Una Europa Student Project Incubator

What is the role and place of Europe in the world?

How do the challenges and questions we are currently facing connect to global realities?

What is Europe’s position in a global context really telling us? What is it challenging us to reflect upon?

If you have ever found yourself asking these questions, or thinking that Europe could play a different role in the world, the Una Europa Student Project Incubator is for you.

Apply to the Una Europa Student Project Incubator

The Una Europa Student Project Incubator is a new programme empowering students to:

Work together in international and interdisciplinary teams in a virtual setting.
Put their skills into practice by tackling real-life challenges.
Learn how to frame and find new insights addressing pressing issues.
Work with students, staff and researchers from across our alliance.

Exploring Europe's role in the world

This year’s edition of the Una Europa Student Project Incubator focuses on the topic of Europe’s role in the world. This includes four sub-themes for you to explore and to help shape your ideas:

Europe and the path to a more sustainable future

Climate change and ecological crisis, and their impact on societies and environment, are urgent, global issues. What are the consequences of the sustainability crisis? What could Europe’s role be in supporting a better future? What are the global impacts, connections and injustices of these changes?

Europe and the road to peace and stability

War and conflict are pressing global issues; the impact on people and their futures can be wide-ranging and devastating. What is needed to work towards a more peaceful world and what role is and could Europe take in these conflicts inside, on, and outside our borders?

Immigration and inclusion

Europe has long been a place of immigration and emigration. The movement of people is a core aspect of the continent's long history, but many also fear and worry about this movement of people. What are the connections between and challenges of political polarisation, nationalism, and immigration within and outside of Europe?

Linguistic diversity and cultural tradition

Europe is culturally and linguistically heterogenous. What are the changes and developments we have seen in cultural independence and linguistic development across the continent? How do we appreciate - or overlook - each other’s cultures? How do we understand and embrace the importance of our unique backgrounds?

Is the Student Project Incubator for me?

Bachelor's and master's students or doctoral researchers (PhDs) currently enrolled at an Una Europa university are welcome to apply to participate in the Student Project Incubator.

We are looking for students who care about current issues linked to Europe's position and role internationally, and who want to develop their skills and thinking on how to act on this.

The Incubator invites you to bring your most pressing problem so that together we can learn, collaborate, share ideas, meet new people and develop proposals to move forward!

We can’t promise that all will be solved, but we can promise you an experience where you will learn new skills, meet new people and co-create ideas for how to make an impact on the world.

This is the very first time we are implementing the Incubator, so we hope you will learn with us and help us make this initiative even better in the future!

How does the Incubator work?

Apply with an idea – or without! You don’t have to have an idea to apply, you can also join another person’s idea at the start of the programme.
Await further information – all applicants will be informed by 9 October.
Join the group forming, joint sessions and masterclasses (see dates and times below).
Optionally, join the community hours and office hours according to your interest and availability (full schedule below).
Present your idea alongside your team for the chance to win the Incubator prize! The prize will be monetary support for one or more team to further develop and test their idea. Further information regarding the prize will be shared during the Incubator.

What are the key dates for applying?

13 September: Applications open
7 October: Applications close
9 October: All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their submission, whether they have been accepted or not.

What does it mean to participate in the Incubator?

The Student Project Incubator features a programme of online sessions for all participants, including masterclasses for building your knowledge and learning new skills. The masterclasses will explore topics such as design thinking, research skills, communications, and project planning and implementation.

The tentative session programme is as follows:

16 October, 15:00–18:00CET: Joint session for participants to meet for the first time and form their collaborative teams.
21 October, 15:00–17:00: Joint session to officially kick off the Incubator!
23 October, 15:00–18:00CET: Masterclass 1.
30 October, 15:00–18:00CET: Masterclass 2.
6 November, 15:00–18:00CET: Masterclass 3.
13 November, 15:00–18:00CET: Masterclass 4.
15 November, 14:00–16:00CET: The final showcase, where our teams will present their ideas.
20 November, 15:00–16:30CET: Evaluation and wrap-up.

Joint sessions and masterclasses are crucial for your participation in the programme. It is highly important that you join all these sessions.

In addition, there is a programme of optional community and office hours to support your participation in the programme and encourage your personal and professional development.

Community hours are foreseen from 14:00–15:00CET on 25 October and 1 and 8 November.
Office hours are foreseen from 15:00–16:00CET on 28 October and 4 and 11 November.

FAQs

Who is eligible to participate in the Student Project Incubator?

Bachelor's or master's students or doctoral researchers (PhDs) currently enrolled at an Una Europa university are welcome to apply.

What if I can’t join a session?

We highly encourage you to join all the joint sessions and masterclasses and if you already know that you can’t join many of them, we encourage you to wait and apply for the next edition of the Incubator. The joint sessions are really important to progress with your team and get things moving forward. We will be recording the masterclasses since we want to provide an opportunity to catch up if you have to miss one session, but we don’t encourage this solution for several sessions.

Do I need to have an idea when I apply?

You don’t need to already have an idea to apply. You can also apply with a general interest and join another team during the first session of the programme.

Is everything online?

Yes, the whole Incubator programme will be delivered online. We encourage local meet-ups where possible, but all parts of the Incubator will be implemented online.