ENLIGHT organized a FOREU impact thematic workshop, gathering impact experts of different European University Alliances. The workshop took place in the context of the ENLIGHT Impact event 2024, hosted by the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, and counted with the participation of CIRCLE U., EC2U, ENGAGE.EU, ENHANCE, ENLIGHT, ERUA, EUPEACE, EUT+, NEUROTECH EU, U!REKA SHIFT, ULYSSEUS, and UNITA.
Impact experts from the 12 European University Alliances shared and discussed methods, approaches and tools for assessing the impact generated by the European Universities Alliances.
During the workshop, Audrey Sullivan from CIRCLE U. presented the Alliance’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Strategy for Impact. Audrey’s intervention was followed by Ernesto Exposito (Unita Universitas Montium) introduction to UNITA’s Impact Observatory and Heather Hunt (EC2U) presentation of EC2U’s Quality and Impact Monitoring Mechanism. To conclude, Igor Campillo, on behalf of ENLIGHT Impact Task Force shared with participants the ENLIGHT Toolkit for Impact Assessment and the Self-assessment toolkit for Universities’ research impact awareness, literacy and readiness. Data collection approaches and challenges, the role of management, artificial intelligence, and the linkages between quality assurance and impact assessment were some of the topics covered during the discussion.
About the FOREU Impact Thematic Group
The FOREU Impact Thematic Group gathers impact experts of the different European University Alliances. Launched in September 2022, it pursues the following objectives:
- Spread and share approaches, solutions, successful practices, identified barriers and challenges, as well as cooperation formats and models;
- Join efforts in the way University Alliances address, measure and capture the impact and transformation effect on HEIs, on their local/regional ecosystem and on the European Higher Education and Research Areas;
- Promote common approaches for impact assessment and measurement;
- Help University Alliances, and their individual HEIs, to embed impact as an integral part of their strategic and operational actions; and
- Offer decision-makers at EU, national and regional levels, a sound, robust and joint Universities Alliances’ proposal for assessing and capturing their transformational effects on EHEA and ERA.
The FOREU Impact Thematic Group is led by the ENLIGHT University Alliance and meets online every two months.
Would you like to join us? Please contact us at