UPT, through DeL within E³UDRES² Ent-re-novators: Over 1,400 participants at international events, 5 skills courses, strengthening Citizen Science and the Academic Community through Digital Skills in Artificial Intelligence
Politehnica University of Timișoara (UPT), through the Department of ID/IFR and Digital Education (DeL), delivered a series of tangible results within the European Horizon project E³UDRES² Ent-re-innovators, UPT's contribution focusing on the development and implementation Open Education, Open Science and Open Innovation, while also exploring how new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality, influence these practices in European academia.
International Events Coordinated at UPT under the umbrella of E³UDRES² Ent-re-novators
The Department of ID/IFR and Digital Education of UPT organized a series of major events within the project Ent-r-e-novators , all in hybrid format, which facilitated the exchange of knowledge at the international level.
Both these events and our workshops were attended by guests from: EURASHE, EUA (Association of European Universities), EDEN (EDEN Digital Learning Europe), COARA, EOSC, EDEH (European Digital Education Hub), IEEE Education Society, as well as from other alliances such as UNITE! and EU4DUAL.
The 11th edition of the Open Education & Science workshop, with the theme "Challenges in Open Science & Education”", he gathered over 440 participants, both online and physically, alongside 11 experts from six countries. The discussions focused on topics such as the importance of Open Science and Open Access for universities, as well as on the analysis of the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on open education. The relevance of the event was confirmed by the positive feedback, over 90% of participants rating the overall quality of the presentations as "good" or "very good".
series Open Education & Science Practices Workshop continued with the 12th edition, which brought together over 500 participants from 17 countries. Among the key elements, the event included a keynote session dedicated to the impact of AI in teaching and research and marked a premiere: publishing accepted works in open-access format by Politehnica Publishing House. The public response was notable, 95% of participants evaluating the overall quality of the presentations as "Very good".
In addition, UPT, through the Department of ID/IFR and Digital Education, organized the first edition of International Summer Schools E³UDRES² – Ent-re-innovators PhD Summer School, with the theme "Open Practices in Higher Education", dedicated to training early-stage researchers. The event attracted a physical over 70 international students from 22 countries, with another 400 following the online sessions, under the guidance of 14 experts. In addition to the lectures, the intensive program included practical workshops on relevant topics such as FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data and open policy development.
Among the speakers and experts present at the event, during the Doctoral Summer School, 4 external guests coordinated various courses and workshops, from: COARA, UNITE Alliance, UNA Europa Alliance, UEFISCDI and EOSC.
At the end, students received recognized certificates for 2 ECTS credits. Of the 71 participants who completed with a certificate – 7 were participants from outside the E³UDRES² University Alliance and 5 from outside the Ent-re-novators project, but from the E³UDRES² Alliance.
Open Educational Resources (OER) and Online Training
Another important component of UPT's activity in the project was the development of educational resources by launching a set of free online courses, designed to support the development of skills for education and research.
program Foundations of Open Practices, available free of charge to students and staff of the E³UDRES² Alliance, includes four self-contained courses: Licensing and Open Licensing (Licensing and Open Licensing) – involves 5 hours of activities at your own pace – a course in which 199 people have participated to date and 137 digital certificates have been issued; Open Education (Open Education) – 24 hours of activities at the learner's own pace (1 ECTS) – 75 participants to date and 25 digital certificates issued; Open Access and Open Science (Open Access and Open Science) – 15 hours of online study activities – 101 people have signed up and 64 digital certificates have been issued to date; and Open Innovation (Open Innovation) – 8 hours of online study activities – 16 participants registered so far and 5 digital certificates issued.
Learners who complete all four courses receive a digital certificate Foundations of Open Practices Badge, which attests to their full involvement in the aspects of the program.
Among the participants in the aforementioned MOOC courses, 18 of them are from outside E³UDRES² Alliance These courses are available free of charge to anyone and can be found here
In addition to organizing events and developing courses, Politehnica University of Timisoara had a central coordinating role in the project, being responsible for Work Package 4 (WP4). From this position, UPT developed the common strategy and carried out the full assessment of Open Practices at the consortium level. This activity established the concrete implementation directions for Open Practices, providing partners with a clear framework for adopting these principles in their academic and research work.
In addition, UPT managed and carried out activities in the analysis and structuring of information, strategies and practices of research, technological innovation, development and certification of research resources and researchers. A special emphasis was placed on the development of models of involvement of researchers in community life and of citizen involvement in research (citizen science), where methods of involvement and validation of skills were adapted
UPT continues to use the experience gained to expand the community of practitioners and promote innovation through openness, and will deepen partnerships within the E³UDRES² Alliance and international projects to ensure the continued relevance of these practices.
The E³UDRES² Ent-re-novators project (Learners, Educators, Researchers & Innovators/Entrepreneurs), funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe program, has as its main objective the strengthening of the research and innovation (R&I) capacity of higher education institutions and regional ecosystems, aiming to create an R&D strategy and a common agenda to accelerate the transformation into a multi-institutional European research and innovation center dedicated to smart and sustainable regions.
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