Seed-Funded Projects

Leadership for Education and Programme Design (LEaP)

LEaP supports colleagues in programme leadership roles across Circle U. with professional development and guidance to address educational challenges and drive meaningful change through effective programme and curriculum design. The project's key objectives are:

1. To develop a collaborative programme leadership development resource: working with the expertise of CU.til and in partnership with the Swiss Faculty Development Network, LEaP will co-create an online, evidence-based professional development resource for programme leaders, co-designed through a Programme Leadership Symposium
2. Launch a Circle U. Programme Leaders Network: the Network will foster productive collaboration among programme leaders across the alliance, promoting shared curriculum development, education research, and interdisciplinary initiatives.
   By connecting programme leaders across national, institutional and disciplinary boundaries, LEaP will enhance professional development, improve recognition of educational leadership and contribute to Circle U.'s strategic goals by embedding the alliance within our universities’ communities.

• Participating universities: King's College London, Aarhus University, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Rebecca Lindner, King's College London
• Budget awarded: 8.552 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
   

Collaborative Hybrid Circle U. - for inclusion, flexibility and internationalization (HybridCU)

The HybridCU project aims to raise awareness of the potential benefits of hybrid teaching for inclusion, flexibility and internationalisation, and to support the implementation of high-quality hybrid teaching and learning across the alliance.

Hybrid teaching offers the ability to bring together classrooms in different sites and connect live audiences with online participants, and presents a promising option for universities seeking to increase their international collaboration. This project will bring together the expertise from the Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) of six Circle U. universities to support teaching staff in implementing hybrid teaching, thus offering international experience for as many students and staff as possible across the Alliance.

Expected outputs include guidelines for hybrid teaching within Circle U.; training workshops on hybrid teaching for teaching staff from the fields of the four knowledge hubs (climate, democracy, global health, AI); survey on Circle U. educators’ experiences with hybrid teaching.

The increasing number of international hybrid teaching project collaborations (such as COIL projects) and the deeper networking of Circle U. universities' centres for teaching and learning are considered as long-term outcomes of the project.

• Participating universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Aarhus University, King's College London, UCLouvain, University of Oslo, University of Vienna
• Project promoter: Daria Dydzinskaya, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Contact email: hybride.lehre@hu-berlin.de
• Budget awarded: 9.959 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

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From Campus to Careers: Navigating the Job Market with the support of Foreign Language Skills

Foreign language skills and associated competences are frequently hidden players when navigating the job market. Employers seek potential candidates whose knowledge and qualifications best match and address the needs of what are often defined as specialist company positions. Prospective job applicants buy into these expectations unwittingly and many new graduates are focused on showcasing their newly acquired degrees in STEM, business and related fields of study. Therefore, entering the employment market arena with foreign language skills alone is challenging to say the least and calls for endurance and creativity.

This project aims to work around this issue by developing an online Employability for Languages Module (ELM). It will focus specifically on enhancing employability for students who have both core and dual competencies in foreign languages. The module will be supported further by creating an innovative Employability Skills Mapping Tool (ESMT) for students and staff. This will serve as a framework for both groups and help to promote outreach and a better understanding of the value of languages and language education as students embark on the move from campus to career. Furthermore, the engagement and contribution from participants at the five partner Circle U. institutions will represent a diverse and multilingual consortium which will be reflected in the co-creation process and end product.

• Participating universities: King's College London, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, UC Louvain, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, Aarhus University
• Budget awarded: 9.973 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

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Confronting poverty: Uniting disciplines for global impact (COPO)

The narratives of politicians, official instances, academia, NGOs and society at large about poverty and the assignment of responsibility for poverty in those discourses are intrinsically linked with the creation of reports and the formulation of poverty reduction policies. In this project, students and academic staff will critically explore these connections by analyzing how the discourse on poverty influences policy design at three levels: (i) nationally, within Circle U. countries, (ii) internationally, in relation to sustainable development and development aid and (iii) locally, in terms of access to higher education and opportunities therein.  

Poverty resonates across several of Circle U.’s knowledge hubs. In addition to undermining democratic participation and decision-making, poverty affects access to health and sanitation as well as severely undermining migrant integration and social cohesion. Moreover, people living in poverty are more heavily affected by climate change. Finally, poverty limits access to higher education and learning opportunities. Given the inherently interdisciplinary nature of these issues, the team involved in this project is interdisciplinary, involving colleagues from political science, European and International Studies, economics, history, discourse analysis, sociology of language, solidarity education & global citizenship, agroecology & development cooperation.

• Participating universities: UCLouvain, King's College London, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Barbara De Cock, UCLouvain
• Budget awarded: 9.700 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Climate change? LET’S BE THE CHANGE! Summer school (LBC)

This student-led initiative by the Student Network on Climate Action (SNCA) brings together international students from diverse disciplines to address climate change through a multifaceted approach. Combining workshops, lectures, and community-building activities, the program fosters collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries.

