UNIC Conference

The UNIC Conference Regenerating Post-Industrial Cities: The Role of Universities is a 1-day event that brings together the entire UNIC community. UNIC staff, students, associate partners, and the public are cordially invited to participate. 

The UNIC Conference sessions will be open to the public. The first open session, the “Opening Ceremony,” introduces UNIC and provides a brief overview of our ambitions and achievements.

The second plenary session, “The European Study Experience: The Future of European Higher Education” prompts a panel of stakeholders to discuss what European Universities can contribute to our collective future.

The third plenary session, “Meeting the Challenges of Post-Industrial Cities” focuses a panel discussion on our cities and the role that UNIC can play in their renewal.

Following the plenary sessions, participants can join parallel sessions. Details on the parallel sessions can be found below.

Program

All times in the program are in Central European Time (CET).

Friday, June 11

13:00 - 13:20 |  Opening Ceremony

Speakers include: European Commission Deputy Head of UNIT for Higher Education Tine Delva, President of Erasmus University and Chair of Management Board UNIC Prof. Dr. Ed Brinksma, UNIC Alliance Coordinator Prof. Dr. Peter Scholten, and Rabia Demirelli, a representative of the UNIC Student Board.

13:20 - 14:00 |  The European Study Experience: the Future of European Higher Education

Panelists include Rector of Koç University Prof. Dr. Umran İnan, Rector of Ruhr University Bochum Prof. Dr. Axel Schölmerich, Rector of University of Zagreb Prof. Dr. Damir Boras, and Robert Queckenberg, representative of the UNIC Student Board. Vice Rector of Academic and International Affairs at Ruhr University Bochum Prof. Dr. Kornelia Freitag will serve as the moderator.

14:05 - 14:45 |   Meeting the Challenges of Post-Industrial Cities

Panelists include Rector of University of Liège Prof. Dr. Pierre Wolper, Vice Rector of University of Oulu Dr. Arto Maaninen, Vice Rector of International Relations of University of Deusto Prof. Dr. Alex Rayon, and President of Erasmus University Rotterdam Prof. Dr. Ed Brinksma. UNIC Program Manager of Erasmus University Rotterdam Samira Abbadi will serve as moderator.

14:45 - 15:00 |   Break

15:00 - 15:50 |  Parallel sessions (round 1)
                           Session A: UNIC Management Board meeting (this session will end at 16:50 and is closed to the public)

                           Session B:  Solving post-industrial societal challenges with UNIC CityLabs

About session 1B: This interactive workshop will be lead by Mia Kemppaala, one of the UNIC coordinators at the University of Oulu (Finland) with more than ten years of professional and personal experience in collaborative problem solving, Open Innovation practices and co-creation. Join our discussion on how multi-stakeholder cooperation can help solving post-industrial challenges !

15:50 - 16:00 | Break

16:00 - 16:50 |  Parallel sessions (round 2)

                           Session A: UNIC Management Board meeting (closed to the public)

                           Session B: Superdiversity and the COVID19 Pandemic

Session 2B includes the following speakers : Prof. Dr. Selva Demiralp, Koç University on Global Vaccine Inequity during COVID19 Pandemic; Dr. Birce Altıok, Dr. Birce Demiryontar, Dr. Souad Osseiran, Migration Research Center at Koç University (MiReKoc) on Superdiversity in Higher Education Settings: State-of-the-Art and its Implications for COVID19, and Pınar Dönmez, Koç University on Superdiversity and Higher Education during the COVID19 Pandemic: A Student Perspective.

Chair: Prof. Dr. Marco Martiniello
16:50 - 17:00 | Closing