Today, we celebrate Europe Day – a moment to honor peace, unity, and the shared values that bind us across borders. At STARS European University, we proudly stand with our European community in upholding the core values of respect for all, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law.

“United in Diversity” isn’t just a motto – it’s a way of life. It reflects our belief that our differences make us stronger, and that learning from each other enriches us all. Whether through collaborative research, student exchange, or cultural dialogue, we champion the idea that diversity is Europe’s greatest strength.

The STARS TALK webinar series, organised by the STARS EU Challenge Lab, resumes its programme this May with two meetings that will address crucial challenges for European communities. On the one hand, the implementation of SDG 16 at the local level and, on the other, the challenges of the energy transition in isolated systems.

The first, “Enforcing consumer rights: implementing SDG 16 at the local level“, which will be given by Professor de la Rute Couto (Bragança Polytechnic University (Portugal), will explore the role of municipalities in promoting inclusive institutions and empowered consumers, in line with the 2030 Agenda and the European Consumer Agenda.

The talk, which will take place on 14 May at 13.00 CET, will analyse, through the Portuguese experience, local practices that promote justice, sustainability and access to conflict resolution, especially in the most disadvantaged groups.

 

 

Decarbonisation in island environments

The second, which will be offered on 11 June, at 13:00 CET, will delve into the “Energy transition applied in isolated systems: current and future challenges”. Taught by Benjamín González Díaz, professor at the University of La Laguna (Spain), the presentation will reflect on decarbonisation in island or remote environments and will address the incorporation of renewable energies such as solar, wind or hydroelectric in isolated systems.

The meeting will serve to present technological advances and innovative strategies to achieve energy independence and environmental sustainability of vulnerable communities.

These events are part of the monthly STARS TALK cycle, a knowledge-sharing initiative that fosters dialogue on science, technology, and innovation-based solutions. Each session includes a concise presentation, followed by an interactive space with the audience.

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The cycle of presentations of the STARS EU alliance, which IPB carried out over the past few weeks at its Campuses and Schools, concluded this Wednesday, April 17th, at the School of Hospitality and Wellness in city of Chaves.

Staff, teachers and researchers participated in these sessions, which provided an important opportunity to disseminate the different ongoing activities and to gain insight into how the institutional and external actors can contribute and be associated with the challenges of the alliance.

The purpose of this action was to disseminate the objectives of this long-term strategic cooperation,  between nine European partners, within the scope of the European Universities initiative, one of the most emblematic of the European Union and the Erasmus Programme.

There were six sessions in total, held at all IPB schools in the cities of Bragança, Mirandela and Chaves. The sessions were given by our members of the steering committee, Vice-President Luís Pais, and Pro-President Vera Ferro Lebres.

During the sessions, it was presented not only the project but also the names of IPB people who is already involved on the alliance, work packages and TIGS. The questions raised by the public were mostly focused on how they could participate or get involved.

A delegation of deans from Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) has visited the Cracow University of Technology on 16 and 17 April to meet their counterparts at the Polish institution. The purpose of the visit is to thoroughly examine the mutual offerings in the field of international partnership and to establish the details of further cooperation between the universities in the framework of STARS EU.

The intensive program has included meetings with the university authorities and visits to faculties such as Computer Science and Telecommunications, Environmental Engineering and Energy, Chemical Engineering and Technology

The Portuguese delegation of deans was composed by Nuno Ribeiro (School of Technology and Management), Adília Fernandes (School of Health), Sonia Nogueira (School of Public Management, Communication and Tourism), Pedro Bastos (School of Agriculture) and Carlos Teixeira (School of Education).

They were received, among others, by Andrzej Szarata, Rector of the Cracow University of Technology; Dariusz Bogdał, Vice-Rector for Science; Katarzyna Baron-Lisiakiewicz, head of the International Relations; Michał Bereta and Natalia Ryłko, Vice-Deans of the Faculty of Computer Science and Telecommunications; Stanisław Rybicki, Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Power; and Piotr Michorczyk, Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology.

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.

One of the objectives of STARS EU is to contribute to regional development, mainly through higher education, research, teaching and transfer activities. And this was the main issue that occupied several sessions of the annual conference of this alliance, held on 21 and 22 March in the French city of Besançon, organised by one of the allied institutions, the University of Franche-Comté.

Thus, in addition to the researchers, professors, technical staff and students who are already part of the alliance, local stakeholders were also invited to this event so that they could contribute their point of view on the role that universities can have in the development of the regions where they are located. These guests participated in a specific panel on this issue, as well as in a working session with the presidents, rectors and TIGS leaders, not to mention the numerous networking opportunities that the meeting facilitated.

