EUGLOH at Universität Hamburg“Building a strong and well-connected alliance”

21 April 2023, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: EUGLOH

Since 2021, Universität Hamburg has been a member of the European University Alliance for Global Health, or “EUGLOH” for short. Viktoria Kurnosenko, EUGLOH team head and project coordinator at Universität Hamburg, talks in the interview below about how teachers and researchers can get involved and how students benefit.

What exactly is EUGLOH?

EUGLOH is one of 44 European university alliances being funded within the scope of the European Universities Initiative. Nine universities from various European regions are members of EUGLOH and together, they are developing a common European campus with co-created teaching programs and research activities focusing on global health. Global health is understood in this context broadly and with an interdisciplinary approach. It covers not only traditional topics in medicine but also, for example, health economics, climate research, legal matters, ethics, etc.

What are the EUGLOH goals? And how does exchange take place?

 One important goal of EUGLOH, and also its greatest challenge, is to create a strong and well-connected alliance with a common structure and processes. These will be established long-term at the participating universities and give practical opportunities to their respective students, researchers, teachers, and staff. By including all groups, EUGLOH will be valuable to everyone involved. New, innovative formats can be tried and internal internationalization processes can be reflected upon and further developed.

International exchange in EUGLOH primarily takes place online, although there are also joint events and partner meetings. There are 8 “work packages” on overarching topics such as transnational teaching and learning; research-based learning; student employability; or campus life.

Within Universität Hamburg, there is especially close exchange between the Department of International Affairs—where the EUGLOH project team is based—and the Knowledge Exchange Agency. The Knowledge Exchange Agency coordinates knowledge exchange activities for EUGLOH within the scope of the service-to-society work package. There is close cooperation with the UKE in the area of research cooperation.

How does the alliance benefit students?

EUGLOH focuses on many questions that directly impact students, for example, the development of a digital European Student Card, the creation of new interdisciplinary courses, and improving student mobility. To this end, our motto is “Nothing about us without us”—the EUGLOH student board is an opportunity for students at Universität Hamburg to contribute their ideas and feedback directly and to exchange with other EUGLOH students. Generally, all students at Universität Hamburg benefit from EUGLOH: they can attend courses, seminars, and training opportunities offered in English both in person and online. There are also opportunities for short stays at EUGLOH universities, summer school programs, and, in the future, Erasmus semesters.

How can teachers and researchers take part?

Innovative teaching is crucial to EUGLOH.  Teachers who wish to develop co-creative and innovative teaching programs with other EUGLOH researchers and who are interested in exchange on topics such as joint degrees or the European Degree or other co-creative formats are welcome to contact the EUGLOH project team.

We offer researchers networking opportunities through matchmaking workshops funded via the accompanying DAAD Research in EUGLOH project. Funding for research stays of up to one month at EUGLOH universities is available for doctoral and early career researchers.

Are there also programs for administrative staff?

 All Universität Hamburg employees can take part in international programs. These range from staff weeks and topic-related training opportunities to a variety of other professional training opportunities offered at all 8 EUGLOH universities. You can also pursue contacts with international colleagues in the alliance who are working in an area similar to yours. The EUGLOH team is happy to help you initiate contact and can set up contact to extant working groups in which other University staff members are already involved and who can help you tap the network to advance your own work at the University.