The second edition of FutureLab Camp generated specific proposals addressing three key areas of regional transformation: the energy transition, hydrogen innovation, and sustainable student living. The programme, which concluded on 11 June 2026 with the presentation of three projects developed from real-world challenges in collaboration with institutional partners from the Belfort-Montbéliard region, was hosted by Marie et Louis Pasteur University (UMLP) and organised in the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) format.

One project focused on the creation of an Energy, Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Hub for Belfort, developed in collaboration with Grand Belfort Communauté d’Agglomération. The proposal outlined a collaborative space integrating researchers, startups, industry and citizens, including renewable-energy-based infrastructure, AI and data facilities, educational areas and demonstration laboratories.

Hydrogen innovation

A second project, developed with Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération, explored the transformation of the former Portes du Jura Polyclinic into a public hydrogen innovation centre. The concept combined hydrogen production and storage demonstrators, interactive exhibition spaces, sustainable construction solutions, entrepreneurship areas and outreach activities aimed at citizens.

More sustainable campuses

The third project addressed sustainable student living environments in collaboration with the Université Marie et Louis Pasteur. Students designed inclusive, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly housing proposals aimed at improving quality of life, strengthening community life and integrating innovative technologies into university spaces.

Multidisciplinary teams

Organised within the framework of STARS EU – Strategic Alliance for Regional Transition, FutureLab Camp brought together 34 students from all partner universities, who worked in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, addressing real regional challenges related to sustainability and innovation.

The programme combined challenge-based learning with direct cooperation between students, academic staff and regional stakeholders. Following an intensive on-site phase held in March 2026 in Belfort (France), the teams continued their work online until June, during which they developed and refined their proposals into complete projects.

Reflecting on the results, Prof. Robin Roche from Université Marie et Louis Pasteur highlighted the quality of the students’ work: “The level of commitment, creativity and professionalism demonstrated by the international student teams has been truly impressive. Over the past months, students from different countries and disciplines learned how to collaborate effectively, transforming ambitious ideas into well-developed project concepts. Their ability to combine technical knowledge, sustainability thinking and social perspectives demonstrates the enormous potential of international challenge-based education.”

Dr. Halima Ikaouassen emphasised that the diversity of the teams played a crucial role in the success of the projects: “What makes FutureLab Camp unique is the richness of perspectives brought by students from across Europe. The final presentations clearly showed that international cooperation leads to more innovative and comprehensive solutions than any single discipline or national perspective could achieve alone.”

Next stop: Portugal

The second edition builds on the inaugural edition held in Kraków in 2025 and reinforces the role of European university alliances in regional transformation through international and interdisciplinary collaboration. The next edition is scheduled for 2027 at the Bragança Polytechnic University (Portugal).

The meeting brought together 40 participants who worked over three days within the framework of the Staff Week organised by Hochschule Bremen

A total of 40 people from the nine STARS EU member universities recently took part in the Staff Week Connecting (Virtual) Mobility Across the Alliance, organised by Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences (Germany). The event focused on improving student mobility and strengthening international cooperation. While the main emphasis was placed on online mobility and the use of digital tools to support internationalisation processes, a significant part of the work was also devoted to rethinking and enhancing physical mobility.

The meeting provided an in-depth analysis of the entire mobility cycle, identifying common challenges and exploring innovative and effective solutions through collaborative formats such as thematic panels, brainstorming sessions, and participatory activities. All of this aimed to make mobility more accessible, better coordinated, and more centred on the needs of STARS EU students.

The first day focused on intercultural reflection and a comprehensive analysis of the Student Mobility Journey. After an initial session on how cultural differences influence institutional collaboration, participants worked in thematic panels in a World Café format, addressing all stages of physical mobility—from inter-institutional cooperation to promotion, selection, stays abroad, and academic recognition. The exchange allowed participants to compare experiences, identify areas for improvement, and share existing best practices within the alliance.

Physical mobility versus digital mobility

The second day focused on programme implementation and the connection between physical and digital mobility, with particular attention to Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs). Procedures were analysed, and ways to simplify coordination between institutions were explored through brainstorming activities, which generated ideas on how to improve planning, participant recruitment, and the student experience.

The session also included the presentation of digital tools such as the AGORA platform, as well as discussions on the role of virtual mobility as a complement to physical mobility. At the same time, internal and external communication strategies were addressed, highlighting the need to combine clear information with more inspiring and student-oriented approaches.

