What can ENLIGHT do for me?

Students

• virtual courses, webinars, Living Labs, short-term programmes, student networking and mobility funds
• the opportunity of mobility to any of the nine partner universities without being overwhelmed by the paperwork or discouraged by complicated credit recognition
• the chance to study towards joint and double degrees (e.g. Master in political science and in economics) - at partner universities you will be able to study various subjects and receive sufficient credits to obtain both degrees
• increase language proficiency

While constructing our interconnected campus all ENLIGHT partners have high-quality courses on offer. Have a look at our current offer.

Joint and Double Degree programmes

Within the ENLIGHT there are currently 16 international joint or double degree programmes which involve two or more ENLIGHT partner institutions. Please find an overview of them on the ENLIGHT website.

Following are the links and contact information regarding rules and procedures for PhD Double Degrees per ENLIGHT partner:

*The University of Bern no longer offers joint supervision of doctorates on an individual basis. However, the joint supervision of doctorates is still possible for long-term international, strategically important research projects with a minimum of five doctoral students.

ENLIGHT RISE (Research and Innovation agenda, Science with and for society) seeks to strengthen the research and innovation dimension of our network. The objective is to become more competitive and innovative together.

Societal Challenges

Within ENLIGHT Xtra the aim is to develop new models and methodologies of education and research to address global challenges. The project explores the complex sustainability issues that cities and communities face today, focusing attention on the following five flagship areas:

• Health and well-being,
• Digital revolution and Impact of digitalisation,
• Climate change,
• Energy and Circular economy,
• Equity.

Aligning with ENLIGHT’s main objective of widening bottom-up engagement in our university communities, ENLIGHT will incentivise the design and upscaling of sustainable educational initiatives across all three study cycles addressing societal transition, sustainable future and human well-being, targeting future-proof skills and global competences and connecting learners with societal stakeholders around our six focus areas.

You can find extended information onthe ENLIGHT webpage, in the section dedicated to the Incubator Grants.

Activities and expected outcomes:
Educational initiatives refer to sustainable educational activities in various formats with specific and measurable outputs and a timeframe of implementation. Examples include blended intensive programmes, blended mobility, living labs, winter/summer schools, virtual courses, virtual exchange, collaborative online international learning (COIL), joint minors, joint programmes, co-teaching formats for larger groups of students (e.g. 1st semester students), joint courses, but other formats are also welcome.

Selection criteria:
Eligibility
Initiatives must involve at least 3 ENLIGHT universities (2 for virtual exchange), align with ENLIGHT's six focus areas, award Transcript of Records ECTS credits, and employ innovative teaching and learning approaches.

Evaluation
The ENLIGHT alliance jointly ranks the applications by quality, feasibility, proposed output and their added value with regard to the objectives of ENLIGHT.

You can find extended information regarding the evaluation criteria and selection procedure on the ENLIGHT website, in the section dedicated to the ENLIGHT Incubator Grants.

Funding:
Each selected initiative under the current call can apply with a maximum total amount of € 30.000. We strongly encourage you to check the ENLIGHT website for a very extended overview of the specifications.

Deadline:
30 June 2024

How to apply:
As soon as you decide that you intend to submit an application:
1. Let us know by completing the UG Expression of Interest form
2. Complete the application procedure and form on the ENLIGHT website.
The completed applications are also to be submitted there.

Reporting:
Each project is required to report. Check the ENLIGHT website for the most updated information on how and when to submit the end reports.

Empowering academics and stimulating joint knowledge creation is at the core of ENLIGHT's mission. The general objective of this call is to widen up the bottom-up engagement and challenge-based cooperation between ENLIGHT academics with genuine added value.

These objectives are operationalised through a new instrument of ENLIGHT, namely the ENLIGHT Thematic Networks (ETNs). In this call, a total number of 10 ENLIGHT Thematic Networks (ETNs) will be selected. 

An ETN is a community of multidisciplinary academic teams from at least three ENLIGHT Universities joining forces around a specific topic in research and education with societal relevance and impact. 

You can find extended information on the ENLIGHT webpage, in the section dedicated to the ENLIGHT Thematic Networks.

Activities and expected outcomes:
As a space for catalysing cooperation, an ETN will conduct preparatory, coordination and support activities.

For example:

• Exploratory actions leading to joint initiatives.
• Organization of meetings and workshops.
• Mobility and exchange of academics.
• Outreach and engagement encounters with societal stakeholders.
• Setting-up of joint proposals for external funding.
• Other activities.