The one-week summer course will take place at the University of Vienna in July 2025, welcoming up to 25 participants. This includes alumni from previous Circle U summer schools on "Empowering Climate Action: Policy, Communication and Agency," as well as other interested students. The program aims to build a strong, interdisciplinary network and inspire participants to tackle climate challenges through innovative collaboration.

With contributions from students, faculty, and external partners, the summer school offers a dynamic space for exchanging knowledge and fostering actionable strategies to address global climate issues.

• Participating universities: University of Vienna, UCLouvain, King's College London, University of Pisa, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Angelika Tangl, University of Vienna
• Budget awarded: 5.000 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Researching creative economies in Africa: sharing knowledge, methods and practices (ReCrEA)

ReCrEA:  Researching creative economies in Africa: sharing knowledge, methods and practices is a collaborative project between King’s College London, Aarhus University and Humboldt University of Berlin. It aims to bring together current research – from a range of disciplines – that explore the value, workings and impact of creative economies in Africa.

Research on creative economies (CE) in Africa is limited and fragmented across different disciplines, making it hard for academics to connect and establish shared frameworks and practices. Furthermore, research on CE has been narrowly focused on the Global North and has not placed enough value on cultures, heritage, innovations and ideas from the Global South. So, the proposed project aims to create a network of activities to rebalance this perspective by supporting research on Africa to be shared and made more visible, giving space to PhDs and ECRs (early career researchers) to interact and share ideas.

The project also recognises that CE are essential to innovation, technology and economic development and are cornerstones of sustainable development, community engagement and dialogue across cultures and generations. The project has 3 objectives:  

1. Create an opportunity for academics across our Universities and Circle U to share their research on CE, prioritising contributions from ECR and scholars from the global majority, including opportunities for mobility amongst the partners.  
2. Create opportunities for PhD students and ECRs to collaborate through online workshops, to present ongoing research, present methodological questions, and reflect on their practice in a supporting and collaborative network.  
3. Publish a brief manifesto summarising some of the challenges researchers face and some of the research questions and themes that need addressing by new research projects and future PhDs.  
   The activities will include a mix of online-only seminars and 3 hybrid events; all will be accessible and open to everyone.

• Participating universities: King's College London, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Roberta Comunian, King's College London
• Budget awarded: 9.585 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
• Contact: creativeconomy.africa@gmail.com

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Learning Effective Approaches in Development (LEAD)

The LEAD project unites three Circle U. hubs—Democracy, Global Health, and Climate—to create an interdisciplinary master’s-level course launching in Autumn 2025/Spring 2026. The course will explore effective policies and strategies for addressing poverty, health challenges, and environmental degradation, focusing on equitable development for marginalised communities.

A key milestone is a multi-day workshop in early 2025, where faculty and students will finalize the course syllabus, format, and logistics. Student input is central throughout the process, ensuring the course reflects their needs and perspectives. The Pasteur Network’s expertise will further enrich the project by providing global insights.

By fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing across Circle U. institutions, LEAD will advance interdisciplinary education and create a lasting community of practice to address global challenges.

• Participating universities: University of Oslo, Université Paris Cité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Project promoter: Dan Banik, University of Oslo
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Algorithmic regulation before Medical Liability. Advancing Doctor-Patient Autonomy in AI-Driven Healthcare (AlgoNomy)

AlgoNomy is an interdisciplinary research initiative addressing the challenges posed by “digital paternalism” in healthcare, an emerging phenomenon where algorithm-driven decisions overshadow the collaborative input of patients and physicians.

Drawing on expertise from law, medicine, and computer science, the project investigates how AI applications in healthcare may limit patient autonomy, restrict physicians' influence on treatment decisions, and raise liability concerns.

The project’s activities aim to deepen understanding of these challenges and propose strategies to ensure that AI respects the individual preferences of patients while supporting physicians in delivering personalized care. AlgoNomy will foster academic and public dialogue through an interdisciplinary call for papers, an international conference at the Pisa Festival of Robotics, and a specialized summer doctoral workshop to nurture emerging scholars. Research findings will be disseminated through an open-access publication, ensuring global accessibility. These diverse initiatives will help generate innovative approaches for the development, implementation and regulation of AI medical devices, with the goal of effectively safeguarding the autonomy of both patients and physicians.

• Participating universities: University of Pisa, University of Vienna, King's College London, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Université Paris Cité, University of Belgrade
• Project promoter: Nicolò Amore, University of Pisa
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Untold stories: Exploring Undocumented Migrants’ Use of Healthcare in different European contexts (EUMUHE)

This project addresses the healthcare challenges faced by undocumented migrants in Europe, a group often marginalised in public health discussions. By exploring barriers to healthcare access and proposing inclusive solutions, it aims to foster equity and inclusion in healthcare systems.

