Aurora Opportunities

University Duisburg-Essen:

Digital Resilience for a Vital Europe (see course descripton)
Level of study: Master‘s and Undergraduate students who have completed at least 60 ECTS
Credits: 6 ECTS
Virtual teaching 20. apríl – 7. júlí
On-site component in Germany 18.-22. maí
Application deadline: 1 March
Students apply here and upload an introduction letter in PDF format here.

Digital Citizenship as a Contested Space (see course description here)

Level of study: Open to all
Credits: 3 ECTS
Virtual teaching 30 March-27 April
On-site component in the Czech Republic 13-17 April

Application deadline: 2 March

Students apply for a nomination through the Ugla Application Portal for Exchange Studies. The application also serves as an application for an Erasmus+ grant to cover traveling costs and a stipend during the stay.

Each undergraduate or graduate student can receive an Aurora/Erasmus+ grant once per academic year. Please note that the applicant must consult their department’s international coordinator to explore the possibility of having the course assessed for credit.

The applicant must be an active and registered student at the University of Iceland. Students 

Students who are registered for graduation before the completion of the course, exchange students, and visiting students at the University of Iceland are not eligible to apply. Please see further requirements for exchange studies on the University of Iceland website.

All questions regarding Aurora courses and the application process can be directed to aurora@hi.is.

Other open courses can be found in the Aurora course catalogue

For further information about the Aurora network, please see the University of Iceland's website.

Social Entrepreneurship from a Regional and International Perspective (see course description here)

Level of study: Undergraduate
Credits: 4 ECTS
Virtual teaching 13 April
On-site component in the Czech Republic 20-24 April

Application deadline: 2 March

Students apply for a nomination through the Ugla Application Portal for Exchange Studies. The application also serves as an application for an Erasmus+ grant to cover traveling costs and a stipend during the stay.

Each undergraduate or graduate student can receive an Aurora/Erasmus+ grant once per academic year. Please note that the applicant must consult their department’s international coordinator to explore the possibility of having the course assessed for credit.

The applicant must be an active and registered student at the University of Iceland. Students 

Students who are registered for graduation before the completion of the course, exchange students, and visiting students at the University of Iceland are not eligible to apply. Please see further requirements for exchange studies on the University of Iceland website.

All questions regarding Aurora courses and the application process can be directed to aurora@hi.is.

Other open courses can be found in the Aurora course catalogue

For further information about the Aurora network, please see the University of Iceland's website.

Aurora has launched a call for grant applications to encourage early-career researchers (PhD, postdocs, Master students working on their Master thesis project) to be hosted in a research unit of an Aurora full member university.  

The short-term research secondment can last up to 3 months. The research to be conducted in the host laboratory/unit should be well defined with a clear work plan and give the candidate important skills that are needed for his/her future research.  

Applicants are responsible for contacting the research unit to organise placement. Applicants can apply with the permission and signature of their supervisor and the host unit.  

Accepted candidates can receive a travel and subsistence grant from the International Division as a contribution towards costs. For further information on grants and grant amounts, contact the Aurora team, aurora@hi.is. In total, 10 grants will be awarded within the 9 Aurora universities.

Aurora member universities are, in addition to the University of Iceland:

• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
• University of Naples Federico II, Italy
• University of Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
• University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia
• Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
• Université Paris-Est Créteil, France

Further information about the Aurora cooperation can be found here. Questions can be emailed to aurora@hi.is.

Submission process

Further information on the application process can be found on the Aurora Universities website, please see Short-term Secondments for Research and/or Training for Early-stage Researchers

Applications to be submitted in English. The application deadline is 17 April 2026 at 10:00 GMT (12:00 CET).

This winter, UI staff and students can partake in an online cycle of workshops, training events, and open seminars designed to foster awareness, skills, and discussion on the practical implementation of Open Science and Citizen Science across Aurora universities.  

Events in the cycle will be conducted online in English and take place from November 2025 to May 2026 with the concluding final seminar being held in person in May 2026 at the Aurora Annual Conference in Duisburg-Essen.  

The events schedule and additional information on the cycle and can be found below. 

Please register for the cycle or individual sessions through this link.

Open Science and Citizen Science: From Principles to Practices Seminars, Workshop, Training Events (2025-2026) 

Running from November 2025 to May 2026, the series blends structured learning, hands-on training, and thematic debates. It is conceived as a coherent path to empower doctoral and master students, early-career researchers, and academic staff with the knowledge, competencies, and ethical awareness needed to integrate Open and Citizen Science practices in research and teaching. 

