According to Mar Coll, a researcher specializing in climate change and gender studies in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), exchanging knowledge with researchers from around the world, including individuals from so-called peripheral areas such as the Global South, is vital. Convinced of this need, she embarked on an international mobility stay at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) in late 2014, where she shared experiences with university faculty whose research revolves around similar issues.

Coll is one of the beneficiaries of the Erasmus+ programme, but in a far less known branch of this aid scheme, which enables thousands of young people to complete part of their studies in other EU member states. The programme in question is called Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility, developed to provide faculty, students, researchers and other university staff the opportunity to undertake mobility stays and host visitors from different parts of the world.

This year, UPF continues to promote this programme, in which it has participated for the past decade. In 2025, it has secured funding for a new call for Erasmus+ grants and aid, intended for mobility stays at institutions within the Mediterranean region (Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon and Palestine) and Asia (China, Hong Kong, Philippines and Pakistan). The universities were selected from among UPF’s habitual associates and partner institutions, as proposed by members of the departments’ teaching staff, thus ensuring that the mobility placements support and reinforce the university’s current lines of research. 

Over 200 students and faculty members from UPF have taken part in mobility stays outside the EU’s borders with support from the Erasmus+ International programme

With this new call, UPF remains committed to the international mobility of students and faculty members through the Erasmus+ International programme. Through this programme, UPF has, since 2015, promoted mobility to countries from the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the United States, Industrialized Asia, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Near and Middle East. The so-called international branch of the Erasmus+ programme expands the selection of mobility opportunities for researchers. 

UPF has proactively pursued projects within the framework of the Erasmus+ International programme with two objectives in mind: on the one hand, to contribute to the internationalization of UPF’s students and teaching staff through mobility placements at different universities around the world, and, on the other, to attract talent and visiting faculty from these territories. It should be noted that UPF is a member of the Alliance 4 Universities (A4U), which, as a consortium, also manages calls for Erasmus+ International grants and rounds off the choice of destinations, with a focus on Africa and Asia.

According to the most recent information available, between 2015 and 2025, 108 students, mostly PhD candidates, and 99 lecturers from UPF took part in an international mobility stay thanks to grants from this programme. This represents an average of 20 grant recipients per academic year, the sole exception being the two academic years that coincided with the COVID pandemic (2019-2020 and 2020-2021), during which these activities came to a virtual standstill.

The positive experiences of many of the UPF faculty and students who have benefited thus far from the Erasmus+ International programme, as expressed below, clearly illustrate the need to continue to promote mobility placements in the future.

Mar Coll, a researcher on climate change and gender at UPF, completed a placement at the University of Cape Town (Republic of South Africa)

Mar Coll is one of the more than one hundred doctoral students who have engaged in an experience of this nature. Linked to the GRETA (Gender and Inequalities) research group in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at UPF, she spent term three of 2024 at the University of Cape Town (Republic of South Africa), one of Africa’s leading institutions in climate change studies. With her research, Mar explores the impact of climate change on the Catalan population from a multidisciplinary perspective, and the aim of this mobility stay was to forge links between gender studies and climate sciences at both UPF and the South African university. “The Climate Systems Analysis Group (at the latter university) integrates several participatory and social methodologies that I found very interesting,” she explains.

The immersion in the African context had an impact not only academically, but also on a personal level. Coll highlights the value of working alongside researchers from so-called peripheral areas of the world; areas which are often less visible in international forums, and views the suggestions received from these other international reference points as a key source of learning. Mar is also involved in the CASCADE project, which brings together civil protection groups engaged in environmental protection and experts in the adaptation of natural environments to climate change to build resilience in the Baltic Sea Region. Another of the initiatives in which she actively participates is Tuwe Panoja, which takes an intersectional approach to the prevention of climate-related risks in natural and urban environments, taking into account the views and needs of women and men from different economic and social backgrounds. Her work with researchers from these projects continues despite the geographical divide.

In addition to her academic experience, Mar enthusiastically recalls Cape Town’s natural surroundings. “I ran my first half marathon through the grapevines in Constantia (a district of Cape Town).” An experience that illustrates the richness of an exchange which stretches beyond research and opens up new avenues for connecting UPF to research in African countries.

Stefano Biagetti, a researcher from the Department of Humanities at UPF, undertakes an international placement at the University of Namibia

Another African country, Namibia, was the destination chosen by Professor Stefano Biagetti, a researcher from the Department of Humanities at UPF. In early September 2024, Biagetti, who often works in Botswana and South Africa, completed a stay at the University of Namibia (UNAM), which, despite its short duration, left an indelible mark. With a full slate of activities over the course of five days, this trip served to expand his horizons and gain an in-depth understanding of the Namibian context. “I wanted to learn more about the country and connect with local archaeologists. The UNAM is the only university that teaches archaeology,” he explains. Biagetti shared the mobility stay at UNAM with professor Carla Lancelotti (in the cover photo giving a talk), director of the UPF's Planetary Wellbeing Center and also a researcher in the Department of Humanities.

During his time in Namibia, Biagetti had the opportunity to network with faculty and students interested in cooperating with UPF in the future. In fact, he remains in contact with several people from the African university who are considering pursuing a PhD at UPF. That type of exchange, he assures, is crucial to forming strategic alliances: “Africa is a vital partner for Europe, both economically and culturally.”

