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08.02.2021 17:46

EUniWell wins funding to boost research partnerships and young researchers

Gabriele Meseg-Rutzen Presse und Kommunikation
Universität zu Köln

The European University for Well-Being (EUniWell) has secured extra funding for a Europe-wide project to boost research partnerships and support young researchers in developing their careers.

EUniWell#research enables the development of research cooperation, shared infrastructures, mainstreaming of Open Science practices, and reskilling and upskilling of early career researchers within EUniWell.
EUniWell has obtained H2020 SwafS-Support Call funding from the European Commission for the project, which also promotes co-operation with non-academic partners, particularly business, as well as engaging with citizens and society.
The project will comprise various measures to support EUniWell’s vision and mission, such as the creation of the Well-being Incubator as a cross-cutting, collaborative, virtual operating environment on well-being related research and innovation collaboration. Development of a one-stop digital Collaborative Research Portal will support research engagement.
EUniWell#research will further develop a research-led FAIR strategy for Open Science that exploits and critically assesses the impact of the digital transition on research practices. It will foster the communication of scientific knowledge to the non-expert public by focusing on knowledge transfer and enabling scientific non-experts in business, politics, the media, and society at large to benefit from accessible high-quality research.
Working with associated partners, the project will scope, refine and set up the holistic EUniWell Research Skills Taxonomy. This will enable EUniWell members to co-create an innovative, inclusive and sustainable well-being-led research ecosystem - feeding into the EUniWell Research Training Academy and its people-centred ‘training hubs’. This will help to realize well-being-led research training for all that is co-creative, inclusive, diverse, intergenerational, intersectoral.
The H2020 SwafS-Support Call was issued in autumn 2020 with the intention to provide additional EU funding for supporting the 24 newly selected European Universities of the second round in setting up their work programme with special respect to collaboration in research and innovation.
EUniWell unites the Universities of Cologne, Birmingham, Florence, Leiden, Linnaeus, Nantes, and Semmelweis in a European Universities Alliance, bringing together 244,000 students and 36,500 staff members. The importance of the topic of well-being has become all the more evident over the last year. To address the challenges to the well-being of our communities and society at large, EUniWell has identified four key areas for research and teaching, closely linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in which the seven partner universities have strong expertise:
• Well-Being & Health (SDG 3, Good Health & Well-Being)
• Individual & Social Well-Being (SDG 16, Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions)
• Environment, Urbanity & Well-Being (SDG 11, Sustainable Cities & Communities)
• Teacher Education (SDG 4, Quality Education)
Funded by the European Commission under the ERASMUS+ programme, EUniWell has begun its three-year pilot phase in November 2020 during which it will develop joint international teaching programmes and research and innovation collaborations.
By drawing on the respective strengths of all EUniWell partner universities, past and pandemic experiences, EUniWell#research will contribute to EUniWell’s aim to build on and invest in people, talents and diversity through a series of pilot schemes and training initiatives, critical to the successful implementation of a next generation R&I approach and longer-term institutional transformation.

EUniWell leaders:
Professor Axel Freimuth, Rektor, Universität zu Köln, Germany
Professor Sir David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Birmingham, UK
Professor Luigi Dei, Rettore, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
Professor Hester Bijl, Rector Magnificus and President, Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
Professor Peter Aronsson, Rektor, Linnéuniversitetet, Sweden
Professor Carine Bernault, Présidente, Université de Nantes, France
Professor Béla Merkely, Rektor, Semmelweis Egyetem, Hungary

EUniWell Steering Committee:
Professor Beatrix Busse, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Studies, Universität zu Köln, Germany
Professor Heinz-Peter Mansel, former Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Universität zu Köln, Germany
Professor Robin Mason, Pro-Vice-Chancellor International, University of Birmingham, UK
Professor Giorgia Giovannetti, Vice-Rector for International Relations, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
Professor Hester Bijl, Rector Magnificus and President, Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
Professor Ann-Charlotte Larsson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Linnéuniversitetet, Sweden
Professor Olivier Grasset, Vice-President for Research and Open Science, Université de Nantes, France
Professor Isabelle Richard, Vice-President for European Affairs and International Relations, Université de Nantes, France
Professor Miklós Kellermayer, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis Egyetem, Hungary
Judith Barth, EUniWell Chief Student Officer

For more information, please contact:
Add local press officer from each university
Notes to Editors
● The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions and is a member of the UK’s Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham: leading researchers and teachers and more than 8,500 international students from over 150 countries.
● The University of Florence is one of the most important Italian public comprehensive universities with a strong international vocation and a large number of “departments of excellence”. It is a top destination in Europe for Erasmus and has a particularly high number of enrolled international students. Unifi has over 400 cooperation agreements with universities and research centres in 89 different countries and a unique cooperation with the study abroad programme of Stanford, NYU, Syracuse and many of the other 43 US programmes in Florence.
● The University of Cologne is one of the top comprehensive research universities in Germany and a member of the GermanU15 group. Cologne’s students come from 180 countries. Its 6 Faculties and 16 cross-faculty research and teaching centres ensure the high reputation of Cologne’s graduates for both research and the wider market. Among Cologne’s many internationally renowned research units are four Clusters of Excellence on Aging-associated Diseases, Public Policy and Markets, Plant Sciences and Matter and Light for Quantum Computing funded within the German Excellence Strategy.
● Leiden University is one of Europe’s leading international research universities. It has seven faculties in the arts, humanities and sciences, spread over locations in Leiden and The Hague including the largest bio-science park in the Netherlands with a unique innovative ecosystem. Leiden University is ranked amongst the top 100 universities and listed 38 in THEs most international universities ranking. Leiden University is member of the League of European Research Universities – LERU.
● Linnaeus University is Sweden’s sixth largest university in terms of number of students, with some 600 partner universities in more than 80 countries. Its nationally and internationally prominent research covers a wide range of disciplines with a number of cutting-edge research environments from ecology and evolution to discrimination and integration, postcolonialism, intermediality, bioscience, and big data.
● The University of Nantes is a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary university with 20 faculties in technology, humanities and sciences. It has a strong focus on excellence in teaching and research and two fields of priority in health and industry of the future. The University of Nantes is ranked amongst the top 200 universities that contribute the most actively to sustainable development objectives addressed by the United Nations (THE university impact rankings) and amongst the top 100 Reuters ranking for Europe most innovative universities.
● Semmelweis University, is a leading biomedical institution of higher education in Hungary and Central Europe. Education, research & innovation, and healthcare comprise the University’s three-pillar mission. Its educational programmes in English, German and Hungarian attract students from more than 70 different countries. The international student body accounts for nearly a third of the almost 11,000 students studying at the university’s six faculties. Semmelweis University is the largest healthcare provider in Hungary and a regional centre of excellence in research and innovation in the field of life sciences.

Media Contact:
Ruth Möhlig-Falke
+049 221 470 3328
ruth.moehlig-falke@uni-koeln.de

Press and Communications Team:
Robert Hahn
+049 221 470 2396
r.hahn@verw.uni-koeln.de

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