With 10 Alliance partners, an expanded commitment to the university of the future, and support from the European Commission (EC) for the next four years, the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition (UNIC) is ready to kickstart its second phase in October 2023.

We are delighted to announce the 1st UNIC Thematic Conference, which will be held from 7-9 May 2025 at Malmö University.

In an era marked by rapid urbanization and the pressing need for sustainable development, cities face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The UNIC Thematic Conference aims to address these critical issues by fostering multidisciplinary dialogue and innovation. Drawing on contemporary inter-disciplinary scholarship and engaged research, the conference will explore sustainability and urban resilience within postindustrial settings.

The event will bring together leading scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to share insights, develop collaborative solutions, build bridges between research and innovative education and chart pathways toward more resilient and sustainable urban futures.

Virtual mobility represents an innovative leap in higher education by expanding internationalization opportunities, transcending geographical constraints, and fostering inclusive, sustainable, and technology- driven learning experiences. UNIC is dedicated to advancing virtual mobility, and this new declaration takes the first bold step.

InterTeach - Intercultural and Innovative Teaching and Learning - is UNIC’s new professional development programme for university teachers. With the aim of helping and inspiring university teachers to design innovative teaching and learning settings, the initiative has just unveiled a rich and diverse program of workshops for 2025. All workshops are organised for an international audience, interactive, online and in English. Interested teachers can register for one workshop or many, just as they wish. Participants will get a ‘proof of attendance’ after completion of any single workshop.

Prof.dr. Semiha Denktaş has been appointed as UNIC’s new Alliance Coordinator by the Executive Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She will take from founding coordinator Prof.dr. Peter Scholten, who is stepping down after a transformative run steering UNIC from the kernel of an idea to a flourishing pan-European alliance since 2018. After a short transition process, Prof. Scholten will hand over the baton to Prof. Denktaş on August 28, 2024. Professor Scholten will be stepping down after a transformative six-year run at the heart of UNIC, all the way from the alliance’s earliest concept meetings in 2018 and its founding in 2020 to its new phase in 2023. He was a key, pioneering force in forging UNIC’s identity, central to its emergence and journey towards building the European University of the future.

The fund supports virtual international educational activities across UNIC university partners and incentivizes faculty members at UNIC universities to include virtual collaborative international educational activities such as Virtual Exchanges into the regular curriculum. Initiatives may bring their courses together for a first-time collaboration and new activity, or they may consolidate, deepen or transfer an existing engagement. The call is open to all staff members of all ten UNIC universities (part- and full-time professors, educators, lecturers etc.) involved in teaching. All faculties, topics and disciplines are welcome.

Deadline for Submission: 16th of December 2024 (23:59 local time)