In that discussion panel participated representatives of several regions, such as Benjamin Rodrigues (Bragança Portugal), Christian Schütt (Bremen, Germany), Pauline Prat and Laurent Volle (Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France) and Astrid Burhöi, (Västra Götaland region, Sweden), under the moderation of Daniel Hissel, vice-president of Socioeconomic Partnership and Innovation of the University of Franche-Comté. Issues such as the need to improve digital skills, entrepreneurship and English in professional contexts, and to make the technical person more aware of the socio-political context were raised. STARS EU was seen as an opportunity to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between research and society.

In addition, during the first day of sessions, three other discussion sessions focused on the possible contributions of the alliance to the Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) from the point of view of knowledge development, STARS EU curriculum and entrepreneurship. These discussions are based on the diagnosis of this strategy developed by the Regional Transition Accelerator, which was presented during the opening of the conference by its coordinator, Marieke Steenbergen.

Opening

The opening ceremony was led by Samir Jemeï, Vice-President in charge of International relations of the University of Franche-Comté and, in addition to Steenbergen, was attended by the President of the host university, Macha Woronoff, the President of Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Dick Pouwels, and the Vice-President in charge of Higher education & Research of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, Laëtitia Martinez.

Macha Woronoff recalled that this was the first STARS EU annual conference following the approval in July 2023 of the project submitted to the European Commission, by virtue of which the alliance now has the status of European University. She stressed, however, that STARS EU is not just this project, but a long-term vision that aims to respond to the challenges of the present and the future and to train the leaders of tomorrow who will have to face them.

Dick Pouwels congratulated the host university on the recent celebration of its 600th anniversary and, taking advantage of the fact that Besançon is known as the French capital of watchmaking, told a parable in which the protagonist asked the price of an antique watch he had inherited in different shops, and was told in all of them that it was a cheap object. But when he asked in a watch shop, he was told to his surprise that the price was one million. The moral is that the right place and the right people will give you your real value, hence the importance of recognising your own value, and also the value of other people.

Finally, Laëtitia Martinez explained some initiatives that her region has put in place to bring researchers and decision makers together to find new answers to social, economic and environmental challenges. She also emphasised the need to involve students in the process.

Status of the alliance

As has become customary at each annual meeting, the alliance coordinator, Rima Dijkstra, took stock of the current state of STARS EU, pointing out the goals achieved and also the pending tasks, always with the four main aims of the alliance as a guideline: to develop the European University project; to create a new future-oriented students’ generation, to promote innovative, flexible and diverse challenge-based educational and research systems; and to contribute to green and digital transition and sustainable development of regions.

Thus, with regard to the Regional Transition Accelerator, research on the similarities and complementarities of the partners in the context of RIS3 has been completed, and networking with local and regional stakeholders has begun to be strengthened. Among the challenges, she cited the creation of infrastructures for innovation and entrepreneurship and, in the longer term, making recommendations for a joint policy on regional transition.

On the collaboration in education, addressed by the Curriculum Lab, the STARS EU Competences Catalogue has already been created and a learning community has been built within the alliance. The next steps are the creation of the Future Competences Catalogue and the Joint Micro-Credential Catalogue, as well as weighing up possible joint doctorates and other academic degrees.

Research is covered by the Challenge Lab, and research priorities have been established, several STARS Talks have been held and the STARS EU Seed Grants for joint projects have been developed. The design of the alliance’s list of research needs and the implementation of the technology transfer office are still pending.

The TIGS has already developed a strategic agenda for the next three years and an action plan for 2024-25, hold regular meetings and develop joint initiatives such as projects, papers, courses and events.

Work has also progressed on the implementation of the STARS EU campus, both physically and digitally, and is currently in the comparative study phase for its development. A challenge identified by Dijkstra was the need to increase student mobility by 50% and staff mobility by 40%.

In terms of dissemination and communication, there is already a Communication Plan for the alliance and its adaptation to the nine allied universities, and the first issue of the quarterly newsletter Nova has been published. It now remains to make progress in branding, improving the website and opening the Open Data repository, as well as training in Open Access.

Also highlighted was the activity of the Student Board, which has an action plan for the next academic year and is getting involved in the different working groups of the alliance to ensure that the student perspective is always taken into account.

Among the risks faced by STARS EU, its coordinator pointed out the lack of involvement of staff and students, economic sustainability, mobility, the complexity of legal frameworks for designing joint degrees, and institutional resistance to change, among others.

Finally, the next steps of the partnership are to implement the European project and to apply for Erasmus+, Interreg, Horizon Europe, FP10, national and regional calls for proposals. In the longer term, the legal entity of the partnership will have to be addressed and the extension of the project to more years will have to be tackled.

Other meetings

After the opening, the conference itself got underway, with guest speakers including Karel Haegeman from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, who gave a provocative presentation on the role of universities and innovation in achieving place-based transformation; and on Friday 22nd, Pam Fredman, who presented her WEXSUS (West Sweden Nexus for Sustainable Development) project, which has started in 2024 after several years of preparation, with the aim of creating an “arena” in which universities and local actors collaborate.

