Final InCTIES Project Meeting at the University of Zilina: Visions for the Future
The five InCITIES partner institutions TH Köln, ISCTE, Gustave Eiffel, Laurea and UNIZA met for the last time at the University of Zilina (Slovakia) from 8 - 9 April 2025. The purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss achievements to date and to look ahead to the approach to be taken in the remaining six months of the project term in order to achieve the project objectives.
In addition to reports from the individual work packages and the discussion of the project’s numerous successes, the meeting in Zilina focused in particular on the question of how to pave the way for sustainable future cooperation within the framework of PIONEER+ and how PIONEER+ can benefit from the inter-institutional collaboration in the InCities project.
The numerous interfaces between InCITIES and the PIONEER+ project are exemplary:
- the formats developed and trialled in InCities work package 2 for networking scientists through scientific cafés and the collaborative development of research roadmaps
- the ‘Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) implemented at the partner institutions ISCTE and UNIZA according to the pedagogical concept of ‘learning-by-development’, which can form a starting point for the realisation of cross-institutional study programmes in the sense of challenge-based learning in PIONEER+
- knowledge on the conditions for a (successful) application for the HR4SR label from five partner institutions, which can be passed on to the remaining five associated institutions in PIONEER+
In order to successfully transfer the scientific and procedural findings of the InCITIES project to PIONEER+, a webinar series will be created in which the specific connections between InCITIES and PIONEER+ will be exchanged. This will also facilitate the onboarding process for future participants in the PIONEER Alliance.
From the perspective of TH Köln, we are proud to report that ISCTE was awarded the HRS4R label in March 2025, making it more visible as a place of excellent working conditions for researchers within the European research community. We at TH Köln are proud because we were able to successfully advise the InCITIES partner institutions in the application process for the H4RSR seal thanks to the expertise and commitment of our expert and head of InCITIES Work Package 3, Mirjam Heetkamp.
After this meeting, all participants are optimistic about a successful project completion in September 2025 and the sustainable impact of the project results on the PIONEER+ project.
Many thanks to the InCITIES team at UNIZA for organising the meeting and the warm hospitality under the leadership of Rector Ján Čelko and Vice-Rector Jozef Ristvej.
April 2025