The NAI²TURE Project is One of the ENLIGHT 2025 Call Winners!

We are excited to announce that the NAI²TURE Project, coordinated by a team at the UG, has been selected as one of the 2025 ENLIGHT Call winners! This project aims to support university educators in developing critical, inclusive, and accessible AI literacy. Find out more about NAI²TURE and the people behind it below!

What is the main goal of the project? Who are your collaborative partners?

NAI²TURE is an ENLIGHT Educational Network that supports university educators in developing critical, inclusive, and accessible AI literacy. The project brings together six ENLIGHT universities to co-develop open educational resources, best-practice examples, a virtual peer-consultation platform, and a policy-oriented white paper. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, NAI²TURE helps lecturers responsibly integrate AI into teaching and learning while addressing equity, accessibility, and ethical concerns.

The main goal is to strengthen critical AI competencies in higher education. Key outputs include:

(1) a virtual platform with modular, accessible AI-literacy resources;

(2) curated best-practice cases from ENLIGHT universities;

(3) a white paper on equitable and accessible AI literacy;

(4) a podcast series and peer-consultation activities; and

(5) short-term international staff exchanges.

Partners include ENLIGHT universities in Göttingen, Groningen, Galway, Bordeaux, the Basque Country, and Uppsala.

Why is this international collaboration essential to your work?

AI literacy challenges are shared across Europe but manifest differently in local contexts. International collaboration allows NAI²TURE to combine diverse disciplinary, cultural, and institutional perspectives, creating richer, more transferable solutions. Working across ENLIGHT universities strengthens peer learning, ensures relevance beyond single institutions, and enables scalable, Europe-wide impact grounded in shared values of openness, equity, and academic rigor.

How did this collaboration come together?

NAI²TURE builds on long-standing collaboration within the ENLIGHT network, originating from earlier Teaching & Learning conferences and a previous Educational Network (3G4P). It also draws on the successful use case of the Community of Practice on AI in Education at the Teaching Academy of Groningen. These initiatives established trust and shared objectives, which have since evolved into a more focused agenda on AI literacy. The current project consolidates and expands this foundation, formalizing the collaboration into a structured, interdisciplinary network.

What impact do you expect this project will have for the University of Groningen and the ENLIGHT Network?

For the University of Groningen and ENLIGHT, NAI²TURE strengthens leadership in responsible AI in education, enhances staff development opportunities, and contributes concrete resources that can be embedded in teaching practice. At network level, it builds a sustainable community of practice, supports policy dialogue, and positions ENLIGHT as a reference point for equitable, evidence-based AI integration in higher education.

Does your project connect to other research, teaching or outreach activities you are involved in?

The project builds on existing ENLIGHT courses, prior ETN activities, and ongoing research in pedagogy, learning analytics, AI ethics, and educational design. It strengthens links between teaching innovation and research, while also laying the groundwork for follow-up Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe proposals, ensuring continuity beyond the funded period.

What's next?

Beyond the project period, NAI²TURE aims to expand its community, scale the virtual platform, and secure follow-up European funding (e.g., Erasmus+ Forward-Looking or Horizon Europe). The long-term vision is a self-sustaining, interdisciplinary hub that continuously adapts to new AI developments and supports educators across Europe.

The team at the UG:

• Dr. Tri Tran, Assistant Professor of Operations Management, Faculty of Economics and Business
• Dr. Miquel Pérez Torres, Educational Developer, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Dr. Liga Klavina, Lecturer, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences
• Dr. Francisco José Castillo Hernández, Assistant Professor, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science and Engineering
• Dr. Jeremy Burman, Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences

We are happy for the NAI²TURE team and are excited for the outcomes of this project!