NEOLAiA Work Packages

• Align and establish a set of common D&I values and principles within the Alliance, based on European guidelines, by creating a common framework (Task 3.1 NEOcharter);
• Sustainable implementation of the NEO Charter within the Alliance through continuous improvement and reflection on current best practices by mapping NEOLAiA's current D&I practices in terms of removing barriers in different dimensions as defined by EU policy (Task 3.2 NEObest);
• Improve the skills of NEOLAiA stakeholders (students, researchers, faculty and staff) in addressing barriers to participation and inclusion through training to empower especially underrepresented (student) groups suffering from these barriers (Task 3.3 NEOstaff and Task 3.4 NEOmentors);
• Bring D&I to life on campus and beyond by reaching out to our communities through a combined offering of lifelong learning content on sustainable D&I principles and practices for underrepresented groups suffering from regionally identified barriers to participation (Task 3.5 NEOlife);
• Advise all Alliance stakeholders on how to sustain effective D&I practices (D&I NEOad) across WP activities and throughout the life of the project by providing D&I orientation and implementation practices, training, and certification (Task 3.4) as a cross-structural commitment of the Alliance (Task 3.6).
• Educate users on the importance of D&I in the metaverse and how to promote a culture of respect and tolerance in the digital space.

• Ensure effective decision-making and well-coordinated functioning of the governance bodies of the project ending date through regular hits and exchanges with the highest executives (rectors and vice-rectors) and operational leaders within the Alliance (work package leaders and specialists) (Task 1.1);
• Strive for inclusive governance through the department of advisory bodies ensuring broad stakeholder participation with regular bottom-up initiatives and streamlined and inclusive cross-border management processes (Task 1.2);
• Support day-to-day project management by establishing a common project management framework and ensuring quarterly internal management reporting (Task 1.3);
• Maintain the highest level of quality assurance and risk management throughout the life of the project through quarterly discussions at EC meetings and through the development of a Quality Monitoring Plan (QMP) based on input from partners and third parties (Task 1.4);
• Support the improvement of institutional cooperation by removing existing cross-border administrative barriers and obstacles to cooperation, promoting all types of mobility within the Alliance and, above all, rationalising the joint provision of human resources. This will be achieved by trialling legal entities such as the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) or other future cross-border legal entities under which the hub for key and human resources would be established as a fully transnational European University based on a legal entity in view of a future fully-fledged NEOLAiA integration (Task 1.5);
• Monitor, manage and evaluate processes and outcomes throughout the project lifetime by building an ecosystem of governance and advisory bodies as well as project management and risk assessment tools (Task 1.1 to Task 1.5).

Lead: University of Jaén (Spain)

• Sponsora sense of European identity and cooperation in universities for joint economic and social development, strongly rooted in a regional perspective, by creating joint cooperation structures that promote institutional cooperation for teaching and learning (Task 2.1 - NEOLAiA Pedagogical Hub);
• Facilitating international mobility and student-centred teaching and learning activities through the department and implementation of international joint degrees (Task 2.3 - NEOLAiA Joint Degrees) and short programmes (Task 2.2 - NEOLAiA Focus Academy and Task 2.4 - NEOLAiA Summer Schools);
• Reaching out to society and "strengthening the European dimension in higher education and research", as called for in the European Strategy for Higher Education, by sponsoring the use of inclusive and accessible digital content to disseminate research results (Task 2.5 - NEOTeAch); and;
• Promoting and embedding a lifelong learning mindset in regional communities, aiming at future-proof and market-oriented employability, in line with the Recommendation of the Council of the European Union (EU) of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability, through the use of flexible and stackable micro-credentials and certificates for further education and training (Task 2.6).

Lead: University of Tours (France)

• Reduce barriers to mobility by providing increasingly seamless international experiences for all NEOLAiA students (Task 4.6, Task 4.7), faculty (Task 4.5 COIL), researchers (Task 4.8) and staff (Task 4.3), through a shared recognition of the outcomes of international mobility in Task 4.1 and Task 4.4;
• Ensure that both physical and virtual mobility contribute effectively to the development of cultural awareness and intercultural skills among NEOLAiA students, faculty, researchers and staff by providing tools to monitor, maintain and continuously improve processes, outcomes and their positive impact. Integrate this intercultural awareness into the competency and career plans of students, researchers, faculty and staff (Task 4.2);
• Promote inclusive, resilient and sustainable forms of mobility and networking at home by offering the NEOLAiA virtual mobility programme (Task 4.5);
• Create solid foundations for the development of international cooperation between NEOLAiA teams and harmonise processes essential for a) educational and research cooperation and b) mobility of students, researchers, teachers and staff (Task 4.1, Task 4.3).
• Facilitate the implementation and continuous development of innovative and inclusive mobility formats (Task 4.3), with a comprehensive NEOLAiA offer for virtual mobility for students, researchers, teachers, staff and citizens who can benefit from the NEOLAiA international offer for lifelong learning and activities in virtual mobility formats (Task 4.5).

