Education and research & innovation community
| Task number | 3 |
|---|---|
| Name | Education and research & innovation community |
| Strategic Axes | Communities building, Research and Innovation, Education and Pedagogical Innovation |
| Workpackage | Developing UNITA communities |
Objectives
- Create and support communities of educators, researchers and innovators who share a common interest in a field of knowledge and want to develop the field further through exchanges of good practice and the launch of joint project.
Inputs & Resources
Source documentation:
Resources
- Human Resources: List of staff on the task, roles and position: Co-leaders Stefania Raimondo UNITO and Filipe Moreira IPG (before: Mario Giacobini and Fátima Gonçalves) + 32 TT members (profiles: VR for Research or Internationalisation, Communication and events experts, Research managers, UNITA Offices and mobility specialists).
- Financial: Budget allocated to the task: 1.061.317 € travel costs; other costs 587.775 €.
- Materials: Type of materials required (computers, software, scientific tools,…): Datacloud &its Apps, LimeSurvey.
- Intangible: Type of intangible materials (communication tools, data bases,…): matching events management system.
Activities & Sub-Tasks
Source documentation: In each WP folder, document entitled “WPx_full_description)
| List of activities | Actions to implement | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| A2.3.1 Collect community building actions in the first phase | Chart examples of effective community building within and across the alliance, and specifically the matching events on research and on education that took place during the pilot phase. Define effective community building within and across education, research, innovation, and university life. | Jan 2024 |
| A2.3.2 Implement Task-focused open actions for community building | Organize a series of UNITA Task-related matching events, hosted by different members of the alliance. Each university will autonomously determine the participants of each matching event, according to commonly agreed rules. Their objective will be to set-up formal collaborations with the potential to leverage the effect of Tasks linked to the core university missions. They will be organized in close cooperation with the Task Team of the Task in which they impact. The events will take place before M18, to ensure their effect during the 4-year period. At least two events will be organized in each university, but the final number of events could increase if additional resources are invested by the universities or collected from AP or other external agents interested in the topics.
There will be four categories of matching events:
Cross-disciplinary and cross-domain events will be possible as well. In some cases, an online pre-event will be organized to facilitate contacts and start building synergies among participants. During the events, the participants will present their background and ideas, and they will have time to align their objectives and converge in a common project. All events will include an introductory session to UNITA. Thus, they will also serve as internal dissemination events. |
Apr 2025 |
| A2.3.3 Starting projects implementation | Each participant in a matching event will receive a starting grant for the travel expenses and for directs costs of an initial collaboration with other attendees on the topics of the event. At the end of the period (M32), each formed team will present a report on their progress, achieved, and expected impact, and suggested further steps.
Matching events will often be linked to starting grants, aimed at kicking off the collaboration between the partners in the Alliance towards a common scientific or, in general, community building goal. Calls for starting grants, addressed to the whole UNITA community, shall be launched after a matching event: grants will cover travel expenses and directs costs of an initial collaboration with other partners in the Alliance. At the end of the period (M32), each formed team will present a report on their progress, achieved, and expected impact, and suggested further steps. |
Jun 2026 |
| A2.3.4 Implement advanced projects (Objective transferred to T4.2 - Hubs for research) |
A board established by the Task Team and approved by the Management Committee will assess the project reports and select the most impactful ones, which will be considered for receiving a consolidating grant to keep working on the idea for a second year (M42). At the end of the period, the report on progress and impact will be updated.
During the whole implementation phase (M18–M42), Task 5.2, in cooperation with the legal entity, will look closely at the projects and identify calls from which additional funding can be obtained to fully develop the ideas. |
Apr 2027 |
| A2.3.5 Summarize and draw conclusions on the second phase of UNITA community building actions | The Task Team will elaborate a final report of the Task, with a summary of the project reports, lessons learnt, and a definition of a cooperation sparking model for UNITA. This model will be used in future cycles of events devised to strengthen even more the community. | Oct 2027 |