A three-day hybrid workshop will be held in Oslo, Norway, from 28–30 April 2025, bringing together early-career researchers, master’s students, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral researchers from Circle U. partner universities. Participants will engage with experts in public health, law, human rights, and social policy, as well as external partners such as NGOs and healthcare providers.

The workshop will include expert presentations, comparative analyses of national healthcare systems, and discussions on ethical research practices. Pre- and post-workshop activities will ensure ongoing engagement, culminating in tangible outputs such as a comparative report and policy recommendations.

This initiative builds capacity among early-career researchers, strengthens networks across Circle U., and advances the alliance’s mission to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and impactful change in addressing healthcare disparities for undocumented migrants.

• Participating universities: University of Oslo, University of Belgrade, Aarhus University (student from Ghana), Université Paris Cité, King's College London, University of Pisa
• Project promoter: Fatou Jatta, University of Oslo
• Budget awarded: 5.000 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Political Affects and Collective Action in Times of Crisis (PACT-C)

Our project brings together six Circle U. Members – Belgrade, Aarhus, Paris Cité, UC Louvain, Humboldt and Vienna – with the aim of understanding processes through which new collective actors striving for social change emerge in situations of crises such as the 2008 financial meltdown or the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past decade and a half, we have witnessed the appearance of movements such as Occupy or protests against systemic racism which dissipated quickly or became confined to specific groups, while others, such as the Arab Spring, traversed group boundaries and produced tangible political effects. What explains these different outcomes?

While this question is addressed from many angles in social science, we focus on a somewhat neglected phenomenon: the formation of a shared affective dynamic among members of different social groups hit by a crisis, who are mutually aware of their common predicament. Such dynamic, which we term “emergent collective affectivity“, creates an elusive, inarticulate sense of togetherness across existing group boundaries.

Whether this transient form of collective identity will evolve into a political actor capable of struggling for social change, or whether it will fragment along certain fault lines, depends on a number of factors. Our project aims to formulate a theoretical model, informed by social-scientific research, that specifies the conditions under which the first, positive scenario can be realised. The model could be used in social-scientific analyses of the potential of crises to foster democratisation as well as in public debate about the issue. The project thus aims to strengthen the Circle U. Knowledge Hub on Democracy.

• Participating universities: University of Belgrade, Aarhus University, UCLouvain, University of Vienna, Université Paris Cité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Project promoter: Marjan Ivković, University of Belgrade
• Budget awarded: 8.700 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Photographic Imaginaries of the Countryside: Transformations in Understanding Rural Europe, 1827-1914 (PICTURE)

Long neglected in favour of urban-centric narratives of photographic history, rural photography offers a rich field for interdisciplinary inquiry. To produce original research on rural photography in Europe during the long 19th century, this international research project proposes a series of online workshops leading up to an in-person symposium, exhibition, and publication. This first edition of the project focuses on the theme of rural photography and the environment. From the origins of the photographic medium in the mid-nineteenth century, when photography was conceived of as “sun writing,” photography has been understood as working with, just as much as working on, the rural environment. Drawing from sources across Europe, the project will investigate how photography pictured the rural environment in the industrial era.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, University of Pisa, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, King's College London
• Project promoter: Lauren Pankin, Université Paris Cité
• Budget awarded: 7.170 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Promoting Citizen Science by Capitalizing on Circle U. Expertise (PReCISE)

Citizen science (CS) is a scientific research approach involving non-professional scientists at various stages. Actively engaging citizens and society can enhance research quality and outcomes while strengthening societal trust in science.  

The PReCISE project aims to promote CS expertise among Circle U. universities, by sharing knowledge and fostering its uptake to drive institutional change. To initiate this transition, PReCISE organises a hybrid CS summer school bringing together postdoc and advanced researchers with CS experts from UCLouvain, Université Paris Cité, Aarhus University, and University of Vienna. This summer school will focus on fostering equitable collaborations to support contextualized citizen science projects in Africa.

The specific objectives of PReCISE are to:

1. Run a session the Science Infuse festival at UCLouvain, using participatory board game to raise awareness about geo-hydrological risk among secondary school students; 
2. Organise an on-site and online CS summer school for Circle U. researchers;  
3. Develop guidelines for organising a recurring hybrid CS summer school;  
4. Contribute to updating the ECSA 10 principles, with a focus on diversity and inclusion. 

