmopolitanism and the post-developmental critique of open societies,” and “Politics of identity and cultures of (in-)tolerance.”

Registration requirements:

Please submit a brief CV (max. 1 page), an abstract on your doctoral research (max. 500 words), a motivation for your application (max. 250 words), an indication of preference of panel workshops (please indicate your priorities) and an indication of choice for the performative-participatory laboratory. The deadline for submissions is 10^th of January 2022. Cost of registration is €400, including tuition, accommodation and meals.

Registration link

Registration process

Taking place on the 6^th and 7^th of December at the University of Naples, Federico II, in this two-day hackathon we invite you to co-create conceptual solutions for rethinking the Mediterranean food economy, departing from the concept of the Mediterranean diet.

Man-made climate change, species extinction and other environmental factors linked to the condition of the Anthropocene will radically alter the conditions for food production and consumption in the coming decades. Indeed, the effects of these developments are already visible as farmers all over the world are faced with rising insecurity and unpredictability that derive from new weather, temperature and humidity patterns. At the same time, the food economy is changing: there is a new inflow of highly skilled, university-educated neo-rurals who bring with them novel conceptions of entrepreneurship and management; digital technologies- from drones and precision agriculture, via blockchains, down to ‘simple’ e-commerce sites- empower food production and distribution in new ways; and there is a re-discovery of ‘traditional’ foods and production techniques along with a novel appreciation of forgotten tastes and aesthetics.

How to empower alternative forms of production and consumption that are both productive and resilient? How will the Mediterranean diet itself change (through, for example, the introduction of formerly ‘tropical’ produce, like mangoes and avocados, that now grow in Southern Italy)? How to guarantee worker rights and ensure proper remuneration in a rural economy marked by a powerful role of informal economic networks as well as persisting structural racism? Further information can be found here.

Registration process and requirements: Applicants must send a one-page CV to afi.soedarsono@societing by 30 November 2021. Participation in the Hackathon is free of charge.

Rethinking Dieta Meditteranea in the Anthropocene Hackathon