In addition, the teams in charge of the tasks of the eight project work packages, the TIGs, the alliance groups, the STARS EU commission and the steering committee were able to advance their work, with the advantage of being able to do so face-to-face and not virtually, as is the norm in the alliance. The in person meetings are assets that not only allow work to progress, but also strengthen links between members, which also has a positive effect on the purely professional side.

That is why the alliance will continue to promote, as far as possible, on-place meetings. The next ones will be on 5 and 6 November at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, to continue monitoring the progress of the European project, and in 2025, on 21 and 22 March for the next annual conference, this time in Albania, organised by the Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës.

(Photo credits: all images in the body of the text have been taken by Nuno Nascimento, from Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. The group photo in the header has been provided by the University of Franche-Comté).

During the first week of March nine representatives from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança visited the Hanze University of Applied Sciences at Groningen, following the works within the STARS EU alliance.

Ther were several eetings at the schools of Law, Engineering, Communication, and Business & Marketing, whch  sparked inspiring discussions on potential education and research collaborations. There was also time for a captivating city tour, showcasing Groningen’s charm and culture.

The Second Edition of the International Conference on Co-Creation Process (IN2COP) was recently held at Bragança Polytechnic University, marking a significant collaboration with STARS EU partners. Distinguished personalities such as Vanessa Dubois, from the European Commission, and Tia Loukoula, from OECD, took the stage as plenary speakers, sparking insightful discussions on the future of higher education within the framework of European Alliances and the evolving landscape of future skills demanded by the job market.

The event provided a platform for Portuguese Polytechnic Universities, as members of European University Alliances, to exchange insights on governance models and legal frameworks pertinent to European Alliances. Participants from diverse backgrounds, including professors, students, researchers, academic staff, and external stakeholders representing various scientific domains and economic sectors, convened to share best practices and prototype outcomes of co-creation processes.

One of the highlights was the public unveiling of a microcredentials programme at Bragança Polytechnic University, codesigned with regional stakeholders. The event also featured a presentation by the president of Compete 2030, shedding light on funding opportunities available to both companies and higher education institutions.

The conference’s final day was dedicated to showcasing Erasmus+ projects implemented at Bragança Polytechnic University, offering a unique platform for six schools and four research centers to exchange experiences, establish connections, and disseminate their findings.

The STARS EU Steering Committee took advantage of this gathering to reflect on past achievements and outline future endeavors, underscoring the event’s importance as a catalyst for collaboration and innovation in higher education.

More pictures of the event

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, the Silesian University in Opava and the Bremen University of Applied Sciences are partners, together with the National Institute of Administration and the FEFAL Foundation, of the INNlocal project, whose kick-off event took place last December 2023 at the Communication, Administration and Tourism School in Mirandela of the Portuguese institution of higher learning.

The aim of this project is to create practical solutions that adapt to the needs of society, with a view to new local public policies capable of facing increasingly current challenges such as environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion and citizenship and participation.

The official kick-off was attended by representatives from all partners, and it was focused on discussing the mission of this project, which appears within the scope of the European consortium STARS EU.

Last week, Bremen University of Applied Sciences (HSB) held a Staff Week with participation of members of all STARS EU partners. The German institution is also running three Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) independently for the first time. These activities are important building blocks on the way to becoming a European university.

The Staff Week focused on digital working methods at the participating STARS EU universities. Close to 50 experts on e-learning, digital campus and Erasmus Without Paper, as well as teaching staff and researchers from the Thematic Interest Group (TIG) “Digital Transformation“ came together to discuss this complex topic. The aim is to gradually establish a joint digital campus.

The launch of the three Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) is an important test for the further development of the internationalisation of HSB‘s curricula. Several STARS EU partner universities are involved in these programmes.

The three projects at a glance:

• “Startup Blended Intensive Programme”, School of International Business with Stephan Form together with the University of La Laguna (Spain), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), University West (Sweden) and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences at Groningen (Netherlands)
• “Sustainable Urban Building Intervention”, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering with Maria Clarke (Architecture) and Thomas Rauscher (Civil Engineering), together with the Polytechnic Institute Bragança (Portugal) and Cracow University of Technology (Poland).
• “Embedded Systems for Mobile Robots”, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, under the responsibility of Martin Hering-Bertram and supported by Sören Peik, together with the Polytechnic Institute Bragança (Portugal) and the Hanze University of Applied Scioences (Netherlands).

In all projects, the students initially start  in online groups and work together on preparatory tasks. In the projects from the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a total of 15 students from each of the partner universities will come to Bremen for a week later in the semester to work on the practical part of their module and prepare the final presentation.

The practical part of the project of the School of International Business will take place at Groningen with the participation of a total of 25 students from the partner universities involved in these BIP.

The projects are worth six credits. Lecturers from all participating universities are involved with their own contributions and in supervising the group work.