• Participating universities: UCLouvain, Université Paris Cité, University of Vienna, Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Caroline Michellier, UCLouvain
• Budget awarded: 7.100 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

Cultivating an Interdisciplinary Alliance for Responsible AI for Knowledge Graphs (RAI4KG)
 

• Participating universities: King's College London, University of Vienna, Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Albert Meroño Peñuela, King's College London
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025

The Teacher Education Network - TENet - aims to highlight and promote high-quality education and research in initial teacher education across Circle U partner universities. Building on the work of the former CU Think-and-Do-Tank on the future of higher education, the Teacher Education Network will implement a seed-funding project in 2024 focusing on the theme of student co-research. This project seeks to raise awareness among CU researchers, teaching staff, administrators, and teacher education students about opportunities for research-driven, interdisciplinary and cross-border collaboration in the area of teacher education. Our commitment is to strengthen the internationalisation of teacher professional development by designing a model course which connects the principle of involving students as co-researchers to practices of international exchange and collaboration in initial teacher education.

The TENet will explore the links with the work done in the four CU Knowledge Hubs, in the platforms of the CU.mil, and the CU.erc links with the tenets and aims of teacher education. The TENet participates in the CU.til and cooperates closely with the CU Open Campus. The Network is open to individual researchers and students as well as to representatives of institutional units in initial teacher education across Circle U.

• Participating universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, University of Vienna, University of Belgrade, King's College London, UCLouvain, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Stephan Breidbach, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The Circle U.lympics is a programme that delves into the theme of the Olympic Games and explores it from a host of different academic angles. The programme is divided into two phases; 1) a series of online webinars and 2) a physical conference in Paris, the host city of the 2024 Olympic Games.

The first phase includes four online lectures from January to April 2024. In the online webinars, students and researchers get to share their exchange research topics and expertise. The webinars cover a broad range of interesting and relevant topics: e.g. exploring the Olympic Games and their similarities with religion; considering issues around ethics, sustainability, gender, and governance; discussing whether Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from the competition; or understanding the impact of mindset and nutrition on physical performance.

In the second phase, a 5-day trip to Paris will take place from April 22 to 26, 2024 at Université Paris Cité’s Sports Science Department (STAPS). The programme will include workshops, debates, site visits and sporting challenges for students.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, Aarhus University, King's College London, University of Belgrade, UCLouvain, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Trocellier Zumreta, Université Paris Cité
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

A workshop on challenges and perspectives related to global health will be organized in Belgrade by PhD students from partner universities who will give short talks from different backgrounds and viewpoints such as epidemiology, law, ethics, social medicine, and history of medicine regarding the diverse approaches to global health, as well as the challenges present in different countries and cultures. The workshop will also be live-streamed for increased visibility and accessibility for students from different universities. The target audience are undergraduate and postgraduate students of all partner universities. The participants will be asked to fill in pre-tests and post-tests in order to assess the change in knowledge and attitudes of participants regarding the diverse issues in global health. A manuscript will be drafted after analyzing the results of the pre- and post-tests and submitted to an open-access journal to facilitate the visibility of the collaboration.

• Participating universities: University of Belgrade, University of Vienna, King's College London
• Project promoter: Aleksa Jovanović, University of Belgrade
• Budget awarded: 4192 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The aim of SEGRETI is to organize a multisession online workshop divided in three appointments to celebrate Rachel Carson and her most famous literary work “Silent Spring”.

• Participating universities: University of Pisa, Aarhus University, University of Belgrade
• Project promoter: Claudia Pisuttu, University of Pisa
• Budget awarded:
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The project aims to establish a multidisciplinary, open, bottom-up network of teacher educators, MA, and doctoral students interested in the diversity and intersectionality of teacher identities. The mission of the network will be to share information about teachers' multiple identities and to initiate activities aimed at exploring and teaching about them. One focus thus lies in the discussion and reflection of valuable and innovative approaches that can be used in both research and teaching to explore identities, sensitize for the topic, and foster the reflection of one's own (teacher) identity, in order to learn how to better engage and work with the diversity of students. To actively address oppression, teachers must become aware of the interconnectedness and contextual situatedness of their identities. Thus, the central activity of the WIIIDE project is an on-site mapping workshop with teacher educators from the three partner universities. By exploring the complexity of our own social identities, we may recognize the inclusiveness of our identities as individuals may share a common group membership on one dimension but belong to different categories on another. These reflections and their relevance for teacher education lie at the heart of the WIIIDE project.

• Participating universities: University of Vienna, University of Belgrade, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Eva Kleinlein, University of Vienna
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, refers to a technology, which delivers fast and comprehensive information about all aspects of human life, including health. People may use generative AI to inform themselves about health topics, to get advice or interact with AI about their concerns, or to diagnose/treat diseases. Generative AI is considered to have large disruptive potential, necessitating new understandings of potential risks and benefits. Drawing on humanities, business, social sciences, and public health research, our aim is to establish a comprehensive understanding of the health-related risks and benefits of generative AI. We particularly focus on implications for inequality, with respect to gender, age, and minority status, looking at variations by country.