Working methods

The third day was dedicated to designing concrete solutions through collaborative methodologies. Using structured brainstorming supported by LEGO® Serious Play®, participants first visualised an ideal model of student mobility and then identified barriers in both physical and digital mobility. Based on this work, proposals were developed to improve coordination between institutions, optimise administrative processes, and enhance the quality of the student mobility experience.

Formal sessions were complemented by informal networking opportunities, which helped strengthen relationships and foster exchange between the member universities represented at the meeting.

STARS EU is bringing May to a close with a series of activities and a call to action to commemorate European Diversity Month, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion both in the workplace and across society as a whole. The nine partners of the alliance are joining this year’s theme, “Building an inclusive labour market for all”, through a range of initiatives addressed to their university communities.

Your voice matters at STARS EU. For this reason, the alliance has launched the survey “Inclusion and Social Justice in your University”, aimed at gathering the opinions and suggestions of all members of our university community. This initiative will help promote more inclusive and diverse academic spaces committed to equality and social justice.

The aim of the survey is to better understand how students, academic staff and university personnel across the alliance perceive inclusion, fairness and participation within their institutions. The responses gathered will contribute to the development of shared strategies, the identification of common challenges and the promotion of evidence-based actions within the STARS EU framework.

To take part, click on Inclusion and Social Justice in your University. Completing the survey will take approximately seven minutes and will provide valuable information to help strengthen and advance a more inclusive and equal academic community.

Diversity beyond the screen

Another of the activities organised to mark Diversity Month focuses on digital detox. This in-person event will take place on Friday, 29 May, at Aleksandër Moisiu University in Durrës (Albania). Its aim is to reflect on life in a hyperconnected society and on the ways in which the digital environment affects mental health, human relationships and social inclusion.

The event, entitled Diversity beyond the screen: Digital detox for a more inclusive campus, will run from 09:00 to 12:00 (CEST) in the G2 building, located on the UAMD Spitallë Campus. The meeting is open to anyone interested in discussing the (excessive) use of digital technologies, an issue about which the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly raised concerns.

Research on diversity and inclusion

Moving towards a more diverse and inclusive alliance also involves exploring and applying new ideas and perspectives that can help foster fairer and more participatory environments. Therefore, if you are developing any research, project or initiative related to Diversity and Inclusion, you can contact Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ekaterina Gjergo or send your proposal to ekaterinagjergo@uamd.edu.al.

Another initiative launched to promote inclusiveness and diversity within STARS EU is being carried out at “Aleksandër Moisiu” University. Focused on bullying prevention, the project is being developed by a group of university students in collaboration with secondary school pupils from different schools in the city of Durrës.

Hochschule Bremen (HSB) – City University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and Marie and Louis Pasteur University (UMLP), France, both partners in STARS EU, will launch a new academic collaboration within the Business Administration/International Management (BIM) degree programme, which will enable the development of a double degree programme between the two institutions.

Thanks to this agreement, students will be able to complete their studies following the so-called “two-plus-two” model: four semesters in Bremen and four at the partner university abroad, allowing them to obtain two official bachelor’s degrees.

The collaboration will take place within the framework of STARS EU, of which both universities are members alongside seven other European institutions. With UMLP joining the BIM programme as a new partner university, STARS EU moves closer to one of its key objectives: promoting joint degrees and greater academic integration across Europe.

“We are delighted to welcome UMLP as another strong partner university to the BIM network,” says programme director Leena Pundt. “This collaboration strengthens our international profile and opens up further attractive opportunities for our students to gain a truly binational education.”

Powerful linguistic approach

Julie Beugnot, professor and programme director at the French university, explained that UMLP has been working for several years to internationalise its academic offer. The university’s proximity to the German border, together with the existence of an ABIBAC double qualification programme (German Abitur and French Baccalauréat) at one of the largest secondary schools in Besançon, played a decisive role in UMLP’s decision to establish a double degree with HSB.

Ulrich Krüger, professor in the BIM degree programme and responsible for negotiating the new double degree agreement with UMLP, highlighted the importance of finding a partner university capable of helping further develop the integrated international programme. “As a member of the STARS EU alliance, UMLP is an ideal institution for offering a multilingual Franco-German double degree,” he said.

For her part, Célia Berger-Tarare (UMLP), who negotiated the agreement on behalf of the French university, explained that professors from both institutions already maintained strong links in research as well as in short-term training programmes. “We needed to build on this momentum through a long-term collaboration that would also involve students,” she noted.

