News & Events

ENLIGHT Doctoral Network: Engaged Scientists/Citizens training at CU Bratislava

In light of ENLIGHT's mission statement at Comenius, we have prepared a short-term doctoral training programme designed to provide PhD students with a skillset necessary to empower scientists and learners to become more confident in becoming globally engaged citizens and embrace active roles both locally and globally to address the five challenges of the ENLIGHT alliance.

ENLIGHT Doctoral Network: Impactful Science Communication training at UGent (Ghent, 27-29 June)

In recent years, it has become clear that scientists must not only conduct high-quality research but also be able to effectively communicate their findings to a broad audience. This includes the scientific community, policy makers, the general public, and other stakeholders who may be impacted by their research.

Videos "The Four Seasons in (Climate) Change" – Documentary and Concert

Inspired by current and projected climate data and already visible consequences of climate change on flora and fauna, Antonio Vivaldi's work "The Four Seasons" was reinterpreted by composers of the Detmold University of Music in cooperation with the Göttingen Baroque Orchestra and ENLIGHT researchers. The new composition "The Four Seasons in (Climate) Change" premiered in 2022 in concert at the University of Göttingen.

Now the video documentary is published.

Summer schools 2023 at the University of Groningen

Is a Summer School on your bucket-list? Check the offer at the University of Groningen. As from 2023, staff and students affiliated to an ENLIGHT partner university, will enjoy the same advantages as the University of Groningen participants. This varies per Summer School, so it is worth taking a look at the current offer

The ENLIGHT competence framework is now available on the ENLIGHT homepage

Society and its needs are changing very rapidly today. In the coming decades, certain societal challenges will transform the labour market, education, and our everyday lives. In ENLIGHT, students work on real-world challenges of the 21st century that need our urgent attention. These involve the ENLIGHT flagship topics – equity, health, energy, digitalisation and climate change, as well as the transdisciplinary spaces between them. In addition, transversal competencies are needed to cope with the demands and challenges of the 21st century.

ENLIGHT Workshop#2 on Connecting Digital Research Infrastructures with European Infrastructures - Experiences and Lessons Learned - 15 March 2023

Date of Workshop: 15 March 2023
Time: 9-12 o’clock CET
Venue: online via Zoom, link is provided after registration
Registration via: https://doit.medfarm.uu.se/bin/kurt3/kurt/87824
Registration open 24 February 2023 – 15 March 2023

The workshop will explain, in some depth, the steps, regulations, workload, challenges, needs and possibilities regarding the connection of digital research infrastructures with European infrastructures (such as disciplinary research infrastructures or the European Open Science Cloud) by looking at selected examples.

The very first ENLIGHT Global Citizenship Award goes to…

The Glassary Initiative by students from the University of Galway, Ireland and The Concordia Precious Plastic Project (CP3) by students from Concordia University, Canada!

In the first edition of the ENLIGHT Global Dialogue twelve student organisations from Belgium, Canada, China, Ireland, Mexico and Sweden presented their projects promoting sustainability on campus or local communities. The full event was split into three online sessions hosted by the ENLIGHT Student Network (ESN) and was an opportunity to share experiences on running sustainability projects as a student organisation. All presentations can be viewed on the ENLIGHT Global Dialogue website.

A panel of judges, consisting of students from the ESN and officers from ENLIGHT Universities Green Offices, had the very difficult task to select two awardees of the Global Citizenship Award. The award includes an invitation to join the ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Conference hosted by University of Bordeaux in October 2023 to present their projects to a wider audience.

The conference sharing style utilising zoom was a great way to connect with campus communities across the world and learn how students and staff in Canada, Mexico or Sweden improve sustainability on their campuses. When volunteering as a student, it is very empowering to see other students across the world engage with their community and share the experiences of making a positive change. There is a feeling of solidarity as we take on big issues, said Malena Thren and Ruth Keeley, students at University of Galway in Ireland, about the online sessions. Malena and Ruth are two of the students running the Glassary project support by Dr. Lorraine Tansey at the University of Galway Green Office.

Sara Ordonselli and Amy Tran, from Concordia University in Canada, agreed saying that sharing experiences is a valuable opportunity for everyone to learn from each other. It inspires others to replicate similar projects elsewhere, increasing the overall impact of sustainability initiatives. In fact, our project is inspired by the Precious Plastic Project in Europe, and the resources that the community has shared online were instrumental in helping us to build our project. The Global Dialogue showcased a variety of different initiatives, which demonstrated how even dissimilar projects can benefit from learning from one another and help generate new ideas to tackle sustainability challenges. By collaborating and sharing knowledge, we can accelerate progress toward a more sustainable future.

The second edition of the ENLIGHT Global Dialogue is expected to take place in April-May 2023 and the call for submitting proposals is open until March 30. Two more Global Citizenship Awards will be awarded, also inviting student organisations to join the ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Conference in October. Check the ENLIGHT Global Dialogue website for more information.

Equity Core Group Upcoming Online Seminar - A Just City: City Planning and Equity

Equity Core Group presents an upcoming online seminar on a Just City, focusing on exploring how city planning contributes to the notion of ‘a Just City’.

The future of carbon is green

Our society must end its addiction to oil and gas. This means that we need a new source of hydrocarbons, the carbon compounds from which fuels and many fossil-based materials are made. Some two years ago, Matthias Heinemann, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Groningen, began wondering how the Netherlands could get involved in realizing the shift to fossil-free carbon. He is now part of a small team that leads a large consortium of knowledge institutes and partners from industry that has put forward a proposal that could revolutionize the chemical industry. The FutureCarbonNL consortiumproposes to make valuable chemicals from the carbon dioxide found in waste gases and even from that found in the air.

‘Shape-shifting’ implanted medical device to provide continuous blood pressure monitoring outside of hospital

SMARTSHAPE consortium, led from University of Galway, will develop a disruptive technology sensor.

 The European Union has awarded a European consortium €4.4million for the SMARTSHAPE project to focus on developing an implantable medical device for continuous blood pressure monitoring.

University of Galway programme introduces working in healthcare

University of Galway’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences will hold an interactive taster programme for transition year students, offering hands-on experience of how healthcare teams work together.

The Health Professional Taster Day takes place on Saturday April 1 and Saturday April 22 in the University’s new state-of-the-art simulation facility, located at the Clinical Science Institute on the grounds of Galway University Hospital.

Call for participation in the next edition of Challenge-based Education training

ENLIGHT promotes innovative teaching and learning approaches, one of them being the Challenge-Based Education (CBE) methodology and this is a call for participants in the next edition of the CBE training sessions for educators.