EUTOPIA selects 10 new Connected Communities

Between 19 and 23 June 2023, NOVA University of Lisbon hosted the latest EUTOPIA Week, five days of events and meetings dedicated to the EUTOPIA network, which brings together 10 European universities with a common vision.

This year’s gathering brought to the selection, on June 21st, of ten new Connected Communities (CC), integrated thematic networks in which several Alliance universities collaborate in cross-cutting activities.
The selected proposals cover various interdisciplinary and urgent issues, spanning from artificial intelligence to environmental challenges, from social inclusion to art.

One of the Connected Communities that were approved stems from the proposal put forward by Ca' Foscari. It focuses on the Environmental Humanities and is led by Prof. Shaul Bassi of the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies.

In collaboration with the Universities of Warwick, NOVA of Lisbon and Dresden, the new Community aims to develop joint activities on the environmental humanities - one of our University's flagship fields of study - by organising public lectures, seminars, exhibitions and other events of public outreach, and through dedicated publications.

In addition, five Ca' Foscari faculty members will be a part of four other selected Connected Communities:

• Prof. Renata Soukand from the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics will be part of the Science, Art & Community CC, led by Babeș-Bolyai University. This community is dedicated to the transdisciplinary exploration of crucial global challenges, using art as a tool to communicate scientific discoveries.
• Prof. Vladi Finotto, from the Department of Management, will collaborate on the Entrepreneurship and Innovation CC, led by Pompeu Fabra University and focused on developing soft skills and managerial competencies with a deep understanding of AI, Blockchain, IoT and Data science.
• Professors Enrica Croda (Department of Economics) and Valentina Fava (Department of Management) will take part in the activities of the CC ECOTOPIA - Educational and Research Network for the Development of Short-term Mobility Programmes, which is involved in the development of the ECOTOPIA Summer school on circular economy, led by the University of Ljubljana.
• Prof. Fabio Pittarello from the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, will participate in the Ocean Challenges CC, proposed by NOVA University of Lisbon. This CC revolves around the 'blue economy', with a special focus on the study of the oceans as a solution to climate change and biodiversity loss.

Find out more about the newly selected Connected Communities on the dedicated webpage.

Connected Communities are one of the building blocks of the EUTOPIA MORE project and bring together lecturers, researchers and students in cross-campus learning activities. CCs aim to strengthen existing good practices in challenge-based learning and research, thus creating strong inter-university connections at European level.

The CCs reflect the openness of the EUTOPIA alliance and aim to bridge the characteristic divisions of academia through:

• Linking university and society. Activities focusing on current social key challenges can bring together a wide variety of stakeholders from business, the public sector and cultural organisations.
• Teaching and research. Participants mix and match their experiences in these fields to test different formats of inter-university cooperation.
• Inclusion. Communities are expected to open up their learning activities to a wide range of potential recipients, using flexible and/or mixed formats for cooperation.

The Connected Communities onboarding sessions will take place on 26 September 2023. After this date, leads and partners will enter a so-called 'incubation' period, in which, with the support of EUTOPIA's core team, they will gradually move from sharing resources to implementing cross-campus activities.

Please note that any faculty members who would like to participate in the newly selected CCs can express their interest to the Leads both during the start-up phase (ending with the Onboarding, on 26/09/23) and throughout the implementation of the CCs.
For more information, please contact the EUTOPIA Unit (Local Facilitator):  eutopia@unive.it