In addition to his research interests, he has fond personal memories of his travels through Namibia. Biagetti describes the country as a “spectacular, magnetic” place, where the desert meets the sea and the modern cities contrast starkly with the immensity of nature. “It is a highly recommendable destination,” he concludes.

Around 300 students and researchers from countries outside the EU have been hosted by UPF as part of the Erasmus+ International programme

Mar Coll and Stefano Biagetti’s experiences illustrate how projects conducted at other universities around the world enrich and inform UPF’s lines of research. However, the experience and expertise of researchers from UPF can also help bring new perspectives and knowledge and benefit from visiting students and researchers. As a result, over 300 grant recipients from non-EU universities engaged in mobility stays at UPF between 2015 and 2025 thanks to the Erasmus+ International programme.

Meilinda Meilinda, a researcher in communication from Indonesia, hosted by the MEDIUM research group at UPF

One of the researchers hosted by UPF is Meilinda Meilinda, a doctoral student from the Faculty of Communication at Universitas Airlangga in Indonesia. She decided to do a placement at Pompeu Fabra University to further analyse multimodal discourse –that which combines different forms of language (verbal, non-verbal, etc.)– central to her thesis. During her stay, from October 2024 to January 2025, she was part of the MEDIUM research group, in which she worked alongside its coordinator, Lorena Gómez, a leader in her field. “I was really looking forward to immersing myself in a dynamic and interdisciplinary academic environment like UPF, and the experience exceeded all my expectations,” she asserts.

The experience, at both a personal and academic level, proved exceptional. In just three months, Meilinda completed four articles, three of which have already been published in scientific journals, and wrote a chapter for a book on transmedia storytelling, based on her conversations with Carlos A. Scolari, a full professor in the Department of Communication at UPF and fellow MEDIUM researcher. “The constant interaction with the MEDIUM group provided new theoretical frameworks and methodologies applied to media studies that have deeply enriched my research outlook,” she explains.

Although no joint projects have yet been confirmed, Meilinda is confident that the relationships forged in Barcelona will lead to future partnerships. She also stresses the importance of building bridges between universities in Southeast Asia and Europe, such as UPF, with a view to promoting a genuine exchange of knowledge.

According to Lorena Gómez, the coordinator of MEDIUM, the importance of international mobility stays such as Meilinda’s lies in the following: “Hosting trainee researchers from other geographical and sociocultural contexts, with, in the case of Meilinda, the transdisciplinarity that we at MEDIUM seek, represents an opportunity for mutual enrichment. I think that hosting international students makes the PhD programme in Communication at UPF a stronger learning community, entwining perspectives based on diversity and the recognition of others, values that are today more necessary than ever.

Abhra Roy, a researcher in robotics and AI, hosted by the AI and Machine Learning group at UPF

Another foreign lecturer who has taken part in an international mobility stay at UPF is Abhra Roy, a researcher from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. He explains that he chose UPF as a destination to develop his skills in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), further his understanding of teaching practices and establish new academic links. He spent last March as a member of the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning group in the Department of Engineering at UPF, under the supervision of Vladimir Estivill. Fascinated by the group’s endeavours, Roy found in UPF the ideal ecosystem for enriching his career: “The research group is at the cutting-edge in computational and intelligent systems, fully aligned with my research.”

His home country, India, also holds a place of prominence in the field of technology. It is among the top ten countries in terms of computer science research output. Indian researchers regularly present at top level conferences, and there is close cooperation between the academic and industrial worlds, spurring a rise in AI start-ups and research incubators in cities such as Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore, the location of the IISc, to which Abhra Roy is attached.

Thanks to his stay in the Department of Engineering at UPF, Roy had the opportunity to add new ideas and methods to his already extensive background in this field of knowledge. Now back in India after his weeklong placement at UPF, Roy is currently applying at the IISc the cutting-edge research methods and teaching practices he learned in Barcelona. 

He is also preparing joint projects with Professor Vladimir Estivill, as well as proposals for the EU’s Horizon Europe programmes and European Research Council (ERC) grants, focused on safe cooperation between humans and robots in areas such as flexible industry, health and social care. In this regard, Estivill explains that, based on both researchers’ fields of expertise, they plan to submit a project on “methods of ensuring and certifying safety in flexible manufacturing environments with humans and mobile robots” as part of the call for Horizon Europe grants.

Roy highlights the strategic importance of fostering alliances between European and Indian universities, which may result in cutting-edge research, new spin-offs and robust academic networks. On a personal level, he is truly grateful for the warm welcome he received: “I look forward to returning to UPF and also receiving my colleagues in Bangalore.”

Vladimir Estivill (UPF): “In research, it is necessary to move beyond borders and regions

Vladimir Estivill (UPF) shares Roy’s opinion on the importance of international mobility: “International research visits are a crucial element in benchmarking research for both sides. They inform best research practices and significantly increase the prospects of finding complementary research skills, knowledge and facilities that promote effective research.” Estivill is adamant that, “in research, it is necessary to move beyond borders and regions.”

The deadline for submitting applications as part of the new call for Erasmus+ International grants is 30 September

If, like the previous individuals, you are interested in taking part in a mobility stay through the Erasmus+ International programme, click here for more information.