• Participating universities: University of Vienna, Aarhus University, Université Paris Cité, University of Belgrade
• Project promoter: Jörg Matthes, University of Vienna
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The project will be linking the three participating universities in improving the training in the area of Open Science. Specifically, the need to share knowledge in the area of participatory and citizen science, which is a central part of the societal engagement pillar of the European Union formulation of open science and the UNESCO recommendation for Open Science.

The project will bring the results of three European Commission-funded projects and ensure they are used for teaching and training across each university and the wider university sector. Researchers with experience in data aspects of citizen science (KCL) and training researchers in citizen science (AU) will develop training material. This will be utilised by UP.

The expected outputs include training content for students and staff on two topics (data and project management), and training that is delivered to 30-50 early career researchers (MSc to PhD level) at the three universities.

The project is aiming to enhance the capacity in supporting citizen science at the university sector and potential material that can be integrated with the Open Campus Initiative of the Circle U. consortium.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, King's College London, Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Muki Haklay, Université Paris Cité
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

In cold regions, rivers are ice-covered during the winter, and the transition to the open water period is called the river ice break-up. This key hydrological event occurs earlier over time in a warming Arctic. Arctic rivers drain permafrost catchments facing extensive thaw and thereby unlocking frozen organic carbon.

Metals such as aluminum and iron can bind to organic carbon released from thawing permafrost and influence its availability for decomposition by the microbial communities. Silicon is a key indicator of freeze-thaw processes. These chemical elements can be transferred as dissolved or as nano-sized particles (colloids) in rivers. The challenge is to estimate the fluxes of colloidal transfer at river ice break-up, a large contributor to the annual export of organic carbon and metals, with key implications for organic carbon decomposition and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

By combining the expertise from three Circle U. Universities, the aim of the project CEDRIC is to better quantify the transfer of colloidal elements during an ice break-up event. This project, born from the thematic seminar “Climate Change and Water” of the Circle U. Knowledge Hub Climate in Berlin, crosses disciplinary boundaries between cryospheric sciences, geochemistry, hydrology and remote sensing.

• Participating universities: UCLouvain, University of Oslo, Université Paris Cité
• Project promoter: Sophie Opfergelt, UCLouvain
• Budget awarded: 9870 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The project aims to connect the research strengths of four Circle U. institutions around the theme of the genealogy of mathematical concepts. Mathematics deals with abstract concepts, such as the concept of set. However, such concepts are the outcome of a complex historical, formal, and philosophical development. New issues arising in the analysis of a concept – such as the search for new axioms for the concept of set – call for a constant reassessment of its genealogy. The project will investigate all three aspects of the genealogy of mathematical concepts.

• Participating universities: King's College London, University of Pisa, University of Vienna, University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Carlo Nicolai, King's College London
• Budget awarded:
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

We want to form a new generation of young researchers (YR) to better understand the aerosol formation, a key issue for air quality and climate. We will conduct preliminary research activities to explore the influence of water on atmospheric pollutants such as methyl phenols in relation to aerosol formation, and to integrate these two previously separate fields of research in climate science. In our project we will mix chemistry, physics and environmental sciences, combining quantum chemistry calculations, molecular physics, high resolution spectroscopy, aerosol formation and simulation chamber expertises to answer fundamental questions.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, Aarhus University, King's College London
• Project promoter: Isabelle Kleiner, Université Paris Cité
• Budget awarded:
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The acceleration of climate change necessitates a reduction in consumption by Western consumers. However, appealing to individuals to change their consumption habits does not always lead to positive results. Many people tend to reject the idea of consumption reduction and may even exhibit hostile behavior. Therefore, it is important to understand how people react to calls for reduced consumption, who is willing to make voluntary changes, and who may exhibit reactant behavior. However, research in this area is lacking when it comes to considering consumption reduction in a social context. Thus, the objective of our research project is to better understand the social dimension of consumption reduction. We propose that consumer responses to the call to reduce consumption can be driven by an egosystem or an ecosystem. The egosystem represents a self-centered perspective in which an individual focuses on their own needs and feelings. On the other hand, the ecosystem represents a more interconnected way of functioning in which individuals consider their relationship to others and the environment. Our research project aims to investigate how these different perspectives influence how individuals respond to calls to reduce consumption in Austria, Denmark, and Serbia.

• Participating universities: University of Vienna, Aarhus University, University of Belgrade
• Project promoter: Arnd Florack, University of Vienna
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

The primary objective of this multicenter research project is to harness the power of federated learning to enhance the development of diagnostic AI tools for dental imaging. By bringing together dental institutions and associated researchers, we aim to create a collaborative ecosystem that advances the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of dental radiographic diagnoses. Specifically, our project aims to:

1. Develop a federated learning framework for dental radiography that allows multiple institutions to collaboratively train AI models without sharing sensitive patient data.
2. Design and optimize AI algorithms for the automatic detection, classification and segmentation of dental anatomy and pathology.
3. Evaluate the performance of federated learning models against centralized models.