Schedule 

• Workshop - Best Practices in OS and CS  - 4 November 2025  - Hybrid  
• Training Event 1  - Research Data Management, FAIR, Ethics in CS - 18 December 2025 - Online  
• Training Event 2  - Open-Source Software, Workflows, Licensing  - 23 January 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 1  - Open Data, Open Access in Teaching, CS in Higher Education - 20 February 2026 - Online  
• Training Event 3  - OS in scholarly communication  - 26 March 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 2 - Legal and Ethical Challenges in OS and CS  - 16 April 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 3   - The role of OS and CS in AI and innovation  - 18-21 May 2026  - In-person (Aurora Annual Conference, Duisburg-Essen)  

This training is designed for educators and curriculum designers who are already teaching in the fields of social entrepreneurship, sustainability innovation, or business modelling. Participants examine learning objectives, competency profiles and pedagogical approaches. They also learn how to integrate digital educational tools (such as the seizmic business model app and custom GPT mentors) into their teaching practice.  

For more information and a detailed schedule for the on-site portion, please see the Aurora course website and the CBS website. 

Course dates: 

• 16 March 2026 – Online preparatory session 
• 20–24 April 2026 – On-site week at CBS, Copenhagen 
• 8 June 2026 – Online closing session 

Language: English 

Application deadline: 1 March 2026 

Apply here: Application link

 

The course is eligible for Erasmus+ funding. Please see more information on the UI International Division website.  

Further information can be found on the Aurora website.

Cultural and Emotional Literacy is a 5-day Blended Intensive Program (BIP) for university educators and staff who wish to deepen their understanding and practice of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) through an experiential, relational, and embodied approach. 

While DEI has become a central imperative in higher education, this program moves beyond institutional policies to explore how diversity can be lived, felt, and practiced in academic life. It invites participants to experience inclusion not as a framework but as a way of being, cultivated through empathy, awareness, and co-creation. 

The BIP combines reflective discussions, experiential workshops, and mindful practices to develop emotional and cultural literacy as essential competencies for inclusive and sustainable education. Participants will engage in listening circles, creative collaboration, and intercultural dialogue, as well as workshops designed to confront personal biases and expand cultural awareness, all within a caring and supportive environment. Instead of following predefined models, the program will take an ecological approach to collaboration, creating conditions where ideas and projects can grow organically, nourished by shared reflection and lived experience. 

Program dates: 

Online opening session: 26 May 2026 

On-site session week: 8–12 June 2026 

Online closing session: 26 June 2026 

Application deadline: 1 April 2026 

Only a few places are available. Applications for participation from UI staff are submitted through an Erasmus+ grant application. Applicants fill in the online form and attach an Erasmus+ mobility agreement for training, signed by themselves and their next superior. Receiving organisation signature is not needed until after the application has been approved. All instructions, documents, and information on Erasmus+ can be found on the International Division website, and any questions may be directed to aurora@hi.is. Applicants will be notified of decisions after 8 April 2026. 

For more information, please see the Aurora course website. 

The course is eligible for Erasmus+ funding.

A course aimed at enhancing the quality of doctoral supervision by sharing effective practices, tools, and approaches to mentoring doctoral researchers.

During this BIP, a diverse group of academic researchers, involved in, or with the potential to, supervise doctoral theses, primarily from the Aurora Alliance, will participate in a short-term mobility experience at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, from April 20 to 24, 2026. This immersive in-person week will be complemented by a virtual component, fostering collaborative online learning, knowledge exchange, and teamwork. Participants will engage in interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, and collaborative exercises aimed at enhancing their supervisory skills and understanding of best practices in doctoral education. The combination of face-to-face and virtual components will encourage a dynamic exchange of ideas and experiences, enriching the learning experience for all involved.

Target group: Academic staff supervising or planning to supervise PhD candidates

On-site dates: 20-24 April 2026
Location: Campus Catalunya (Tarragona) 
Number of available seats: 25 
Registration deadline: 3 March 2026 
Registration link: See website 

Selected participants may be eligible for Erasmus+ funds. Please see more information on the UI International Division website. Questions may be directed to aurora@hi.is.

