CDS-Network

CALL – Aurora Lecture Series ‘Environment and Care: Canadian Perspectives’

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 28. 7. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network.

Our Aurora partners at the Canadian Studies Centre of the University of Innsbruck, together with Universität Duisburg-Essen invite you to participate in an innovative transatlantic teaching project.

The Aurora Lecture Series ‘Environment and Care: Canadian Perspectives’ is looking for a diverse range of lectures on the Canadian perspective on Environment and Care from various disciplines, combining the Aurora Pilot Domains of Culture: Diversity & Identity and Sustainability & Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals.

If you are interested, send in your proposals for research-led teaching units (à 90 minutes) now! including an abstract of 250 words at most which make reference to the following:

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A (or multiple) Pilot Domains of the Aurora Alliance
Research Fields/Interests

Please also indicate when (see “Sketch and rough time table” below) the contribution could be made.

The proposals should be forwarded to the Canadian Studies Centre of the University of Innsbruck (canada.centre@uibk.ac.at) by September 10, 2021.

The full pdf-version of the call can be found here.

Sketch and rough time table
Working title of the course	Environment and Care: Canadian Perspectives
Type of course unit	Optional (Interdisciplinary Competences)
Level of course	Bachelor (EQF 6)
Prerequisites (for students)	none
Referring Pilot Domain	Culture: Diversity & Identity Sustainability & Climate Change
Referring SDG(s)	4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 16
Year of study	2021/2022
Semester of delivery	Summer Semester 2022
Number of ECTS credits allocated	3 credits
Type of course	Lecture series (Ringvorlesung)
Course director Other speakers/contributers	Doris G. Eibl & Ursula Moser (University of Innsbruck) Barbara Buchenau & Florian Freitag (University Duisburg-Essen) tbc
Learning outcomes of the course: Students can demonstrate a deeper insight into an environment and care sensitive understanding of Canada. They have become acquainted with exemplary research areas and are able to classify these in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals. Besides, this course aims at developing all forms of critical thinking, in particular with regard to the following competencies: System Thinking Competency, Anticipatory Competency, Collaboration Competency and Integrated Problem Solving Competency.

Course content: The course, which is intended as an introduction to Canadian Studies, aims to present and discuss a number of recent developments in Canada through the lens of Environment and Care, which we see as key concepts for a future-oriented and sustainable understanding of different facets of the country. While the term “environment” refers not only to air, water, and land in or on which people or animals and plants exist, but also to circumstances, objects or conditions by which people or animals and plants are surrounded, the term “care” implies “everything we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, ourselves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining way.” (Tronto/Fisher 1990, 40) Along the focal points · Histories and Politics · Indigenous Contexts · Intersectional Issues · Literatures and Media · Mountain and Glacier Studies · Multiculturalism and Federalism · Urban Visions and Realities
Mode of delivery	Online
Suitability for short term mobility	no (lecture series)
Planned topics The course is planned as a lecture series from week 17 to 25 (an overview concerning the academic calendars can be found under Question 17 in the FAQ of Aurora Office Innsbruck):
Assessment	Knowledge query based on questions concerning the single sessions Passed (>60%) / failed (tbd)
Language of instruction	English
Registration procedure for non institutional Aurora-students and	See landing page Aurora Innsbruck
number of places available	No limitation
Criteria for the allocation of places (e.g. “first come first served”)	Not applicable (no limitation of participants)
Recognition	Students are asked to clarify the creditability of this course for their studies before registering! At Universität Innsbruck, the course is to be offered as a curricular course within the framework of Interdisciplinary Competences (elective module).

CALL – Martí i Franquès programme Doctoral Contracts at the University of Rovira i Virgili

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 8. 7. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Students.

On the 1st of July, our partners at at the Univerity of Rovira i Virgili (URV), opened the call for applications for each one of the three editions of their Martí i Franquès programme: standard, with 28 contracts; COFUND, with 20, and Banco Santander, with 13. The deadline for applications is 6 September 2021.

The Martí i Franquès is a programme of URV grants that aims to increase the University’s human resources in the field of research. At the same time, it reinforces doctoral programmes, doctoral theses and the training of doctoral students on research and innovation projects. This Thursday is the first day for applications for 61 contracts of three different editions; the standard (28), COFUND (20) and Banco Santander (13). The successful applicants will be employed for up to three years. The call provides contracts in all fields of research at the URV. Applications can be made online until 6 September 2021.

