The NOVA National School of Public Health is marking today, 13 May, EUTOPIA Day, an annual moment of celebration and visibility for the EUTOPIA Alliance, a network of European universities that seeks to build an innovative model of higher education based on international collaboration, interdisciplinarity and responses to global challenges.
More than an academic network, EUTOPIA establishes itself as a strategic platform for the transformation of European higher education, promoting a more collaborative, inclusive, sustainable and impact-oriented vision. Through this alliance, students, faculty, researchers and staff are invited to take part in international experiences of learning, research and innovation, in collaboration with different European institutions and contexts.
In the case of NOVA University Lisbon, and of NOVA NSPH in particular, this participation translates into a wide range of opportunities with a direct impact on the School’s academic and scientific life. Mobility programmes, joint training initiatives, challenge-based learning experiences, collaboration between research teams and participation in international networks are part of a dynamic that strengthens NOVA NSPH’s openness to the European space and to collaborative work.
EUTOPIA also promotes new forms of collaborative research, focusing on strategic areas and contemporary problems with strong social relevance. In this context, the so-called Connected Communities are particularly noteworthy, as they link teaching, research and society, involving external partners and fostering the co-creation of innovative solutions. For a school such as NOVA NSPH, deeply committed to science oriented towards action and impact, this approach represents a particularly relevant opportunity.
On the occasion of EUTOPIA Day, NOVA NSPH sought to gather contributions from its academic community, reflecting the diversity of experiences, perspectives and impacts associated with participation in this European alliance.
According to Paulo Sousa, lecturer and Head of Internationalisation at NOVA NSPH, “participation in the EUTOPIA network strengthens the internationalisation of NOVA NSPH, promoting collaboration between lecturers, researchers and students from other European universities”. This dimension is central to the School’s positioning, as it not only broadens networks and opportunities but also affirms NOVA NSPH within a European space of sharing, innovation and joint development.
The research dimension also emerges as one of the areas in which EUTOPIA has been generating value. For Carolina Santos, lecturer at NOVA NSPH, “integration in EUTOPIA has strengthened our capacities linked to scientific entrepreneurship, and the recent application to an EIT call for European alliances has consolidated this strategic position”. The lecturer summarises this experience in three words: collaboration, innovation, impact.
Marta Marques, also a lecturer at NOVA NSPH, further highlights the concrete effect that this participation has had on the School’s scientific activity: “the EUTOPIA European network has transformed our research: more mobility, more competitive applications, more collaborative supervision”. For the lecturer, this experience can be summarised in three key ideas: mobilisation, synergy, strategy.
Students also play a central role in the life of the alliance. Through structures such as the EUTOPIA Student Think Tank and the EUTOPIA Student Council, they have the opportunity to participate in reflection processes, scientific production, organisation of initiatives and international dialogue with peers from different European universities. For Cláudia Almeida, a student at NOVA NSPH and member of the EUTOPIA Student Council representing NOVA University Lisbon, “representing NOVA NSPH in EUTOPIA means accessing unique ecosystems of knowledge and innovation and sharing experiences with students from different cultures and backgrounds”. In three words, she summarises this experience as: growth, sharing, opportunity.
NOVA NSPH’s participation in EUTOPIA thus reinforces several core dimensions of the School’s mission: internationalisation, pedagogical and scientific innovation, networked collaboration, and the capacity to respond collectively to complex public health challenges. By joining this alliance, NOVA NSPH not only expands opportunities for its academic community but also deepens its engagement in increasingly European, interdisciplinary and society-connected models of teaching, research and innovation.
Learn more about EUTOPIA:
https://www.unl.pt/en/eutopia/
https://eutopia-university.eu
