UPF participated in the conference devoted to clusters of research excellence made up of researchers from both Africa and Europe (CoRE). The meeting, held from 29 September to 2 October at the University of Stellenbosch (Republic of South Africa), was organized by The Guild and ARUA, which bring together research-intensive universities from Europe and Africa, respectively, and launched the CoRE a year ago. As a result of this meeting, UPF, a member of The Guild, has for the first time joined one of these clusters devoted to the sustainability of the food system, and is already considering adhering to others in the future.

In total, nearly 250 people from 49 universities, research centres and institutions of 27 countries attended the conference. The main representatives of The Guild and ARUA and of the host university (Stellenbosch) were present. Also in attendance, as guests, were officers of the Worldwide Universities Network, a global association consisting of 26 research-intensive universities.

The UPF delegation at the “Africa-Europe CoRE” conference was led by the UPF vice-rector for Internationalization, Helena Ramalhinho, also a member of the Steering Committee of The Guild and ARUA’s CoRE. She was accompanied by the ICREA professor and researcher of the Department of Humanities, Marco Madella. Together with Ramalhinho, Madella has been one of the main architects of UPF’s integration into the CoRE on food system sustainability. Madella coordinates the Culture, Archaeology and Socio-Ecological Dynamics (CASEs) research group and is an expert on the socio-ecological dynamics of human populations in extreme environments, an approach from which some of the main challenges of today’s world can be addressed, such as those related to agriculture, drought or food. Both he and Carla Lancelotti, director of the Centre for Studies on Planetary Wellbeing (UPF) and an ICREA researcher also with the CASEs research group, will be  representing UPF in this cluster.

During the conference, UPF also initiated contacts to assess its future adherence to other clusters, in accordance with the research interests of the main research groups at UPF on health and technology issues.

Appraisal of the first year of the Europe-Africa Research Clusters

In general terms, the meeting focused on taking stock of the first year of the Europe-Africa Clusters of Research of Excellence (CoRE), as well as setting out their future strategic lines. The CoRE provide a new form of collaboration for researchers from Africa and Europe that advocate partnerships between universities and research centres on both continents that are committed to equity in a context of inequalities. All the CoRE, currently 21, are working towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and are dedicated to the following areas: public health, green transition, innovation and technology, and scientific capacities.

The Guild and ARUA are also starting to implement PhD programmes linked to the themes of the clusters and, during the conference, funding needs to enable this were discussed. In addition, the meeting featured several presentations on justice and equity in the world of research worldwide, from an interdisciplinary and a public policy perspective, with representatives of the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth. Thus, various political and institutional leaders were informed as to how these clusters can contribute to the AU-EU Innovation Agenda (2022), which is committed to strengthening collaboration in research and innovation between the AU and the EU to create jobs and a sustainable growth model with a long-term outlook. It also considers that mutual cooperation in research and innovation is essential, and it is committed to the development of doctoral and master’s degree programmes in the humanities shared between European and African universities, among others.

The origin of the Africa-Europe clusters of research excellence

Indeed, the approval of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda triggered the creation of the CoRE. At the end of 2022, both The Guild and ARUA held their first multilateral meeting to decide how to contribute to achieving the goals of the agenda. The result was the creation of the model of the CoRE, as clusters of excellence based on five basic principles: multilateralism, research excellence, sustainability, capacity building (in research, innovation...), and equity. The CoRE initiative was launched in the summer of 2023.

UPF to participate in mission of the A4U in South Africa

In the wake of the conference on the CoRE, the UPF vice-rector for Internationalization will continue her round of institutional meetings in the Republic of South Africa, within the framework of a joint mission with the other universities of the A4U (Alliance of 4 Universities): the UAB, the UAM and Carlos III. Through this mission, A4U aims to consolidate and deepen relations with the universities with which it has been working in recent years (Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Western Cape, Witwatersrand, Free State and Pretoria) which it will meet this week to explore new opportunities in the fields of research and of teaching, and to identify concrete opportunities for future joint projects and academic mobility. To date, and through Erasmus projects shared with the A4U, UPF has managed to facilitate the mobility of seven postgraduate students and 14 staff, who have built lasting relationships.

As part of this visit, the A4U will also co-organize the seminar “Global Health at a Crossroad” on 10 October, with the University of Pretoria, which will host the event.