ENLIGHT is pleased to announce the next Face of ENLIGHT: Hans Orru

Meet Hans Orru, Professor of Environmental Health in the University of Tartu. Within his research, Hans has focused on air quality and climate change, but more recently also on the industrially contaminated areas, indoor air pollution, the health impact of noise, biomonitoring and health risk perception. Over the past 15 years of investigations, he has been involved in more than 30 research and applied science projects which have had a significant effect in raising public awareness about the health effects of the environment. 

Read the full interview on the Faces of ENLIGHT page and stay tuned for more interviews to come!

Uppsala University is pleased to announce that the next Teaching and Learning Conference will take place in Uppsala on 8-10 October, 2025. 

The ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference engages participants in open, international and interdisciplinary discussions. Academics, students, alumni, educational developers, and administrative and support staff from within the ENLIGHT universities can share their experiences and ideas on how it is possible to connect the ENLIGHT educational goals and concepts with teaching and learning practice. 

Stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, visit the playlist of the conference and check out the aftermovie of the Teaching and Learning Conference 2024 held in the University of Tartu: 

Uppsala University contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Social Media official hashtag: #TL25ENLIGHT

Over 1000 academics submitted 80 proposals in response to the ENLIGHT calls! Their innovative ideas from across our alliance show the commitment and creativity of our community.

We sincerely appreciate the effort and hard work behind each submission. More than 40 evaluators reviewed and scored all proposals. In the final selection both quality rank and balanced participation of the partner universities played a role. After careful consideration, we are excited to announce the 10 winning ENLIGHT Thematic Networks and 7 education projects selected for the Incubator Grants!

On November 6-7, 2024, Comenius University Bratislava hosted "Cities in Motion," an  ENLIGHT Regional Academy event, aimed at fostering innovative urban solutions through collaboration between academic and urban stakeholders. This dynamic event brought together experts, policymakers, academics, and students to explore sustainable urban mobility and address challenges facing cities today.

The event showcased approaches to urban challenges with notable contributions from the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava. Dorota Šaríková, Katarína Brajerčík Kocková and Matej Ondovčík highlighted activities of the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislave and its collaboration with Comenius University, followed by Martina Benzoni Baláž and Daniel Klimovský discussing their innovative challenge-based course that won this years Teaching and Learning Award.

After a networking coffee break, the “Partners in Progress” segment launched with diverse case studies on sustainable urban mobility. Eoghan McDermott from Galway City Council spoke about active travel initiatives in Galway, while Hannah Hook from Ghent University shared insights on night cycling safety from East Flanders. This session continued after a joint lunch, with presentations from Teresa Uggla on Uppsala’s mobility planning, Lívia Orlovská on cyclist safety in public spaces, and a presentation by the workshop leader Marcel Horňák on a public space design manual developed by the Metropolitan Institute together with students contribution.

The afternoon wrapped up with a group workshop identifying collaboration gaps and generating new project ideas, followed by a communal dinner to deepen connections and informal discussions.

On November 7, attendees had the option to join a city tour of Bratislava led by Marcel Horňák.

“Cities in Motion” emphasized the importance of city-university cooperation in creating sustainable, innovative urban solutions, demonstrating how academic insights can effectively translate into real-world applications that benefit communities.

This Spring School is organised by the University of Groningen, Ghent University, the Huizinga Institute and the Dutch Research School for Medieval Studies to stimulate contacts and exchange between PhD candidates and ReMa students in the field of the history of emotions, a flourishing research field that connects different disciplines within the humanities, as well as between SSH and the (neuro)sciences. At least six of these disciplines will be represented in this course: cultural history, neurosciences, literary studies, art history, creative writing and musicology. The aim of the course is not to provide an introduction in the field but to deepen the participants’ knowledge of four topical angles through which emotions in history can be studied. The course will mainly focus on the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, but students working on Antiquity or the Modern Period can attend as well.

The mobility taskforce met in San Sebastián with a view to unleash mobility opportunities for students across the alliance

Student mobility is at the core of the ENLIGHT alliance goals: it enables students to have an international learning experience and results from –and also in- increased academic and research cooperation.

The mobility officers´ group discussed ways to work internally and bilaterally so as to increase mobility schemes and numbers among the 300k+ student community of the alliance. A combination of tools including short, semester and virtual exchange activities should be reinforced -so they agreed- aiming for an increased number of learners to benefit from these opportunities.

Also, academic involvement and cooperation is key to set up new disciplinary and interdisciplinary cooperation between ENLIGHT partners; to this end, Incubator weeks where lecturers meet and work to internationalize their curricula is providing particularly useful results and should continue being held.

In the belief that a deep understanding of each other´s internal procedures, structures and resources is key to finding an efficient way forward, participants also looked into the institutional, regulatory and contextual complexities that obstruct seamless mobility.

The ENLIGHT mobility taskforce is now even more committed to making ENLIGHT a shared space where student and academic exchange is deeply established and commonplace.

On 31 October, the ENLIGHT University Alliance has launched the call for Impact Awards to recognize and give visibility to ENLIGHT partner universities’ initiatives that are exemplars in planning for and achieving impact. Applications are invited from teams at ENLIGHT partner universities.

Join our next webinar with a short presentation by Sascha Eckhold (Freie Universität Berlin) on “Open Educational Resources and their relation to Open Science” on 4th of November from 10:00-11:30 am (CET)

You are warmly invited to find more information and registration link here: 6th ENLIGHT RISE and Arqus Alliance OS Ambassador Webinar 

Are you passionate about the future of medical imaging and radiotherapy? Don’t miss the symposium “Innovations in AI for Healthcare” on November 21 and 22 at the University Medical Center Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands! This two-day event provides a platform for experts to discuss the latest developments in AI for healthcare. Innovations in AI for Healthcare (umcgresearch.org)

15-17 October 2024 Uppsala University hosted a Staff Week with participants from all ten ENLIGHT universities. The Staff Week was created as a platform for knowledge exchange on the theme "Impactful Collaboration."

How can we make teaching and learning more inclusive and diverse through critical virtual exchange and inclusive group work and feedback? How can role-playing games help our students explore issues of inclusion? What is conflict transformation? What new resources are being developed for the inclusive teacher? How can we adapt to include everyone? These are just some of the topics that will be covered on October 29 at the ROCKET outreach event. Participants will be encouraged to interact and experience the tools as much as possible.

As part of the official programme of the Royal State Visit to France on 15 October 2024, ENLIGHT had the privilege to exchange with His Majesty King Filip of Belgium about the value of international learning to empower students with the right knowledge and future-proof skills to address today's and future global transitions.

From the outset, ENLIGHT has focused on developing innovative, quality-driven courses anchored in real-world complex challenges offering our students an opportunity to meet and work with international peers, acquire broad competences, and learn from different European and global cultures, in different languages and across borders, sectors and academic disciplines.

Besides joint courses, student are also at the heart of ENLIGHT in another way. Beyond education our mission to 'empower students' is also reflected in the ENLIGHT Student Network. As a distinct feature and established 'by and for students' from all ENLIGHT universities, the ENLIGHT Student Network plays a critical advisory role in our alliances and are the motor behind many student-led initiatives that foster inclusivity and sustainability thinking.

During a round-table with peer alliances, Ghent University Rector Rik Van de Walle, and University of Bordeaux Vice president Joanne Pagèze were proud to introduce two of our most prominent ENLIGHT students: Romy POLEYN, from Ghent University, and Clara POTIÉ, from the University of Bordeaux. Both have been active as student representatives in our ENLIGHT Student Network. Both were also among the first cohorts of students who took part in the very first ENLIGHT joint course pilots.