This new partnership not only expands the international exchange opportunities available through the double degree programme but also brings the alliance closer to its main objective: facilitating joint study programmes throughout Europe. At the same time, it strengthens the programme’s distinctive language-based approach, as students will complete their studies bilingually in German and French while also receiving additional training in English, providing them with the foundation for a trilingual international career.

European students and academics are addressing sustainable innovation and bioeconomy during the Blended Intensive Programme “Circular Bioeconomy and Sustainable Innovation”, taking place this week at the Cracow University of Technology (Poland) within the framework of the STARS EU Alliance. The training initiative enables international teams of students to work together on projects tackling real-life sustainability and circular economy challenges, while developing innovative and practice-oriented solutions.

The initiative has brought together 28 students and 12 lecturers from seven STARS EU partner universities: Cracow University of Technology (Poland); University West (Sweden); Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands); Hochschule Bremen-City University of Applied Sciences (Germany); Polytechnic University of Bragança (Portugal); Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic); and Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania).

The programme, who’s in-person phase is taking place in Krakow from 18 to 22 May, includes interdisciplinary collaborative work sessions, mentoring activities, expert lectures and a study visit to the company KLGS, located near the city. In parallel with these activities, participants also have opportunities for intercultural exchange, networking and collaboration among students and academic staff from across the STARS EU alliance.

Over the past weeks, participants have attended international lectures and workshops focused on circular economy, sustainable business models, life cycle analysis, biomaterials, biotechnology, renewable resources and sustainable innovation strategies. Following the mobility week in Krakow, teams will continue working online until the end of June, when the final presentations of the projects and reports prepared by each group will bring the activity to a close.

“Circular Bioeconomy and Sustainable Innovation” is coordinated by Katarzyna Matras-Postołek, Associate Professor at CUT, together with academics and experts from STARS EU partner universities, including Annabella Loconsolo (University West), Pavel Adamek (Silesian University in Opava), Daniela Hendrikse (Hanze University of Applied Sciences), Anja Noke (Hochschule Bremen), as well as representatives from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and other partner institutions.

This BIP is yet another example of how the STARS EU Alliance connects students, researchers and universities around shared European values, innovation and sustainable development.

Around 60 students, doctoral candidates and lecturers from nine European universities recently took part in the Ou[te]r Campus BIP project, the STARS EU initiative aimed at developing a collaborative, interdisciplinary and transnational European campus model. During the event, hosted by the Bremen University of Applied Sciences, six concepts were developed focusing on new forms of interaction between physical spaces and the digital opportunities offered by STARS EU.

The aim of this workshop, which became a blended intensive programme, was to build on the momentum generated by the collaborative “Interspace” project — also held at HSB in 2025 — in order to further develop these ideas and translate them into long-term structures with a “solid institutional foundation”. This represents a clear step towards a “co-creation campus that transcends disciplinary and geographical boundaries”, according to Janina Ebner, member of the Co-creation Campus at STARS EU.

Alongside her, Professor Maria Clarke, also involved in the initiative, highlighted that the workshop helped strengthen the project for the future. “Bringing together more than 60 interdisciplinary participants — students, doctoral candidates and members of academic staff — from the nine partner institutions was no easy task.” “During the workshop, there was a clear willingness to collaborate, build networks and work together to address the complex question ‘What is a European campus?’ and to find answers to it.”

The focus has been placed on strengthening STARS EU, and therefore the groups created continue to work on the six concepts developed, which explore proposals for physical spaces and digital possibilities. The outcomes of the Ou[te]r Campus teaching and knowledge-transfer project will be exhibited from 1 to 9 July 2026 in an exhibition at the Transferlabor (formerly AB Galerie) at Hochschule Bremen.

Interspace 2025

Ou[te]r Campus BIP stems from the collaborative project carried out in 2025 under the name “Interspace”, which explored ways of creating shared and connected campus spaces within STARS EU. The initiative brought together an international group of students from the HSB School of Architecture and the Integrated Design programme at the University of the Arts Bremen (HfK), who developed the first ideas. Among them was the STARS EU intercultural pavilion, conceived as a meeting place, which is currently on display at the Higher School of Engineering of the University of La Laguna.

The universities participating in this second phase are: Aleksander Moisiu University (Albania); Krakow University of Technology (Poland); Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, the Netherlands); Hochschule Bremen (Germany); Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal); Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic); University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain); Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (France); and University West (Trollhättan, Sweden).

*The Ou[te]r Campus BIP programme is funded by STARS EU and Erasmus+ grants.

