EUTOPIA HEALTH is launched

EUTOPIA_HEALTH

Empowering Widening universities in the EUTOPIA Alliance and fostering academic excellence in health
 

The EUTOPIA Alliance, which gathers ten like-minded European universities, is set to embark on a groundbreaking 5-year-long enterprise, the EUTOPIA_HEALTH project, starting 1 January 2024. This initiative, funded under the HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-03 call, aims to improve the academic landscape in health-related domains within Widening countries. The project is specifically tailored for three Widening countries—Romania, Slovenia, and Portugal for EUTOPIA— and seeks, among others, to address the disparities in health-related research within Europe.

In all their dimensions, health challenges request a collaborative approach that integrates knowledge and communication across hybrid health-related fields. The primary goal of EUTOPIA_HEALTH is to reinforce institutional transformation by enhancing research and innovation (R&I) management capacity in health-related domains. The project will upgrade R&I management strategies and policies in alignment with European research assessment principles. To facilitate this, a health-focused R&I network will be established through Connected Health Research Communities. These communities will receive comprehensive training, research mobilities, and seed funding to foster collaborations, particularly for early-career researchers.

EUTOPIA_HEALTH also seeks to create a transformative health innovation ecosystem by employing integrative, transdisciplinary approaches. The project will implement flexible academic career pathways and mainstream Open/Citizen/Inclusive/Collaborative Science practices. By doing so, EUTOPIA aims to bridge health research communities with society, business partners, and policymakers. The project is committed to translating research into tailored social innovation-supported solutions.

Through these initiatives, EUTOPIA_HEALTH anticipates a positive impact on R&I achievements, research excellence, international visibility, and funding absorption rates in the broader EUTOPIA Alliance.

Tiziana Lippiello, rector of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and chair of EUTOPIA’s board of presidents, announced the launching of EUTOPIA_HEALTH, stating that
 

EUTOPIA_HEALTH is one of the achievements that “stand out in their significance and will have a substantial impact on the trajectory of our alliance for years to come. Coordinated by the Babeș-Bolyai University, this initiative will chart an innovative framework for addressing health-related research activities. The fact that we have secured such funding within such a competitive research scheme underscores the standing of our alliance within the European landscape.”

Daniel David, rector of Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), declared:

EUTOPIA_Health is an innovative network of Health-related schools and programmes within the EUTOPIA European University Alliance, aiming to support advanced research, innovation and creative education in medical/health sciences in a transdisciplinary manner, but also to foster institutional changes in EUTOPIA – each partner benefitting from the strong points of the others –, which could then serve as best practice in a larger international context. The project will specifically help the three Widening members of the alliance, the Babeș-Bolyai University, the University of Ljubljana and Nova University Lisbon, to develop further institutional capacities in Health-related domains. In the case of UBB this will decisively contribute to the development of the UBBMed framework programme, a novel academic initiative of UBB.

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Project Details
 

• Call: HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-03
• Type of Action: HORIZON-CSA (Coordination and Support Actions)
• Starting Date: 1 January, 2024
• Duration: 60 months
• Budget: 4,999,960 EUR
• Partners: Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium), Ca’Foscari University of Venice (Italy), CY Cergy Paris Université (France), University of Gothenburg (Sweden), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), NOVA University Lisbon (Portugal), Pompeu Fabra University-Barcelona (Spain).
• Associate Partner: The University of Warwick (United Kingdom)
• Coordinator: Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

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For media inquiries, please contact
 

- Laura-Maria Irimies
Babeș-Bolyai University Head of Communications
Email: laura.irimies@ubbcluj.ro
 

About EUTOPIA

The EUTOPIA Alliance brings together ten European universities and four global partners who decided to lead the creation of a European model for future higher education institutions. EUTOPIA was created in 2019 and is part of the first wave of consortia funded by the European Commission with this mission. EUTOPIA engages in this role at regional and international levels, with the surrounding territory and on a global scale. With its partners, EUTOPIA is a more robust alliance with a more significant impact on society, opening the prospect of a more diverse and attractive inter-university offer. Each university holds several campuses deeply related to its territories. They have built solid ties with their communities, institutional structures, and local companies. EUTOPIA students, researchers, and staff work together to create a new academic model, reflecting an open and united Europe, respectful of the citizens and the environment. The mission of EUTOPIA is to build, in the long term, a unique and daring alliance of transformative and engaged institutions.

Members of EUTOPIA are the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium), the Ca’Foscari University of Venice (Italy), CY Cergy Paris Université (France), the Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), the NOVA University Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain) and the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). EUTOPIA’s global partners are Monash University (Australia), Université Internationale de Rabat (Morocco), Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Kyungpook National University (South Korea).

About Babeș-Bolyai University

The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (UBB) is the largest and one of the oldest universities in the country, with an academic community of about 50.000 people. The UBB Counts almost 45.000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, PhD, and non-traditional academic programs in 21 faculties and one teacher training department. Today, the UBB is a complex multicultural university with three lines of study in Romanian, Hungarian, and German and offers academic programs in 17 languages.

UBB’s main areas of study range from art/humanities, social sciences, life and natural sciences, mathematics/ computer sciences, and engineering and technology. UBB is also the host of 24 cultural centres, foreign institutes, and libraries. Babeș-Bolyai is the only university in Romania to host such a diversity of cultures under its institutional umbrella, as proof of its multiculturality and engagement in the academic and local/regional communities.

UBB holds the highest position in Romania in the University Metaranking – a comprehensive academic ranking combining major international university rankings, like ARWU, QS, THE, etc. The Babeș-Bolyai University is firmly attached to its essential values regarding tradition and excellence in research, education, and relationship with society, following its academic motto: Traditio nostra unacum europæ virtutibus splendet (Our tradition shines with European virtues).