The project EDUC-WIDE was this summer awarded support from the European Excellence Initiative (EEI) (europa.eu) as one of twelve funded projects ot of 61 submitted applications.
With a total budget of about 3.5 million euros, the consortium will further expand its research and innovation side over the next three years.
EDUC-WIDE will enable the alliance to claim a central role in regional transitions to knowledge-driven economy and society. In the coming years, Open Science shall become an integral part of the research process and the infrastructure of EDUC universities. In addition, researchers will be supported and prepared for diverse career tracks outside academia. All partners will develop, implement, and promote gender equality plans.
The aim is to expand excellence in research and knowledge transfer through deeper and geographically inclusive cooperation in alliances of higher education institutions in order to make a long-term contribution to tackling important societal challenges. Among other things, the focus is on green and digital transformation as well as the contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
One focus is on the deeper involvement of the Czech, Hungarian and Ukrainian partner institutions, which will receive special attention as so-called „widening partners“ with this EU funding. The Ukrainian Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University is integrated structurally and as a full partner in the research and innovation dimension of the Alliance for the first time.
The European Excellence Initiative follows the Horizon Europe funding that enables the Alliance's research and innovation pilot, EDUC-SHARE.