Specific outputs of an ETN could be new joint seminars, summer courses, thematic conferences, Bachelor (BA) Master (MA) or PhD courses and programmes, co-supervision of PhDs, grant applications (Horizon Europe, MSCA, ERC, Erasmus+, Intereg,...), citizen science initiatives, mobility programmes, knowledge transfer programmes, leadership and entrepreneurship programmes, etc.

Selection Criteria:
Eligibility
ETNs must be composed of teams of academics belonging to at least three ENLIGHT Partner Universities. The ETNs should be aligned with one (or more) of the six ENLIGHT focus areas.

Evaluation
The ENLIGHT alliance jointly ranks the applications by quality, feasibility, proposed output and their network and team composition.

You can find extended information regarding the evaluation criteria and selection procedure on the ENLIGHT website, in the section dedicated to the ENLIGHT Thematic Networks.

Funding:
Each selected ETN under the current call will be allocated with a maximum total amount of €150.000. We strongly encourage you to check the ENLIGHT website for a very extended overview of the specifications.

Deadline:
30 June 2024

How to apply:
As soon as you decide that you intend to submit an application:
1. Contact the research/education and financial support within your respective faculties before submitting your application.
Please note the faculties might also set up internal deadlines.  
2. Let us know by completing the UG Expression of Interest form
3. Complete the application procedure and form on the ENLIGHT website. The completed applications are also to be submitted there.

The ENLIGHT alliance will review and will do the selection of the proposals. UG is represented in the selection committee, though note that the selection will be done by the ENLIGHT alliance.

We strongly encourage you to check the ENLIGHT website for a very extended overview of the specifications.

Reporting:
ETNs will report their activities every 18 months to follow-up their progress, introduce their planning for the next 18 months and help them with further assistance if needed.

Check the ENLIGHT website for the most updated information on how to report.

In order to support joint activities between the ten ENLIGHT universities the ENLIGHT+ programme offers funding to support the organisation of small-scale (student) initiatives, aiming to foster the development of or participation in various bottom-up projects, including but not limited to those focusing on green and inclusive campus initiatives.

At least three ENLIGHT partners must be involved in the proposed initiative.

Please note that (internal) funding conditions for ENLIGHT institutional calls and ENLIGHT+  differ considerably per university, since the funding comes from various local or national sources (non EU).  ENLIGHT partner universities can never be obliged to give financial support because one of the others does. Please advise your ENLIGHT counterpart, to first contact their local ENLIGHT+ contact for internal guidelines, to avoid disappointments.

Activities and Expected outcomes:
The ENLIGHT+ call is meant for the development or participation in joint small scale workshops, preparatory meetings for joint project proposals, jointly organized courses and trainings.

Outputs (courses, events) should in general be open to the targeted staff and students of all ENLIGHT partners (as far as the educational concept or capacity allows).

For whom is the call:
Researchers, staff members, PhD candidates and students of UG can apply and make use the UG ENLIGHT+ funding. Colleagues from partner universities are recommended to check for funding possibilities at their own university.

Amount of the call:
The ENLIGHT+ budget is modest.

Small requests for individuals traveling to partners or hosting meetings where the majority of the participants are from ENLIGHT partner institutions, will be handled on a rolling basis (first come - first served). Applications should be handed in at least 2 weeks before the event takes place.

Applications for ENLIGHT group events, summer schools and bigger initiatives will be dealt with after a call deadline.

Costs eligible for funding may include:

• Organizational support (funding for small events, partner visits, conferences, or workshops aimed at enhancing collaboration within the ENLIGHT Community)
• A contribution in travel and subsistence cost to attend events hosted by partner universities.
• Funding for outbound mobility (not covered by Erasmus+ 131 funding already) will be in line with Erasmus+ rates.

Organisational costs and catering costs for events hosted by UG will not exceed €1500,-

How to apply:
As soon as you decide that you intend to submit an application:
1. Let us know by completing the UG Expression of Interest form

2. Please consider whether you are the lead applicant or a participant:
- As lead applicant please complete the application procedure and form on the ENLIGHT website. The completed applications are also to be submitted there.
- As an UG participant in an event or initiative led by another ENLIGHT university please complete this application form.

The selection and awarding of the UG applications is done at the University of Groningen. You will be notified within 4-6 weeks about the decision.

Deadlines:
As a lead applicant these are the relevant deadlines to apply:

• 30 June 2024
• 30 September 2024
• 31 January 2024