NEWS & EVENTS

Eight weeks ago, 24 students from five of ENLIGHT’s partner universities, embarked on a journey. The first six weeks were spent interacting online, with participants getting to know each other—starting from the basics of everyone's studies, to addressing hard questions such as defining the most pressing issues of our time. Throughout this process, the students formed genuine bonds as they researched and discovered information about the world through a myriad of lenses.

This experience culminated in an on-site week in Bratislava where students solidified their online friendships face-to-face and worked on techniques to make their voices heard. The final course project, the symposium “ENLIGHT Intellect: The NextGen Symposium on Critical Thinking in Tackling Global Issues" required each student to give a talk showcasing a novel idea stemming from their group’s research. The talks were impressive, and the forum for a comfortable and honest exchange of ideas was possible due to the atmosphere of familiarity that had been built starting with the first online meeting.

Throughout the entire process, students underwent critical thinking—revising their views, analyzing and synthesizing information, applying reasoning, and more. In the end, both the students and the educators walked away empowered, having expanded their own lenses about the discussed topics and honed their skills on how to broadcast their ideas effectively to the world.

Blended Intensive Course Fostering Critical Thinking Skills 2024 was hosted by Comenius University and involved lecturers from University of Göttingen, Université de Bordeaux and Comenius University.

Topic: Repositories for a Sustainable, Equitable, and Innovative Open Access Publishing

Date: 13 January 2025

Time: 10:00 - 11:30 AM (CET)

Since their inception, repositories have played a crucial role in Open Access, but challenges with commercial and fee-based models have highlighted the need for community-driven solutions. This webinar, featuring Eloy Rodrigues, will present strategies by COAR, OpenAIRE, LIBER, and SPARC Europe to strengthen repositories and promote innovative practices like the Publish-Review-Curate model and overlay journals. Join us to explore how repositories can foster sustainable and equitable publishing.

More information: here

Registration: Click here to register

 We are happy to welcome Leah Vandeveer as interim Executive Secretary for ENLIGHT! Leah will take up her new role from January until July 2025. During this time, the Directors Board and Governing Board will develop a strategy to review our current governance model. They will also prepare an open call for potential new roles resulting from this reform, which is set to launch by summer 2025.

Leah comes from within the ENLIGHT Family, having been the Project Manager for RISE, the R&I dimension of our alliance, with the University of Bordeaux in 2024.  

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Gijs Coucke for his pioneering work with ENLIGHT over the past five years. We wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor!

At the General Meeting in Bern, 140 members of the ENLIGHT discussed our long-term vision for the alliance and how to embed it in each member university. 

The ENLIGHT Green Network is excited to introduce the Sustainable Travel Policy, a significant step in promoting environmentally conscious travel across ENLIGHT partner universities. Committed to fostering sustainable practices, ENLIGHT encourages its community to adopt sustainable travel habits for both business travel and student mobility.

This initiative promotes responsible travel choices within the ENLIGHT community, aligning with the European Union's dedication to the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By supporting these goals and advancing the green transition, the policy aims to reduce carbon emissions and encourage more environmentally friendly mobility practices across the ENLIGHT community.

ENLIGHT is pleased to announce the next Face of ENLIGHT: Yushi Liu

Yishu Liu, a PhD student at the University of Galway, is pioneering soft robotics for insulin delivery. Originally from Changsha, China, Yishu chose Galway as the first step in her international academic journey. Earlier this year, she participated in the ENLIGHT Bio Design course in Uppsala, Sweden, where she gained valuable experience in medical device development and interdisciplinary teamwork. Outside the lab, Yishu enjoys running, traveling, and drawing inspiration from books like The Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer.

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