• Participating universities: Aarhus University, UCLouvain, University of Oslo
• External partners: Ludwig Maximilian, University of Munich
• Project promoter: Ruben Pauwels, Aarhus University
• Budget awarded: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

This project aims to 1) build a cultural competency co-creation consortium across four Circle U institutions 2) in order to co-create an innovative online interactive module on cultural competency. The collaboration may lead to the future development of an MA programme and research initiatives. Co-applicants include academics, e-learning developers and students from four countries. CitizensUK as a non-academic partner will also contribute to the co-creation and provide consultancy. 

Cultural competency (CC) is a core value at KCL’s vision for internationalisation, and an essential professional quality for the future workforce that will serve increasingly diverse societies around the globe. King’s Cultural Competency Unit (CCU) is a new strategic establishment, responsible for developing CC education and research in order to support King’s internationalisation agenda, which is also shared by other Circle U institutions. Therefore, the consortium we propose to establish will offer an important international network to enable a collaborative and co-creative approach to CC education and research. This bespoke Level 6 credited CC module will make an immediate contribution to education. It will be available firstly to the partner institutions and Citizens UK. However, other organisations may find it useful.

• Participating universities: King's College London, University of Pisa, University of Belgrade, Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Shuangyu Li, King's College London
• Budget awarded: 10,000 €
• Project period: 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024

Lights of Tuscany 2023, organized by the Italian Association of Physics Students, gives the possibility to STEM students from across the world to visit and learn the most recent research conducted in Photonics and Material Physics. Through conferences and visits to the laboratories of Pisa and Florence, students can approach the researcher’s life and discover what are the current fields of study in the physics of light. With its wide application from biophysics to electronics to quantum computing, being able to look at the best centers of research is an amazing opportunity for master’s students, opening many paths and giving many ideas for the development of newer and sustainable technologies.

• Participating universities: University of Pisa, University of Belgrade and Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Giulio Carotta, University of Pisa
• Awarded budget: 2500 €
• Project period: 28 April – 2 May 2023

Svalbard, an island at the heart of the Arctic, is witnessing temperatures rising 4 to 7 times faster than the global average. This rapid temperature change has a wide range of impacts and cascading effects at local (e.g., melting glaciers, avalanches, landslides) and global scales (e.g., sea level rise, ocean circulation). In this project we focus on Kongsvegen, a glacier showing clear signs of collapse. We use an innovative approach based on seismic methods and machine-learning to investigate the movement of the glacier from its surface crevasses to its core, 350m below the surface. Our goal is to understand the transition from a stable to an unstable regime. The changing cryosphere has far-reaching implications and we are also working to communicate our findings beyond academia to raise awareness about the impact of climate change on our world.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, UCLouvain and the University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Ugo Nanni, University of Oslo
• Awarded budget: 9.955 €
• Project period: 3 April – 29 September 2023

The research aims to evaluate whether the European Union's actions effectively reduce health disparities in the labour market and promote European integration. This will be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach examining how the EU and its member states (MS) collaborate to address health disparities in the labour market, focusing on migration and social class. The analysis will be carried out within a complex framework that distinguishes different levels of involvement from European, national, and societal actors, ranging from limited European competencies in health policies to the possibility of enacting legislation on safety and health at work. This multi-faceted framework poses numerous questions that cut across several research fields and will be explored using an interdisciplinary approach. To gain practical insights, the research will also include semi-structured qualitative interviews with officials from EU actors, MS representatives, NGOs, and labour union representatives, in addition to desk research. These interactions aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the roles of the Union, MSs, and civil society in addressing health disparities in the labour market.

• Participating universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, UCLouvain, Università di Pisa and the University of Vienna
• Project promoter: Ruben Della Pia, University of Pisa
• Awarded budget: 10.000 €
• Project period: 1 January – 30 September 2023

Climate change and climate policies are often analyzed through the lens of climate science and economics. Yet, they also raise crucial questions in terms of ethics and political theory. Our project aims at jumpstarting collaboration in research and education on the normative questions raised by climate change policies, starting with four universities: Aarhus University, King’s College London, UCLouvain and the University of Oslo. It involves short research stays between partner universities, a series of work-in progress online research seminars, and exploring the prospects for an elective online course on climate ethics for PPE students at UCLouvain and University of Oslo.

• Participating universities: Aarhus University, King’s College London, UCLouvain, and the University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Axel Gosseries, UCLouvain
• Co-promoter: Pierre André, UCLouvain
• Awarded budget: 9.460 €
• Project period: 1 January - 30 September 2023

This is a student-led project with a focus on student integration when students start at a new university. Here, three students who work with student integration at each of their respective universities meet to present how student integration is solved at their university, so that we can exchange experiences and learn from each other.

