About Aurora

Project Management.

The overall goal of WP1 is to ensure sound management and coordination of Aurora’s workplan as well as optimally support the institutional development of the Alliance in line with the Aurora vision.

This WP is responsible for the running of the Aurora Central Office and delivery of policy and strategy support as well as all professional services, in addition to providing a framework for Quality Assurance.

University representatives:

1.1 Fanney Karlsdóttir, Svandís H. Halldórsdóttir, Halldór Jónsson, and Friðrika Harðardóttir - lead.

1.2 Eiríkur Stephensen - lead.

1.3 Fanney Karlsdóttir and Svandís H. Halldórsdóttir.

Transdisciplinary European Research-Driven Educational Hubs

The overall goal of WP2 is to influence societal change by developing communities of learners, researchers, and stakeholders that jointly work towards becoming change-makers based on active and inclusive, student-centred teaching and learning in higher education that is research—and innovation-driven and recognised across all our institutions.

To this aim, we will establish these educational hubs with four emphases dedicated to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. The emphases are as follows:

• Sustainability & Climate Change
• Digital Society & Global Citizenship
• Health & Wellbeing
• Culture: Diversities & Identities

University representatives:

2.1 Lára Jóhannsdóttir

2.2 Ragna Kemp

2.3 Sigrún Ólafsdóttir and Kristjana Hrönn Ásbjörnsdóttir

2.4 Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir - co-lead

2.5 Sandra Berg Cepero

Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The overall goal of WP3 is to foster teaching and learning for societal impact with particular emphasis on entrepreneurial skills and mindsets. This is done through delivering courses on social entrepreneurship and innovation, creating a virtual community of social innovators, and engaging regional ecosystems and stakeholders.

Central to WP3 are innovative pedagogies developed in the first phase of the Aurora European University Alliance project, with special emphasis on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Scales to Measure Impact Competence (SEISMIC), which provides quantitative measures for twelve competencies required to create societal impact.

University representatives:

3.1 Magnús Þór Torfason - co-lead

3.2 Auður Pálsdóttir - co-lead and Sandra Berg Cepero

Teaching and Learning for Societal Impact

The overall goal of WP4 is to foster teaching and learning for societal impact with special emphasis on transversal skills.

WP4 will aid in stimulating mutual learning and developing joint frameworks on innovative pedagogies. It will also embed service learning and co-creation as core pedagogies for societal impact in Aurora universities. Furthermore, work will continue on developing and implementing tools that are already in place, such as Learning Outcomes in University for Impact in Society (LOUIS).

University representatives:

4.1 Sandra Berg Cepero - co-lead

4.2 Auður Pálsdóttir - lead and Sandra Berg Cepero

Enhancing Quality of Research through an Aurora Research and Innovation Community

The overall goal of WP5 is to create an environment for Research and Innovation within Aurora that fosters and recognises excellent research and research collaboration. By creating an active Research and Innovation Community within Aurora, we can both enhance the quality of research and increase its impact. This includes sharing common values and practises regarding research assessment and Open Science. It also includes initiating common research activities through incentive calls and mobility actions.

University representatives:

5.1 Baldvin Zarioh - lead and Halldór Jónsson - lead

5.3 May Staub, Eiríkur Stephensen and Svandís H. Halldórsdóttir.

Green and Digital Campus

The overall goal of WP6 is to support the establishment of an Aurora Alliance inter-university campus by advancing our IT capacities by implementing interoperable online authentication and authorization to access digital services. Additionally, the WP aims to ensure that the shared Aurora infrastructure is as sustainable as possible in terms of environmental impact and that the Aurora partners work towards lowering their carbon footprint, both through Aurora’s work and by implementing other sustainability measures at their campuses.

University representatives:

6.1 Bjarni Þórisson - lead

6.2 Kristinn Jóhannesson and Sólrún Sigurðardóttir

Capacity Building and Community Engagement

The overall goal of WP7 is twofold. Firstly, to upscale co-engagement of the student community across Aurora universities by formalising student coordination and student programme implementation through various means, such as strengthening administrative support. And, secondly, to reach out to associated partner universities in Central Eastern Europe by strategic mainstreaming of the Capacity Development Program, with a particular focus on regional peace-building capacity and outreach programme to the local community in Ukraine

University representatives:

7.1 Alma Ágústsdóttir - lead

7.2 Alma Ágústsdóttir

Enabling Mobility and Exchange

The overall goal of WP8 is to conduct joint planning, piloting, testing, and sharing of experiences and good practices and to equip students and staff with international learning experiences. This WP will build upon the work done in the first phase of the Aurora Alliance, which included moving towards recognition of mobility opportunities and identifying mobility obstacles. In this WP, we will solidify administrative processes for short-term, blended, and virtual mobility and move towards adopting the European Student Card Initiative. This WP will emphasize the expansion of mobility opportunities for students and staff, by targeting both, the (physical) academic exchange as well as the internationalisation at home perspective. This will be supported by Aurora Borderless Learning, the Virtual Campus, and the Aurora Course Catalogue.

University representatives:

8.1 Nanna Teitsdóttir - lead, Alma Ágústsdóttir and Aníta Hannesdóttir.

8.2 Nanna Teitsdóttir and Sandra Berg Cepero.

8.3 Nanna Teitsdóttir and Brynjar Þór Elvarsson.

Aurora Governance

The overall goal of WP9 is to assess the progress, outcomes, transformational potential, and impact of the Aurora Alliance. It includes setting up structures and procedures from an alliance-wide perspective to ensure deep-level cooperation between the partners and work towards a sustainable alliance.

University representatives:

9.1 Fanney Karlsdóttir - lead, Friðrika Harðardóttir, Halldór Jónsson, and Svandís H. Halldórsdóttir

9.3 Fanney Karlsdóttir

Impact and Dissemination

The overall goal of WP10 is to achieve the widest possible dissemination of all Aurora activities. As reputation is a key element of sustainability, this WP will support the Alliance's long-term strategy. This will be done by advancing a multi-level dissemination strategy that will build upon the solid groundwork to implement a long-term education strategy, establish a European higher education inter-university campus, and build European knowledge-creating teams in Aurora 2030.

University representatives:

10.1 Bryndís Jóhannsdóttir and Alma Ágústsdóttir

10.2 Oddur Sturluson