Circle U. has selected eleven projects for its 2025 seed-funding round, supporting new academic, professional and student-led initiatives across the alliance. The funded proposals highlight the alliance’s commitment to interdisciplinarity, sustainability, inclusion and long-term cooperation among its member universities. Every month, discover one of the eleven seed-funded projects.
Building a shared future for our academic heritage
University collections are often seen as quiet witnesses of academic life. Yet they hold far more than objects: they reflect the history of our institutions, the evolution of teaching and research, and the wider political and social contexts in which universities operate.
The seed-funded project New Challenges for the Circle U. Collections (NCFCUC), led by Marino Ficco (UCLouvain), brings these collections to the centre of the Circle U. collaboration. Its ambition is to connect collection managers and researchers across the alliance and to establish a sustainable framework for sharing expertise, skills and opportunities. In this article, Marino Ficco tells us more about his project.
Why does this project matter?
University collections bear witness to the history of institutions, teaching practices, research, and the political context. A better understanding of the history of our institutions enables us to be better prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
NCFCUC will address, among others, challenges associated with ecological transition and the valorisation of collections from colonial or problematic contexts. These are sensitive and complex subjects for which it will be very useful to create safe working environments within the alliance.
We believe that university collections can help develop research and thinking to contribute to exploring new perspectives on these issues.
Marino Ficco, project leader at UCLouvain
What will happen this year, within your project?
Our goal is to bring together university collection managers and researchers within the Circle U. alliance to launch a stable dynamic of sharing and pooling knowledge, skills and opportunities. This will enable us to get to know each other and facilitate more ambitious collaborations in the future.
In October 2026, representatives of the consortium responsible for university collections will meet in Louvain-la-Neuve to lay the foundations for ongoing collaboration to improve the management of university collections within Circle U.
The aim of this meeting will be to bring to fruition several months of joint discussions via video conference and email to lay the foundations for lasting and ambitious cooperation within the alliance. We will take stock of the university collections within Circle U, compare the organisation and management of the various institutions, and consider specific areas of collaboration. It will also be an opportunity to share best practices.