Standard edition

Candidates for the standard edition can opt for a 1-year contract, extendable to 3 years, for doing a doctoral thesis as a member of a research group on one of the doctoral programmes taught at the University. The successful candidates are obliged to submit a doctoral thesis at the University but they will also be given the opportunity to do some teaching. Likewise, they will be able to take part in training programmes for specific purposes and general competencies, and they will have access to high-quality research infrastructure in a highly international environment. One of the 28 contracts on offer has been funded by the Fundació I2Cat (Internet and Digital Innovation in Catalonia). The successful candidates will be able to start work at the University as from December 2021.

Banco Santander edition

For the first time on the Martí i Franquès programme, this call for applications has a new type of edition thanks to the renewal of the collaboration agreement between the URV and the Banco Santander. This agreement has an effect on a variety of areas and can be divided into three main parts: education, employability and entrepreneurship. Education is a strategic aim and the 13 predoctoral contracts in this area have funding of €880,000. Thanks to the sensitivity and the commitment of this financial institution to the recruitment of talent and training, the funding of the Martí i Franquès programme has increased significantly.

COFUND edition

The Martí i Franquès COFUND project is co-financed by the European Union as part of the COFUND Doctoral Programme of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) in Horizon 2020. The 20 contracts that were still pending, one of which is reserved for a disabled person, are now being announced. The aim is to attract highly talented research staff from all over the world and give them the chance to have a research career at the URV. The contracts that will be signed by the successful candidates, aligned with the MSCA contract standards, substantially improve the contract conditions in terms of salaries and the availability of funds for research expenses. Among other eligibility criteria, the candidates cannot have resided for more than 12 months in the previous 3 years in Spain. That is to say, the aim is to locate international students with a master’s degree or equivalent or Spanish researchers who have been away and wish to return. A committee made up of URV staff and external evaluators will assess the candidates’ training, research results, professional experience, motivation and references.

The Tarragona Provincial Council (Diputació de Tarragona) supports the activity of the URV, including the Martí i Franquès Programme.

For further information: https://www.urv.cat/en/research/support/programmes/marti-franques/

Excellent Science in Horizon Europe – The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 8. 7. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events, Students.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), part of Horizon Europe, and the European Union’s flagship funding programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training of researchers, organizes many different actions and funding opportunities. Our Aurora partners at the University of Duisburg-Essen offer an information event and in which you will receive hands-on advice on how to write a successful MSCA fellowship application.

What to expect:

Monday: 12.07.21, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
• Presentation of facilities and services at the UDE, which are helpful during the application process but also after a successful project application (Science Support Centre, Graduate Centre Plus, International Office).

Tuesday: 13.07.21, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
• Information on the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships by a speaker of the EU Cooperation Office of the German Science Organisations (KoWi)

Thursday: 15.07.21, 10:00 – 12:00 (limited number of participants!)
• Field report of a successful applicant and exercises for successful proposal writing by a speaker of KoWi
In order to enable an individual and most fitting consultation, the exercises on Proposal Writing on 15.07.21 are only available to a limited number of participants. Early feedback on your participation is therefore recommended. The other parts of the event are open to all interested parties.

Please register via the following link:
https://eveeno.com/2021_ude_msca_postdoctoral-fellowships

Click here for the full programme (pdf).

Co-Creation Courses

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 30. 6. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Students.

Aurora and its universities offer a variety of different co-creation courses, open to students from all Aurora Partners. Consider enrolling, for example in the “Tools for Enterpreneurship” course at the University of Rovira i Virgilli, a course on International Service Learning at VU Amsterdam, or Project management in Social Work Practice at Palacky University Olomouc.

At the moment, a total of nine courses are available. For a full overview of the courses, the terms and the registration deadlines please take a look at this table.

Looking back at the Aurora Biannual of May 20-22

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 18. 6. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events.

On May 20 – 21st, the tenth Aurora Biannual took place, where Aurora presidents, students and staff met to learn from and with each other.

