CU.renew – A Community of Practice for Transforming Education
Our vision: bridging research and practice
Too often, educational research stays within academic walls. C.U.renew breaks down this barrier by bringing together researchers, teachers, students, pedagogical experts, and administrative staff to co-create practical solutions that improve education on the ground.
Our approach: learning through action
We follow a design-based research approach – an iterative cycle that moves from identifying educational challenges to designing, testing, analysing, and refining solutions. It’s evidence-based education, turned into collaborative action.
What we do
C.U.renew works along two complementary paths:
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Research on Circle U. educational programmes – exploring and improving flagship formats such as summer schools, hackathons, challenges, and open conversations, while addressing strategic themes like democracy, sustainability, health, AI, and entrepreneurship.
- Collaborative projects on 21st-century challenges – advancing joint research on inclusivity, generative AI in higher education, education for sustainability, competency-based learning, and the co-creation of new pedagogical models.
Importantly, alongside these predefined research areas, community members actively participate in shaping our initial priorities and key research projects, ensuring our work responds to collective interests and emerging needs.
A growing community
Launched by the Circle U. Teaching Innovation Lab (CU.til), C.U.renew is expanding step by step – through monthly online meetings, thematic events, and an annual Educational Changemaking Summit that brings all stakeholders together to design solutions for the future of higher education. Join the movement.
Whether you’re a researcher, teacher, student, or staff member, C.U.renew is your space to collaborate, innovate, and shape the future of learning — together, with impact.
Meet our members
Wolfgang Deicke
- Member CU.til
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Wolfgang Deicke
- Member CU.til
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Wolfgang Deicke is a social scientist and the head of bologna.labs, the cross-faculty development laboratory for innovative teaching and learning formats at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He is also a member of the Accreditation Commission (akko) of the German Association for Academic Development.
Profile page and contact details
Jelena Dzakula
- Academic Chair CU.til
- King's College London
Jelena Dzakula
- Academic Chair CU.til
- King's College London
Jelena joined King’s in 2020 as a Lecturer in Digital Media and Communication. She previously worked at LSE as a Fellow, at the University of Westminster as an Associate Lecturer, and at Ofcom as a Policy Advisor. She has been lecturing for over a decade and has won multiple awards for her contributions in this area. Jelena has conducted research for and advised European Commission, RISJ, University of Oxford, Food Standards Agency, and a number of start-ups, consultancies and think-tanks.
Jelena holds a PhD in Media Policy from the University of Westminster, a Master’s degree from the same University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistic and Literature from the University of Belgrade, Serbia.
Jelena specialises in digital media and communications, with a special focus on regulatory and policy innovations. Currently she is conducting research into the use of artificial intelligence in higher education, and also looks at governance innovations when it comes to digital technologies.
Profile page and contact details
Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Communication
King’s College London
Viktoria Nagy
- Research coordinator CU.til
- UCLouvain
Viktoria Nagy
- Research coordinator CU.til
- UCLouvain
Mariam Haspekian
- Academic Chair CU.til
- Université Paris-Cité
Mariam Haspekian
- Academic Chair CU.til
- Université Paris-Cité
Mariam Haspekian is Professor in Educational Sciences at University Paris Cité, and director of the EDA laboratory from September 2024.
She has been a mathematics teacher since 1997 then researcher in mathematics education since 2007. In 2011, she joined Descartes University, where she directed the Bachelor of Education for 8 years.
Throughout her career, she has taught a wide range of didactic/mathematics subjects from bachelor/master students in education to secondary school mathematics-teachers and teacher trainers.
Her research focuses on teaching practices in mathematics and the integration of technology in mathematics teaching. She has participated in several international research projects and training programs such as the MOOC of the ICMI Commission dedicated to research in math-education.
Profile page and contact details
SHS, Department of Sciences of Education
University Paris Cité