Silesian University in Opava (SUO), Czechia, and Bragança Polytechnic University (IPB), Portugal, have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen academic, scientific, and pedagogical cooperation between the two institutions.

The agreement was signed by Orlando Rodrigues, President of IPB, and Tomáš Gongol, Rector of SUO, during an institutional visit of the Czech delegation to Portugal held between 26 and 30 April 2025. The delegation also included representatives of the SUO’s School of Business Administration in Karviná, led by Dean Roman Šperka.

One of the most important outcomes of the visit is the preparation of the School of Business Administration in Karviná for its first-ever double degree program. The new program, “Master in Product and Process Innovation”, currently undergoing the accreditation process, will allow students to obtain two diplomas in cooperation with the Portuguese partner institution. The first students could enroll as early as September 2027.

During the visit, the delegation participated in meetings with representatives of IPB schools, research centers, and innovation structures, including CeDRI, UNIAG, Brigantia EcoPark, MORE CoLAB, and the AquaValor Water Technology Transfer Center. Discussions focused on student and staff mobility, applied research, Living Labs, innovation, entrepreneurship, and practice-based learning methodologies.

“IPB makes full use of its regional context. Local challenges are transformed into opportunities for cooperation, research, and innovation. They build multidisciplinary teams, precisely the kind of approach that is needed,” said Rector of SUO, Tomáš Gongol. Dean Roman Šperka highlighted the shared educational vision of both institutions: “We are creating new opportunities for study programs taught in English while building on the Team Academy concept.”

The cooperation further strengthens the growing collaboration among STARS EU partner institutions and supports the alliance’s commitment to internationalization, innovative education, academic mobility, and regional impact across Europe.

STARS EU will keep its call for innovative academic offers permanently open. The call is addressed to teaching staff at member universities who are interested in contributing to the development of a shared European curriculum within the alliance. Selected proposals may be incorporated into the joint academic offer planned for 2026.

The call is open to both new courses specifically designed for this initiative and existing courses from current curricula that can be shared — with or without adaptations — among partner universities. One key requirement is that courses are taught in English or can be easily translated.

Proposals may target bachelor’s or master’s programmes at different levels and may be submitted in online, hybrid or blended formats. These include methodologies such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), guest lectures delivered by invited faculty, Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), as well as other innovative formats that combine online and face-to-face learning.

STARS EU particularly values proposals that promote interdisciplinarity, international collaboration, strategic and systems thinking, global awareness, sustainability, and interaction with regional and interregional stakeholders.

Participation and selection

Interested staff should contact their home university or the STARS EU coordinator at their institution and complete the online form with the basic information about their course proposal, available on the STARS EU website. Once all submissions have been received, the alliance universities will assess the proposals and select the courses that will form part of the first joint academic offer in 2026.

Selected proposals will become part of a large-scale European initiative aimed at strengthening the internationalisation of higher education and will gain access to a network of universities across nine European countries. In addition, they will receive didactic and methodological support from the STARS EU Curriculum Lab during implementation, as well as potential financial support or additional resources from their home institutions.

STARS EU has opened a call aimed to researchers of the nine allied universities, to provide seed funding to develop collaborative research and innovation projects. The complete guidelines can be download using this link, and also visiting the “Calls” section of the STARS EU website. This is a pilot call that starts in April 2024 and runs until March 2025, and afterwards it will be evaluated and improve for future editions.

This grant will provide financial support up to € 3,000 per partner involved in each project. So, if there are three partners, the grant will be 9,000 EUR. This funding can be used for several purposes related to the start-up of a project (hence the denomination “seed”), such as costs related to international meetings or writing sessions; or external consultancy services including writing proposals, proof reading or designing duties, among others.

STARS EU partners can submit a proposal for a seed grant related to researchers, early-stage researchers, innovators, PhD students and other profiles. The envisaged project must have a clear link with the STARS EU strategy and priority areas and must include, at least, three alliance partners. Each university will finance the expenses of its participants.

This is an open call, which means that there is not a closed date for receiving proposals, but in order to be eligible, the application must be submitted to starseu@org.hanze.nl at least three months before the deadline of submission of the envisaged Horizon Europe or FP10 call.

All projects will be evaluated by an assessment panel consisting of representatives of STARS EU Steering Committee, which will have in consideration the criteria expressed in the guidelines document to measure its relevance, clarity and feasibility.

This guidelines document also includes information regarding the main content of the application and the budget, and offers the possibility of reaching the STARS EU Funding Expert Group for support at starseu@hv.se.