The first day began with an opening plenary focusing on the future of academic collaboration between British and other European universities following Brexit. Ms Adrienn Kiraly, Head of the Cabinet to Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Education, Culture and Youth, touched upon our collaborations with universities and said “Your alliance is already well placed to be a role model for other higher education institutions in Europe and beyond: Your association with three other higher education institutions in Bulgaria, Slovakia and North Macedonia as well as your commitment to developing a capacity development support programme for more than 30 Universities from Central Eastern Europe and neighbouring countries testify for this.” She also highlighted our collaborations with our students by saying: “I am very happy to see that you have put in place the Aurora Student Champions Scheme in order to ensure student representation in each of your activities.”

During the plenary, Paul Boyle (Vice-Chancellor Swansea University and EUA Vice-President) outlined the 7 key points UK universities must address in order to advance in academic collaborations. One of these points is the need for a European wide funding system open to the world. He mentions that universities in the UK feel fortunate to be part of Horizon EU and participate in the vast majority of that scheme. However, there are many other countries from which they could gain value collaborating too. Karine Samuel (Vice President for International Affairs of Université Grenoble Alpes) stressed the importance of international collaboration and how the Aurora collaboration was especially useful in the pandemic by exchanging experiences and best practices with other Aurora universities. Ms Emily Reise from the University of Iceland added a students’ voice and emphasized on the accessibility and mobility of students and sees the advantage of short term mobility experiences for students.

After lively parallel session presentations and dynamic conversations, we entered the virtual reception building where Jón Atli Benediktsson (Aurora Network President and Rector of University of Iceland) welcomed the Minister of Education, Science and Culture of Iceland, Lilja Alfredsdottir. Ms Alfredsdottir believes that the strength of Iceland lies in its international collaborations and that these collaborating networks have ensured that Icelandic research is truly global and ambitious. She says: “No single institution can tackle world challenges on its own but collaboration brings a strength that can be greater than the sum of its parts. With that in mind, the European Commission has focused its recent efforts in higher education on forming strong European University networks capable of producing internationally competent European students, European research, and European solutions”. Jón Atli introduced Ms Anne-May Janssen who will take over from Kees Kouwenaar as Secretary-General of Aurora from July 25th of this year. The reception also welcomed a comedy sketch by comedian Ari Eldjarn. Ari enthused the public with his charismatic interpretations of the many European cultures.

The second day continued with open parallel dissemination sessions and a wrap up of the reports and reflections. President of the Alliance Board Mirjam van Praag shared the accomplishments and challenges of the last 6 months. Among the achievements are the many courses that have been identified to be Aurorarized, a 2-year master program, an international traineeship program, a framework for mobility grant allocation, the 32 students engaged in the Aurora Student Champion Scheme and 15 student ambassadors. Next to accomplishments, Ms van Praag also shared a key concern about the involvement of academics in Aurora and integrating Aurorarized course into existing degree programs. A full overview of the achievements can be found here.

In total, 25 of Aurora’s active working groups and task teams met during the Biannual, and 7 dissemination sessions informed a wider Aurora audience on aspects of the Aurora programme of activities.

In the wrap-up, it was announced that it is the last term of Callum Perry, initiator of the Aurora Student Champions Scheme and that his successor will be elected in the following months. And lastly, Maria José Figueras Salvat, Rector of Universitat Rovira i Virgili, announced that the fall biannual 2021 will physically be organized in Tarragona.

Health & Wellbeing Summer Meeting

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 18. 6. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events.

On the 28th of June, the Health and Wellbeing Pilot Domain is organizing a summer meeting with a duo purpose to show education and research activities in the Health and Wellbeing pilot domain. The aim is to pave the way for the birth of a Health and wellbeing community within Aurora, with collaborations among the AURORA partners in the field of Education and Research. Therefore, the focus of the meeting is to present the activities in the field of Health and Wellbeing and to exchange ideas on current and future activities.

Programme

10.00 – 10.05 am Welcome and Introduction

10.05-10.20 am Presentation of a map of the Health and Wellbeing education within the Aurora universities

10.20 -11.00 am Education Session

Participants (one or two for each university) presents the teaching activities within the Health and wellbeing domain. Each presenter should provide information on:

- Initiatives opened or to be opened to all aurora students
- Existing, planned or even ideas for new activities in collaboration with other Aurora partners

11.00-11.15 am Discussion

11.15-12.00 am Research Session

Each university presents their research interests by answering the following questions

- what are the main areas of research of my University
- Research infrastructures that could be shared among Aurora Universities (WP 4.2)
- How being part of the Aurora Network could bring benefits to your research activities

Participants can register at the following link

Aurora Service Learning Toolbox

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 31. 5. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events.