• Participating universities: Aarhus University, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Pål Henrik Thorsteinsen, University of Oslo
• Awarded budget:  1.500 €
• Project period: March–July 2023

A robust microbial taxonomy has profound implications for understanding pathogenicity, and effectively setting appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks. Thus, objectively delimiting microbial species boundaries remains an important challenge and becomes urgent when unresolved taxonomy threatens food security and public health. An example of this is the taxonomic situation for the Bacillus cereus group. This bacterial group includes the opportunistic pathogen B. cereus, frequently implicated in food poisoning and food spoilage worldwide, Bacillus anthracis, the cause of the lethal disease anthrax, and Bacillus thuringiensis, an insect pathogen which is the world’s most widely used biological pesticide. Over the last decade, 23 additional species have been proposed in the group based on numerous genetic analyses, leaving the B. cereus group taxonomy in collapse. However, the B. cereus group “species” definition and multiple parallel taxonomic proposals are causing, at present, a potentially dangerous confusion with regards to regulatory issues governing the group members. This project aims at defining a framework for the taxonomy of the group, that accommodates the phylogenetic approach and reconciles the contribution of mobile genetic elements, while still retaining some of the clinical, environmental, and socioeconomic aspects associated with the classical species.

• Participating universities: Aarhus University, University of Oslo and UCLouvain
• Project promoter: Annika Gillis, UCLouvain
• Awarded budget: 9.550 €
• Project period: 1 January - 30 September 2023

People with a common respiratory disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often experience chest infections that require hospitalisation. Airway clearance techniques are ways and devices that health care professionals and patients use to clear someone’s lungs from phlegm (sputum). However, the airway clearance techniques that are used in different countries can greatly vary. Our universities aim to work together in establishing an understanding on what is currently used worldwide and facilitate optimum care, independent of regional changes.

• Participating universities: King’s College London, Aarhus University, UCLouvain
• Project promoter: Dr Arietta Spinou, King’s College London
• Awarded budget: 10.000 €
• Project period: January 2023 - September 2023

The Soviet experiment pretended to offer opportunities for modernization and nation-building, some of which were put to use creatively by artists and scholars in Ukraine and in Russia as well as also in other Soviet republics. From today's perspective and against the backdrop of the attack on Ukraine, these processes are once again subject to reconsideration.

The proposed project “Rethinking the Soviet experiment: Ukrainian and Russian perspectives” (RSE) brings together scholars of 20th c. Soviet culture and society who had to flee the ongoing war in Ukraine and its catastrophic aftermath. RSE will be organized as a cooperation between the University of Oslo, the Humboldt University in Berlin, and the University of Belgrade and aims to provide opportunities of networking and intellectual exchange for Ukrainian, Russian, and Ukrainian-Russian scholars currently based in Europe.

RSE will convene two workshops designed to serve as platforms for networking, exchange, and scholarly conversation among researchers working in the fields of Soviet and Post-Soviet society and culture who are currently refugees or exiles, unable to return to their countries. The workshops aim to provide a base for developing new ways of thinking about the recent history and the future of the humanities in Eastern Europe.

• Participating universities: University of Oslo, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Belgrade
• Project promoters: Boris Maslov and Vera Faber at the University of Oslo
• Awarded budget: 9.975 €
• Project period: January–October 2023

We equip students working in multidisciplinary and international teams to become sustainable change-makers. Using critical thinking approach and flipped classroom method, students learn more specifically to identify and critically evaluate sustainable innovation issues within various environments, utilizing a wide range of techniques, concepts and models, and then come up with and present innovative solutions and apply competitive strategies using an entrepreneurial mindset.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité, Aarhus University, University of Oslo, University of Belgrade, King's College London
• Project promoter: Amélie Jacquemin, UCLouvain
• Budget awarded: 20.000 €
• Project period: 5 October – 14 December 2022

News from the project:

• The second edition of the programme is launched (August 2023)
• Announcement of the Sustainable Change-Makers Programme (June 2022)
• Demo Day for the Sustainable Change-Makers Programme (December 2022)

Due to their truly intersectional character, topics related to global health are being taught in a variety of disciplines, using differing intellectual approaches, and against historical backdrops usually pertinent to national historiographies. In our project we shall analyse and discern communalities and differences in the teaching of Global Health against the matrix of academic settings, cultural practices, and historical traditions, namely that of previous colonial traditions.

In the first place we are going to map and analyse global health topics integrated in medical curricula and in other disciplines along the methodological lines previously established at Charité – Berlin (see Schuster et al., 2020).