STARS EU has launched a program of online seminars in which specialists from the various areas that are part of the alliance will present innovative projects and proposals based on science and knowledge with the potential to support regional development.

Under the name of Stars Talks, these interventions will be open to the entire public through this link on the Zoom platform, and their format will be simple: the talks will be short (between 15 and 45 minutes) and there will be time for the public to debate and ask questions. It is planned that there will be one of these STARS EU Talks every month, ten in total each year.

The dates and speakers of the first three are already known: on April 17, María José Ferreira, Director of Research and Quality of the Portuguese Footwear Research Center, will present “Portuguese footwear cluster – Innovative green materials, processes and products”; on May 15, Mikael Ericsson (University West) will speak on “Sustainable Industry– A New Thematic Interest Group”; and on June 19, José Sigut Saavedra (University of La Laguna) will speak about “Medical Diagnosis using Artificial Intelligence – Application to Retinal Images”. All of them will begin at 13:00 (CET), accessed through the Zoom link mentioned above.

These webinars have been promoted by the alliance’s Challenge Lab and the topics they address will be suggested from the different STARS EU structures. In addition to the focus on regional development, the interventions will also promote EU values and support the Green Transition and Digital Transition processes.

Green materials

On April 17, María José Ferreira, Director of the Labs and Research and Sustainability Department at CTCP, the Portuguese Footwear Technological and Research Centre, will speak about innovative green materials, processes and products in the Portuguese footwaer cluster. “Our planet is facing challenges that are causing the footwear sector to accelerate its efforts to be sustainable by adopting green and digital solutions”, the expert explains. So, there are many potential areas of intervention, and several variables remain, so significant research and innovation need to be done.

She will explain the global approach of projects like GreenShoes4.0 and BioShoes4All, along with examples of the new and “next generation” of sustainable materials and processes, including biological and biobased materials, man-made bio-based materials, material-to-material recycling, and new concepts of functional, durable, or circular handbags or footwear.

A critical step towards sustainability in footwear is doing a product life cycle assessment (LCA) to measure and reduce its environmental impact throughout its life cycle. Results and strategies to reduce the products’ carbon footprint will be introduced

Maria José Ferreira holds a graduation in Chemistry, a Master in Environmental Sciences, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering. She has experience in R&D project preparation and coordination; physical and chemical testing of footwear and related materials (leather, plastics, rubber, composites, textiles, nanomaterials); and safety at work and environment management. Her research activity is carried out at CTCP in cooperation with industrial companies and R&D entities across Europe, focusing on new materials and processes, sustainability, products with lower environmental impact and recycling.

She has coordinated for CTCP more than 60 projects. She is a member of EU TAB for the EU Product Environment Footprint development and the delegate of Portugal to the Standardisation Committees, enrolled in developing National, CEN and ISO Standards applicable to footwear and related materials.

 

Suistanable Industry

On May 15, Mikael Ericsson will present the new Thematic Interest Group within the STARS EU alliance, that will address the Sustainable Industry. As the expert summarises, under the “Sustainable industry” concept, it can be included both production, new materials, resource-efficient process and product development, and industry close to services such as digitization, energy supply and circular business models.

Mikael Ericsson is head of the Industrial Automation Department of University West, and researcher in technology, production technology. His work is mainly focused on research interests such as robotic welding and robotic welding simulation. He also teaches robotics to engineering students.

 

AI for medical diagnosis

José Sigut Saavedra, from University of La Laguna, will offer the last talk scheduled so far on June 19, “Medical Diagnosis using Artificial Intelligence – Application to Retinal Images”. In his dissertation, he will explain how artificial intelligence can help the medical specialist make a better diagnosis and detect a pathology at a more incipient stage.

In this case, the main focus will be on retinal images which contain very useful information for the diagnosis of eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration, among others. This type of diseases can become a major public health problem. Specifically, in the Canary Islands the rate of diabetics is quite high and it is necessary to control the effect that this may have on the retina.

Jose Sigut graduated in Physics from the University of La Laguna in 1993 and received his PhD from the same university in 2002. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering and head of the multidisciplinary group MIAG (Medical Image Analysis Group) formed by members of the Department and the University Hospital of the Canary Islands.

His research activity is mainly focused on the application of Computer Vision and Deep Learning techniques to the automation of diagnosis in the medical field. As a result of this activity, he is co-author of 48 journal articles. He has also published and disseminated the results of his research in 63 conferences. In addition, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Queensland, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Genoa and the University of Iowa.

The next STAR Talks will be announced soon.