Image of the Unite! community during the awards ceremony

A unite! community member taking a picture during the Unite! awards

18 October 2024

And the Award goes to…

The Unite! Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of individuals or groups within the Unite! Alliance.

The X Unite! Dialogue and the II Unite Branding Event brought together around 500 people from Europe to work together on the vision of a European Campus. This requires a great deal of commitment and dedication, and the Unite! community shows a great deal of this, said TU and Unite! president Tanja Brühl at the presentation of the first Unite! Awards and the Unite! Start-up Award during the closing session of the Dialogue.

The Unite! Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of individuals or groups within the Unite! Alliance. Nominations were made via the nine partner universities, either for an individual or for a project, and were reviewed and judged by the Unite! Executive Board. The Unite! Governing Platform selected the nine award winners.

“The final decisions reflect beautifully what makes our university alliance special: expertise, competence, talent, creativity, sense of community and belonging. The willingness to share these characteristics working together in Unite! creates in sum what may be best called the Unite! spirit. Thanks to all of you.”

Tanja Brühl during the award ceremony:

For Aalto, Helsinki the Unite! Award goes to the entire team of Unite! Joint programme & joint programme online toolkit and handbook.

The Unite! Joint programme & joint programme online toolkit and handbook team (Eija Kujanpää, Ella Lankinen, Professor Stephan Sigg, Anita Bisi, Pasi Lassila) successfully developed the first Unite! Joint Programme, CoDaS, which achieved the prestigious Erasmus Mundus status in 2023. Additionally, the team played a pivotal role in the creation of the Unite! Joint Programme Online Toolkit, a key initiative within both Unite and the EUI.

For INP-UGA, Grenoble the Unite! Award goes to Elisa Hausherr.

Elisa Hausherr has played a pivotal role in shaping the newly established Student Liaison Officer position within the Unite! framework. Her significant contributions include developing and leading the SLO network, fostering collaboration with SURE! representatives, and actively promoting Unite! in INP-UGA Grenoble. Additionally, her efforts have been instrumental in raising awareness of the student seed fund and ensuring it is better tailored to students' needs.

For KTH, Stockholm the Unite! Award goes to Mirko Varano.

Mirko Varano played an instrumental role in establishing KTH as a partner of Unite!, leveraging extensive experience, exceptional skills, and a vast network to drive the initiative forward. Deeply engaged in every phase, including the application processes for the pilot project and Unite! 2.0, he has been actively involved in all stages. Additionally, he has taken a leading role in representing KTH across various projects within the Unite! framework and has also represented Unite! in broader EU-level projects.

For Polito, Turin the Unite! Award goes to Carlos Castro.

Serving as Project Manager for PoliTo since 2020, Carlos Castro has demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm and competence in supporting Unite! initiatives. He has provided continuous support to Task Force activities during the first phase and to the committees in the second phase. Additionally, as Vice SLO, he made a significant impact by contributing to team discussions and actively motivating the student community to engage with Unite! activities.

For Technical University Darmstadt the Unite! Award goes to Vera Krewald.

Vera Krewald has been a key contributor to the establishment and development of the Unite! Seed Fund, serving as an integral member of the setup and proposal writing working group. Since its inception, Dr Krewald has played a crucial role as a key evaluator for the 'Student Activities' board. Furthermore, she has been instrumental in the success of the Unite! Seed Fund application in the areas of Research and PhD, collaborating with three Unite! partners. Her efforts in disseminating and communicating Unite! activities within TUDa have significantly engaged both academics and students.

For Technical University Graz the Unite! Award goes to Daniel Fruhwirt.

For University of Lisboa the Unite! Award goes to the Lisboa Team for Community 7 on Unite! Doctoral Fellowships.

For UPC, Barcelona the Unite! Award goes to Jesús Alcober.

Jesús Alcober played a key role in the design, conceptualization, and creation of shared digital infrastructures, including the Metacampus and Agora, which have been crucial in enabling many joint activities within Unite! and beyond the alliance. He has demonstrated remarkable innovation, a deep understanding of the needs of the Unite! community, and a user-focused approach that prioritizes the best possible experience.

For Wroclaw Tech the Unite! Award goes to Elżbieta Kruchlik.

As a key member of the Erasmus+ Cm 6 team, Elżbieta Kruchlik focused on the professional development and training of staff. She has significantly broadened the opportunities available to faculty and staff, particularly through enhanced training programs and social activities. Her crucial role in co-creating the Unite! Socializing Clubs has strengthened connections among staff members across the Unite! network. Additionally, she has been instrumental in implementing an electronic document management system at Wroclaw Tech, aligning with Unite!’s commitment to innovation and efficiency.

The first Unite! Start-up Award

The first Unite! Start-up Award represents a bridge to the start-up scene. Start-ups from all nine Unite! partner universities took part in a two-stage selection process. An international expert jury made up of Unite! representatives and experts from various industries selected two final start-ups that were invited to the Start-up & Innovation Day 2024 in Darmstadt. The winning team, CeraSleeves, was honoured during the closing session of the Unite! Dialogues – a fitting transition to the subsequent InnoDay24, where the start-up scene of the nine Unite! partners had the opportunity to network for the first time.

Short pitches from the Unite! initiatives

During the Unite! Branding Event on 25 September, some Unite! initiatives took the opportunity to present themselves to the public in short pitches. Many others also presented themselves in a subsequent poster exhibition and were put to the public vote. The posters of the initiatives U!Train, IDEM and Unite! OER courses were honoured.