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How can universities and cities develop their collaborations to address complex societal challenges? This question was at the heart of the ENLIGHT Regional Academy event, co-created by Region Gotland and Uppsala University at Campus Gotland, where participants from across Europe gathered to explore how challenge-based collaboration and gamification can support sustainable regional development.
The ENLIGHT alliance is built on connecting universities, regions and wider society to address real-world challenges. A compelling example of this approach can be seen in the collaboration between Uppsala University, Region Gotland, and the wider ENLIGHT alliance network, where an existing regional initiative was transformed into an international platform for dialogue and collaboration.
At the heart of the ENLIGHT alliance lies a commitment to challenge-based learning and collaboration across borders. The GroUp initiative is a one of the examples of this approach in practice—bringing together universities, public institutions and industry partners to co-create solutions to pressing societal issues.
The cooperation with Clowndoctors exemplifies the ENLIGHT spirit: combining academic expertise with external partners’ experience to generate real societal impact. What began as a challenge has grown into an international collaboration that connects universities, medical professionals, and artists across Europe.
On Saturday, 13 June, the first joint ENLIGHT micro-credential, “Humor as a Communication Tool in Healthcare,” was successfully completed. The programme was developed through the collaboration of Comenius University Bratislava (Slovakia), the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), Uppsala University (Sweden), the University of Göttingen (Germany), and the University of Galway (Ireland), together with ČERVENÝ NOS Clowndoctors (Slovakia), Clowns on Call (Sweden), and the Teddy Bear Hospital initiative, which uses experiential learning to help children overcome fears associated with hospitals and healthcare settings.
Doctoral studies in Europe are becoming more international and accessible through new initiatives developed within the ENLIGHT university alliance.
Through its active participation in the FOREU4ALL Community of Practice and the Lifelong Learning Topical Group, ENLIGHT continues to contribute to the European lifelong learning agenda by sharing expertise, promoting mutual learning, and strengthening collaboration across the European Universities Initiative.
Rights in Europe: The Risks and Impact of Authoritarianism
The call for application for the Online School on Human Rights is now open! The third edition of the School will explore fundamental rights in the wider region of Europe shedding light on how institutions and political regimes shape the enjoyment of human rights amidst authoritarianism and global normative contestation. The School will critically engage with how institutions and political systems affect human rights protection, explore core societal transformations in digital and environmental policies, and analyze the instrumentalization of human rights language. The program will also address human rights during armed conflicts, particularly relevant given the current global increase in warfare.
ENLIGHT has reached a major milestone by becoming one of the first European University alliances to sign a broad joint PhD framework agreement covering all disciplines and all partner institutions. It sets out provisions for joint supervision, examination and defence, leading to a double PhD degree. The rectors of the ten partner universities signed the agreement early June at the biannual General Meeting, hosted by the University of Galway.