The BIP "Challenge-Based Innovation Coordination" is addressed to technical and academic staff dedicated to challenge-based Learning at partner universities. The programme focused on methodologies and tools for coordinating challenge-based innovation projects in a university context, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and societal impact.

At the end of the course unit the learner is expected to be able to:

• Integrate, actively engage and contribute positively to multidisciplinary, multicultural and transnational teams.
• Work as a team member, demonstrating future innovation knowledge, skills and interpersonal relationships.
• Be able to create and coordinate Challenge-Based Learning Experiences.
• Develop a teamwork plan that answers the future challenge of the partner organizations.
• Implement innovative and creative solutions to the future challenges launched, with a value proposition for the end user.
• Execute the future innovation work plan, following the fundamental steps, adapting it to the proposed objectives and responding in an effective way to the challenges and problems launched.

Target group: technical and academic staff 
On-site dates: 11-15 May, 2026 
Location: Tarragona, Spain - Campus Terres de l'Ebre (Tortosa) 
Number of available seats: 25 
Registration deadline: 3 March 2026 
Registration link: See website.

Selected participants may be eligible for Erasmus+ funds. Please see more information on the UI International Division website. Questions may be directed to aurora@hi.is. 

The Aurora Global COIL Fair 2026 will take place online on April 8, 2026. This event brings together instructors from Aurora universities, associate institutions, and global partners to connect, identify future collaborators, and begin developing Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) projects.

How to participate

• Register from 11 February to 11 March 2026 via the registration form.
• Receive a Profile List by 20 March 2026, including responses from all registrants to help you identify potential matches.
• Join the virtual networking event on 8 April 2026 to meet your future COIL partner(s).

After the Fair

Participants who identify a match will be eligible to join a COIL Professional Development Workshop offered free of charge in June 2026. This training is exclusively available to participants who have found an Aurora partner during the Fair or shortly thereafter.

Further information

For questions or additional information, please contact: aurora@urv.cat.

Join this BIP at VU Amsterdam and explore how artificial intelligence can be integrated into teaching and learning in higher education in a productive, responsible, and strategic way.

This course combines online sessions with an on-site week in Amsterdam (22–26 June 2026). Together with peers from Aurora partner universities and beyond, you’ll deepen your expertise, exchange best practices, and strengthen your leadership role in shaping the future of AI in teaching and learning.

We invite academic and support staff with a leading role and with one to two years of active experience.

Advised level: The course is for active teachers and teacher support staff at universities (including  students with a teaching role) and university managers. Participants are expected to have a desire to take an (informal) leadership role in their university with regards of incorporating AI in Education in a productive and responsible way.

Advised language level: English C1 
Application deadline: 2 April 2026

Apply: Apply by filling in this form

This BIP will host up to 30 participants from Aurora partners. Course leaders will select participants, trying to balance numbers from each Aurora university. A special policy for encouraging the participation of associate partners will be implemented. If places are available, applicants from non-Aurora universities may be accepted.

If you have any questions about this BIP, please make sure to reach out to the Course Leader: Dr. Ir. Sylvester Draaijer, silvester.draaijer@vu.nl. 

Selected participants may be eligible for Erasmus+ funds. Please see more information on the UI International Division website. Questions may be directed to aurora@hi.is. 

This Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) supports academic teachers—including PhD students who teach—in using LOUIS to embed transversal competences into the Learning Outcomes, Assessment, and Teaching & Learning activities of their course. The course provides practical tools for revising learning outcomes, student assignments, and feedback rubrics in line with the LOUIS approach.

Course purpose:
To support academic teachers in designing course learning outcomes, assignments and feedback rubrics for students using the LOUIS competence framework and understand the link between these three.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Write clear learning outcomes for a university course in line with the Bologna requirements using the LOUIS-competence framework.
• Design an assignment that has clear tasks for students to acquire defined learning outcomes of a selected course/module, both subject-specific and transversal learning outcomes.
• Design a feedback rubric for one assignment (of a selected own course) that uses LOUIS-competence framework as a source of information, providing students with helpful information about subject-specific and transversal learning outcomes of the course/module.

Programme structure:

• Before the on-site event one online group session and an individual participant-trainer session,
• A five days’ interactive training (Amsterdam, 1-5 June 2026), and
• After the on-site event again individual participant-trainer sessions and an online group session.

Full attendance to all virtual and on-site sessions is required for certification.

