EmpoWering EDUC for Inclusive Development of the ERA

EDUC counts among the pioneer University Alliances supported by 2019 Erasmus+ call. During recent years, EDUC established a truly trans-institutional EDUC community of students and academic staff. However, performance gaps between EDUC members from Widening and non-Widening countries persist, especially in R&I and adoption of ERA policies. In EDUC-WIDE, we will reinforce the Alliance via 4 main aims: 1. Ensure that the principles of Open Science are becoming an integral part of the research process and infrastructure of EDUC Universities. 2. Introduce responsible research assessment as standard practice in EDUC and reach out to policy makers to make institutional and national environments supportive for reformed research assessment. 3. Prepare EDUC researchers for diverse career tracks outside of academia and promote the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Plans in Widening countries. 4. Initiate and scale-up R&I collaboration of EDUC Universities and their ecosystems and contribute to tackling of major societal challenges: the Green and Digital Transition, EU Missions, and UN SDGs. To achieve aims 1-3, we will establish expert groups on the topics of Open Science, Research Assessment, and Career Diversity and engage them in strategy building, knowledge transfer, staff exchange, training and the introduction of advanced R&I practice across the EDUC Alliance. To achieve aim 4, we will extend our interactions with ecosystem and global partners and develop R&I funding component with two bottom-up programmes: (1) Seed Projects, small scale projects preparing grounds for long-term R&I collaboration and (2) Access to Research Infrastructures, mutual use of R&I facilities within EDUC. Thus, we will empower the EDUC to claim a central role in regional transitions to knowledge-driven economy and society. While embedded in regional ecosystems, EDUC-WIDE has a robust European dimension and will contribute to 15 out of the 20 Actions of the ERA Policy Agenda.