• Participating universities: All nine partner universities
• Project promoter: Pascal Grosse, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Budget awarded: 18.038,46 €
• Project period: January – December 2023

The aim of this project is to jumpstart collaboration between University of Belgrade - Faculty of Political Science and King’s College London (KCL) in the framework of the Circle U. in the field of democracy and democratisation. In particular, the two institutions aim to achieve the following goals: First, to explore collaboration in the field of knowledge transfer on how to achieve greater policy impact in the field of democracy and democratisation. Here, the two institutions will learn from each other how to translate academic research into policy impact but also jointly explore new avenues for impactful democracy research. Secondly, the two institutions aim to establish jointly-organized public-events series in the field of democracy and democratisation. These events will aim to draw upon the cutting-edge research in the field of democracy and democratisation in order to revive a wider public debate on the dangers of on-going democratic erosion worldwide but also innovative ways of rejuvenating democracies and making them more resilient in the 21st century.

• Participating universities: King's College London and University of Belgrade
• Project promoter: Nemanja Dzuverovic, University of Belgrade
• Awarded budget: 5.153,85 €
• Project period: January – December 2023

The project aims at developing comparative interdisciplinary methodology between law and political science – with inputs from other disciplines (behavioral economics, sociology) – to analyze how national administration (tax authorities) contribute to the strengthening of democratic values and principles (the constitutional principles aiming at protecting taxpayer rights) in their relationship with citizens and other stakeholders, such as lawmakers.

• Participating universities: UCLouvain and University of Oslo
• Project promoter: Edoardo Traversa, UCLouvain
• External partners: Belgian and Norwegian Tax Authorities
• Awarded budget: 5.153,84 €
• Project period: 

Circle U. Tax Forum

The overall objective of this seed-funding initiative is to strengthen the partnership between Circle U. units within the “Climate Change Knowledge Hub”. We  jointly organize a series of scientific events referred to as ‘The Circle U. Climate Knowledge Hub, Happy Hour Events (HHE)’. A HHE is a short scientific event (typically lasting no more than 3 hours), consisting in two keynote lectures (one from the natural sciences and one from the human science domain), followed by a debate, a set of small pitch presentations and a final debate. The HHE is targeted to young researchers and doctoral students of the different partners. The participation in an HHE is certified by the organisers and can be included in the participants’ portfolio of research training.

• Participating universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Université Paris Cité, University of Belgrade and UCLouvain
• Project promoter: Marnik Vanclooster, UCLouvain
• Awarded budget: 10.307,69 €
• Project period: September 2022 – October 2023

The call to establish Independent Anti-Corruption Agencies (IACAs) first appeared on the international agenda in the late 1990s, and since have become a condition for membership of the European Union. Successes are few and there is no consensus in the literature of which type of institution and policies work. The project addresses this gap by questioning under which conditions anti-corruption institutions and policies in Serbia contribute to good governance. A second goal of the project is to contribute to talent development by embedding student-led research.

• Participating universities: Aarhus University
• Project promoter: Lars Johannsen, Aarhus University
• Awarded budget: 2.576,92 €
• Project period: October 2022 – October 2023

The project "People, Populism and Democracy: Toward a Socio-historical Approach" is a collective publication project, destined to become a scientific reference, which will be given to a major English-language publisher for publication in June 2024. Composed of about fifteen texts, the book will bring together the main international specialists on the issue of populism.

• Participating universities: Université Paris Cité
• Project promoter: Federico Tarragoni, Université Paris Cité
• Awarded budget: 2.576,92 €
• Project period: 

This project will develop two specific activities: a three-days Master class dedicated to the issue of (mis)trust in news media and disinformation, hosted by the UCLouvain, and a research seminar (four sessions) addressing these questions from various disciplinary perspectives. These two activities are built as a first step in a mid-term project establishing an interdisciplinary knowledge hub on the interplay between the functioning of democracies and the news markets.

• Participating universities: UCLouvain
• Project promoter: Olivier Standaert, UCLouvain
• External partners: Anthony Bellanger (International Federation of Journalists), Lutz Kinkel (ECPMF)
• Awarded budget: 2.576,92 €
• Project period: 

The research project COSE focused on how the concept of ‘sustainable education’ is being conceptualized and translated into practice in higher education. It did this by conducting a review of the literature and teasing out implicit assumptions through 22 interviews with members of relevant international and national organizations, university leaders, academics and students; mapping the different arguments around sustainable education. The wider aim is to make a central contribution to Circle U.’s overall effort to create and promote education for a sustainable world by creating a conceptual basis for the work of the Circle U. Think and Do Tank on the Future of Higher Education. While the resulting report discusses different meanings of sustainable education and argues for innovative educational practice, the project was also conducted as an example of master students and PhD candidates being co-researchers. Both the literature review and the interviews were conducted by Circle U. co-researchers from seven Circle U. universities who were guided by six Academic chairs from the Think and Do Tank.

• Participating universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Project promoter: Anne Enderwitz, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Awarded budget: 10.000 €
• Project period: February 2022 – April 2023