The European University Association (EUA) is calling on European higher education institutions to participate in a survey on university-based energy research and education open until 15 July 2015. The survey is part of the FP7-funded UNI-SET project, a Coordination and Support Action aiming to mobilise Europe’s universities to contribute to the SET-Plan objectives and the Energy Union.
EUA is conducting this survey to take forward its work in the field of energy, through the European Platform of Universities in Energy Research and Education (EUA-EPUE), the inaugural event which was launched by EUA in 2012 at TU Delft.
The objective of EUA-EPUE is to pool the collective resources and knowledge available in European universities and to become an interface between European Universities and European institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament, and also to advocate on behalf of the university sector on energy matters (i.e. new energy-related policy and funding programmes).
The survey results will not only be useful for policy development – e.g. through highlighting areas of specialisation and concentration of research activities – but also for strengthening multidisciplinary and transnational cooperation. Master and Doctorate programmes, as well as research topics of participating universities will be displayed on interactive and web-based maps, allowing the identification of synergies and building new collaborations across Europe. The maps will also help with attracting potential students, researchers and partners.
Input to the survey is not limited to technical or engineering disciplines. Stemming from the recent development to recognise institutional, financial and behavioural changes as crucial dimensions of the SET-Plan and the energy challenge, EUA is also calling for contributions from disciplines such as law, economics, social sciences or the humanities.
During 2016 and 2017, UNI-SET will proceed with organising several ‘clustering events’ to bring together university leaders and other interested stakeholders to discuss important issues on energy and agree on ways of addressing them through new collaborations and pooling their knowledge and resources. The events are also intended to serve as venues to develop new multidisciplinary master, doctorate and research programmes with a European perspective.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway will host the first clustering event from 24 to 26 February 2016.
The web-based maps of Master, Research and Doctorate programmes will be available online in late 2015.
About UNI-SET: The UNI-SET project is running from 2014 until 2017. It is led by EUA in cooperation with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) representing the universities in the Knowledge and Innovation Community InnoEnergy (KIC InnoEnergy).
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