The BIP is implemented under the responsibility of prof. Marjolein Zweekhorst of VU Amsterdam’s Athena Institute by a team of experienced trainers in the LOUIS approach.

Language: English 
Application deadline: 2 April 2026

Apply: Submit your CV and motivation letter to the course coordinator Kees Kouwenaar, kees.kouwenaar@kpnmail.nl. Applicants will be notified of the decision about their application.

For more information: kees.kouwenaar@kpnmail.nl or aurora@hi.is  

Selected participants may be eligible for Erasmus+ funds. Please see more information on the UI International Division website. Questions may be directed to aurora@hi.is.
 

This call aims to foster tangible scientific and academic collaboration by promoting cooperation between researchers and creating new or consolidating existing scientific relationships. Furthermore, this new call aims to address the intersection between research and education. It incentivises the formation of original collaborative research actions and research-driven educational actions in Aurora’s six thematic hubs of transdisciplinary research and education. Its vision is to build robust scientific and educational communities among the Aurora universities and raise awareness of Aurora opportunities on a broader academic level.  

Aurora is a consortium of research-intensive universities deeply committed to the social impact of their activities and with a history of engagement with their communities. Through the collaboration, the universities aim to harness their academic excellence to influence societal change through research and educational activities.

Three types of grants are available:

1. Collaborative Research Projects

Grants for exploratory and collaborative research and education projects. The proposals that will be funded should contribute to the increase of knowledge and address societal challenges and develop long-term scholarly communities within Aurora. The budget can be used to facilitate travel and networking to facilitate further collaboration.  

Projects will be granted up to 20,000 € in total and are expected to last 2 years. Applicants must come from at least three Aurora universities. A total of 10 projects are intended to be supported.  

2. Thematic Schools

This action generally funds intensive training for students who are close to graduation (Master) and early-stage researchers (PhD students and postdocs mainly). The events should serve as a career development opportunity, a knowledge sharing hub and a network/community building activity for the group of participants and lecturers. Grants will be available for either thematic schools, that cover a specific research theme over the course of 1-2 weeks, or research seminars over the course of a few days, including hands-on, theory-driven field work, community engagement as well as student research. Thematic schools may be granted up to €20,000 and research seminars up to €10,000. A total of 5 projects are intended to be supported.  

3. Short-term Research Stays for Early-stage Researchers

Aurora has launched a call for grant applications to encourage early-career researchers (PhD, postdocs, Master students working on their Master thesis project) to be hosted in a research unit of an Aurora full member university. These short-term research stays can last from 1 week to 3 months. The research should be well defined and give the researcher important skills needed for their future research project. Applicants are responsible for contacting the research unit to organise placement and the application. Signature of supervisor is also required.  

Application process

Further information and application forms can be found on the Aurora website.

Application deadline is 17 April 2026 at 10:00 GMT (12:00 CET).

This winter, UI staff and students can partake in an online cycle of workshops, training events, and open seminars designed to foster awareness, skills, and discussion on the practical implementation of Open Science and Citizen Science across Aurora universities.  

Events in the cycle will be conducted online in English and take place from November 2025 to May 2026 with the concluding final seminar being held in person in May 2026 at the Aurora Annual Conference in Duisburg-Essen.  

The events schedule and additional information on the cycle and can be found below. 

Please register for the cycle or individual sessions through this link.

Open Science and Citizen Science: From Principles to Practices Seminars, Workshop, Training Events (2025-2026) 

Running from November 2025 to May 2026, the series blends structured learning, hands-on training, and thematic debates. It is conceived as a coherent path to empower doctoral and master students, early-career researchers, and academic staff with the knowledge, competencies, and ethical awareness needed to integrate Open and Citizen Science practices in research and teaching. 

Schedule 

• Workshop - Best Practices in OS and CS  - 4 November 2025  - Hybrid  
• Training Event 1  - Research Data Management, FAIR, Ethics in CS - 18 December 2025 - Online  
• Training Event 2  - Open-Source Software, Workflows, Licensing  - 23 January 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 1  - Open Data, Open Access in Teaching, CS in Higher Education - 20 February 2026 - Online  
• Training Event 3  - OS in scholarly communication  - 26 March 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 2 - Legal and Ethical Challenges in OS and CS  - 16 April 2026  - Online  
• Open Seminar 3   - The role of OS and CS in AI and innovation  - 18-21 May 2026  - In-person (Aurora Annual Conference, Duisburg-Essen)