On June 17^th, the Aurora Service Learning Toolbox will be launched during the international learning lab conference, and will take place from 15:30 to 18:00 CEST.

The toolbox will provide relevant tools and resources to interested teachers and students interested in learing more about Service Learning.

These tools will further strengthen existing Service Learning courses and give the teachers inspiration on transforming an existing course by adding a service learning perspective. The event is open for students, teachers and experts from the Aurora universities and other national/international guest Universities for a broader discourse on service learning.

The event will include talks from international Service Learning experts:

Prof. Robert Bringle (Professor Emeritus, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, USA),
Prof. Wolfgang Stark (Professor Emeritus, Universität Duisburg Essen, Germany),
Prof. Marjolein Zweekhorst (Professor, Athena Institute, VU Amsterdam).

The event will also include presentations of students from Interdisciplinary Service Learning (iCSL2) – an “Aurorised” course open to Master students from any discipline/program across Aurora universities.

Click here for more information and access to the zoom meeting ID and password.

More information regarding the Aurora Service Learning Toolbox will be added soon.

Aurora Biannual: May 20th – May 21st

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 5. 5. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events, Students.

It is time again for the Aurora Biannual! This community-building event, taking place twice a year, is the ideal opportunity to connect with Aurora colleagues from different universities.

Spread over the entire day of Thursday, May 20^th and Friday, May 21^st until Mid-afternoon, academics, students, university leaders and administrators will come together to continue ongoing work, meet new colleagues and celebrate existing friendships.

Register here

The Aurora Spring 2021 Biannual commences with a plenary session featuring European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (in a recorded address) and a panel discussion on the future of academic collaboration between British and other European universities following Brexit. Prof. Paul Boyle, the vice-chancellor of Swansea University, UK and EUA Vice-President, will discuss this and join a panel discussion with Prof. Yassine Lakhnech (president of the University of Grenoble Alpes, member of Aurora) and an Aurora student representative (TBC). The panel will be moderated by John Style, Vice-Rector International of the University of Rovira i Virgili.

The first full day on May 20^th will end with a lively and informal virtual reception. Jón Atli Benediktsson will be introducing the incoming Aurora Secretary-General.

In between Plenary and Reception, the first Biannual day will offer many active Aurora task teams the time to sit and work together in parallel time slots in the morning and early afternoon. Simultaneously, the Aurora presidents will discuss their vision of Aurora’s future and the future benefits of being an Aurora university.

The afternoon will also feature four broad parallel sessions, each covering one of the more overarching themes of Aurora, such as “Education”, “Stakeholders”, “Academic engagement”, and “Sustainability”. Aurora welcomes president Joan Gabel of the University of Minnesota as a guest of honour. President Gabel will take part in the “Sustainability” session and share her views on the topic.

On Friday, May 21^st, both the Aurora Universities Network and the Aurora European University Alliance will have a session of their respective supreme governance bodies: the Network General Council and the Alliance Board of Presidents. These formal meetings will be part of the first and second Friday parallel timeslots. The Aurora Network, General Council meeting, will run concurrently with many dissemination sessions in which Aurora Biannual participants can find out about tools and services being developed to help Aurora academics, students and administrators. The Aurora Alliance Board of President’s meeting will run simultaneously with more task team working sessions.

For more information on the biannual, please take a look at the programme below:

Programme Aurora Biannual Spring 2021

2021 Spring School on Transferable Skills

Written by Niels Hexspoor on 19. 4. 2021. Posted in Academics, CDS-Network, Events, Students.

Are you interested in developing your professional skills? This may, our Aurora partners at the University of Naples Federico II offer a free online course, focused on developing skills in grant and CV writing, and how to get a faculty position. This program is open to all Master’s and Ph.d. students from within the Aurora Alliance, particularly those in a STEM-field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathemathics).

The course will give an overview of the breadth of interviews that can be expected on your interview journey and will provide a space to practice interview questions. We will discuss team management and gender equality in academia and research and how improv games may improve your work-life.

This two-day Spring School will take place on Tuesday the 4th and Wednesday the 5th of May. Participation in this course will allow you to earn 2 ECTS-credits. For more information, please take a look at the Spring School’s website, or the flyer, containing the full program:

2021 Spring School on Transferable Skills Flyer

Interested in signing up? Please contact internationalfarmacia@unina.it, before May 1st.