04 April 2022
Bilbao Campus
Last 4th and 5th April, the University of Deusto hosted a delegation from the Coordinating University of the European Alliance UNIC and its research extension, the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The delegation was formed by Ed Brinskma, UNIC Rector and Erasmus University Rotterdam President, Peter Scholten, UNIC Coordinator, Samira Abbadi-Haimoudi, UNIC General Program Manager, y Charlotte Ruitinga, UNIC4ER (research extension of UNIC) Program Manager.
During those days, the Vice Rectorate for International Relations, Vice Rectorate for University Strategy and research teams held strategic and coordinating meetings with Rotterdam representatives. The Rector of the University of Deusto, José María Guibert, received the UNIC Rector, who also had the opportunity to present the alliance to ourUniversity Board of Management. Likewise, the Basque Government, represented by Miren Artazar, Political Director and University Coordination unit, and Amaia Esquisabel, Research Director unit, joined representatives from both institutions for a bilateral meeting. The Vice-Deans for International Relations also had the chance to present the faculties to the delegation. Likewise, the UNIC Student Board representatives at Deusto presented their work within the alliance, their challenges and point of view of the future European university.
Sharing engaged research with societal impact
During the visit of the coordinating team of UNIC and UNIC4ER, on the 4th April, Deusto organized the event UNIC for Engaged Research at the University of Deusto - Sharing engaged research with societal impact. 30 people registered for the session, which was specifically addressed to Deusto academic and research staff.
Peter Scholten y Charlotte Ruitinga started the session giving a framework of UNIC and UNIC4ER. Rosa Santibáñez (Vice Rectorate for Research and Transfer) and Barbara Rossi (Researcher Advisor at the International Research Projects Office) presented the strategic keys of UNIC4ER at Deusto, while Gorka Urrutia (UNIC4ER UD team) shared a brief summary of the work developed at UD and possibilities for collaboration within UNIC/UNIC4ER actions. In the second part of the event, Diego López de Ipiña, Laia Tarragona and María José Aranguren shared engaged research initiatives at Deusto: Interlink, Gearing Roles and Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness, respectively.
The event ended with a discussion among UD’s participants about the engaged research experiences and lay the foundations of the work of the research community at UD and UNIC4ER.
UNIC4ER Forum at Cork
The event UNIC for Engaged Research at the University of Deusto - Sharing engaged research with societal impact is linked with the UNIC4ER Forum celebrated on the 31st March and 1st April in Cork. Hosted by the University College Cork, member of the UNIC alliance in Ireland, it is the second part of a forum that gathered, physically for the first time, the research, coordinating and student board teams of the 8 universities of the UNIC consortium, as well as representatives from the 8 cities. Deusto was represented by 4 researchers, who also acted for the Bilbao City Council and Biltzen, the two UNIC Student Board from UD and several members of the UNIC and UNIC4ER team.
The event was divided into three workshops that had the aim of highlighting the needs and the working roadmap in terms of engaged research in the 8 cities. The sessions were also useful to coordinate and organize the tasks of the different stakeholders involved. During those meetings, UNIC financial issues and the development of the joint program were tackled.
The Forum concluded with the draft of the UNIC4ER engaged research declaration that will be signed next June in Oulu during the UNIC Conference and the UNIC CityLabs Festival.
