“Collaboration Is About Relationships”: Nompilo Tshuma on Building Community Through the EUTOPIA Young Leaders Academy

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When the call first came for applications for the YLA fellowship in June 2023, my university had recently joined the EUTOPIA alliance as a global partner. I submitted an application because I was curious about exploring a new community beyond our national borders, although I was not entirely sure what it would mean for me personally. Alliances and networks often sound good on paper, but I wondered how, in practical terms, they might shape my own work as an early career researcher and postgraduate supervisor. It didn’t take long for me to realise that EUTOPIA was different. From my very first interactions, I felt a sense of openness, curiosity and generosity that has stayed with me throughout the YLA fellowship. What I have gained through this community has been far more than I expected: new colleagues, new perspectives, and a renewed sense of what it means to do research in a global and collaborative space.

One of my earliest EUTOPIA experiences was the online kick-off event that took place in November 2023 where I first got to meet the other YLA fellows. Being the only YLA fellow from the African continent, I was feeling slightly nervous, not knowing who I would meet or how the discussion would unfold. However, the session turned out to be quite informative and gave us a solid understanding of the YLA programme and what to expect in our first face to face session in the following month. The questions and lively interactions helped me to settle down and actually begin looking forward to building connections with scholars based in various European countries. Our first face to face meeting in Dresden in December 2023 cemented my initial impressions, but also exposed me to the diversity of institutional, cultural and disciplinary lenses and approaches. The initial presentations that we each had to do allowed us to connect in ways that would not have been otherwise possible. I believe that first session set the tone for our interactions as YLA fellows – the courage to share ideas no matter how tentative or emerging.

My own research focuses on technology integration (including artificial intelligence) in postgraduate education and supervision. These various technologies are reshaping the way knowledge is produced, but the questions they raise — about integrity, creativity, and academic labour — are too complex to be answered within a single discipline or country. Through the YLA fellowship, I have had the privilege of connecting with like-minded colleagues, both within YLA and beyond. These connections have been initiated during the annual EUTOPIA meetings where discussions are often geared towards finding and building connections. One memorable conversation was initiated by the YLA coordinator, and I had the privilege of connecting with a colleague based at CY Cergy. He shared how he uses artificial intelligence (AI) as part of his research approach in Computer Science. He was so generous in demonstrating some of his source code and its outputs – as well as his process of integrating the research with his teaching. As someone with a background in Computer Science, I found the approach quite novel and very exciting – seeing how to build strong connections between my own programming background and my current field of higher education studies.

I’ve also had intensive discussions with co-YLA fellows in the Humanities who have a strong interest in the ethical and cultural implications of AI tools in their varied fields, including writing and art – as well as others in the natural sciences who are finding that AI tools are enabling them to do kinds of analyses on their data that would not have been possible otherwise. Together, these sometimes divergent perspectives challenged my own views and helped me see my research with fresh eyes. Through these interactions, I realised how important it is to create spaces where academics can talk openly about the tensions and opportunities both they and their students face with technology. And while these conversations have had some influence on the direction my research is taking, they have also reminded me why I care about this work: because it is about people navigating change, not just about technology. Additionally, I’ve come to realise that that kind of interdisciplinary dialogue simply doesn’t happen by accident — it requires a space like YLA to bring us together.

Being part of this alliance has also shifted the way I think about collaboration itself. In academia, we often talk about partnerships in terms of outputs: joint publications, shared grants, co-hosted events. These are all important – and we will continue to pursue them in one form or another even after the end of our YLA fellowship. But what has made these possible is how EUTOPIA has enabled us to create opportunities beyond formal events to connect with each other. As such, I’ve come to realise that collaboration is first and foremost about relationships. It is about building trust across borders, listening to different ways of working, and recognising that what feels normal in one context may be unfamiliar in another. It has also allowed me to learn to actively seek for commonalities for connection before flagging differences. An example is my visit earlier this year to Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. My university sponsored this carte blanche trip, enabling us meet and plan for our end of year symposium. We decided to utilise the opportunity to build further connections within the university. As such, I had the privilege of presenting a keynote address related to AI in postgraduate research, and the two-day session brought together like-minded colleagues from across the university that I would not have met otherwise. I also had the opportunity to run a workshop for postgraduate students and share some experiences from Africa.

Of course, being part of EUTOPIA has not been without its challenges. As a global partner outside of Europe, my university had to find alternative sources to fund my travel from South Africa for annual fellowship meetings. In addition, as a relatively new member of the alliance – and as the first YLA fellow – we had to figure out some things as we went, learning by doing, and adapting along the way. While these challenges were real, they also became opportunities for growth, resilience, and creativity, reminding us that building meaningful collaborations across borders is not always a straightforward process.

What I value most about EUTOPIA, though, is the sense of community it fosters. Academic life can sometimes feel isolating, especially when working on emerging topics like AI where the ground is shifting so quickly. EUTOPIA reminds me that I am not navigating these questions alone. Instead, I am part of a network of people who are equally committed to exploring, questioning, and imagining new possibilities. This sense of belonging is energising. It pushes me to think more boldly, to engage more openly, and to see my own research as part of a larger collective endeavour. Looking ahead, I am excited about what more EUTOPIA can bring. I see opportunities to develop joint postgraduate programmes, to create cross-institutional spaces where students and supervisors can grapple with shared challenges, and to expand conversations about technology and education into global contexts beyond Europe. As someone who is also interested in the experiences of researchers in the Global South, I believe EUTOPIA has a unique role to play in bridging voices across regions. The questions we face — about technology, collaboration, inclusivity, and the future of universities — are global ones, and no single institution can address them alone.