Lead: University of Ostrava (Czech Republic)

• Facilitate the approval of a comprehensive overview of synergies between NEOLAiA partners' research teams, research units, research centres in order to create new transnational research teams and projects that produce high-impact and meaningful research to address societal challenges of regional importance (Task 5.1).
• Promote transnational research collaboration through the implementation of the NEOLAiA research framework, which sets out the principles for sharing research resources in an efficient, sustainable and quality-enhancing way, supported by digitalisation to improve the quality and applicability of research (Task 5.1).
• Support the regional relevance and inclusiveness of research based on the combined strengths of NEOLAiA universities by creating a detailed map of infrastructure and resources (e.g. technical equipment, databases, cohorts, personnel, regional cooperation networks and living/social/impact labs) that can be shared among NEOLAiA universities (Task 5.2).
• Create teams of experts specialising in external research funding, academic career development and general research support to promote regional engagement and prevent brain drain (Task 5.3).
• Improve the quality and regional relevance of NEOLAiA research through targeted activities for early-stage researchers, leading to successful transnational networks and research projects through mobility and mentoring (Task 5.4).
• Establish open digital platforms for co-creation of knowledge among stakeholders leading to innovative, regionally relevant and high impact research linked to societal needs (NEOLAiA Living Lab Programme and WP OpenScience) (Task 5.5).

• Mapping and promoting synergies (Task 6.1 Entrepreneurship Taskforce - TAFE) and best practices (Task 6.2) among alliance partners, identifying internal strengths and regional needs;
• Improve the quality of entrepreneurial competences (among entrepreneurs and alliance partners) through the exchange of best practices and a training toolkit (Task 6.3);
• Improve the capacity of partner universities to provide better entrepreneurship education through the creation of joint curricula and a toolkit that provides additional support for educators, students and entrepreneurs from NEOLAiA regions (Task 6.3);
• Foster connections between alumni entrepreneurs from all countries and students at partner universities by creating a framework for transnational entrepreneurship internships organised as job shadowing programmes with mentoring support (Task 6.4).
• Create more opportunities for students to participate in mobility and to test and analyse business ideas between partner universities through the department of international/multicultural entrepreneurship bootcamps such as the Summer Entrepreneurship Challenge (Task 6.5).

Lead: "Ștefan cel Mare" University of Suceava (Romania)

• Sicherstellung, dass die Umsetzung dieses Arbeitspakets mit den Werten einer mehrsprachigen, interkulturellen Europäischen Universität übereinstimmt, die auch die regionalspezifischen Barrieren von NEOLAiA berücksichtigt, indem die kontinuierliche Verbesserung und Nachhaltigkeit der Initiativen durch einen Best-Practice-Ansatz auf der Grundlage regelmäßiger Austauschforen zwischen den Partnern während der gesamten Laufzeit der Allianz gefördert wird (Aufgabe 7.1 Symposium zur Sprachenpolitik).

• Förderung der Mehrsprachigkeit und Interkulturalität in Hochschulprogrammen durch die Verbesserung der sprachlichen und interkulturellen Kompetenz aller NEOLAiA-internen Akteure (Lehrkräfte, Forscher, Studierende und Mitarbeiter - Aufgabe 7.2) sowie durch gezielte Initiativen speziell für Lehrkräfte (Aufgabe 7.3), Forscher (Aufgabe 7.4) und Studierende (Aufgabe 7.5), um sie mit den optimalen Fähigkeiten für ihre akademische und berufliche Zukunft auszustatten.

Lead: University of Jaén (Spain)

• Promote early knowledge exchange between researchers and all relevant stakeholders from academia, industry, public authorities, citizens' initiatives, non-governmental organisations and society at large;
• Supporting broad stakeholder participation in knowledge sharing to strengthen trust in science;
• Contribute to the growth of the European community of digitally empowered citizens;
• Develop appropriate rules, internal procedures and policies that enable the NEOLAiA Alliance to understand and implement the principles and practices of open science (Task 8.1);
• Develop and maintain a NEOLAiA open science policy that is adopted by all Alliance partners and sponsored by training, dissemination and exploitation activities (Task 8.1);
• Ensure that data on research outcomes feed into this work package so that open science is linked to concrete research activities across the NEOLAiA Alliance by working closely with Work Package 5 Research Excellence and Regional Impact through joint annual remote meetings (Task 8.2);
• Integration and stimulation of all partners in the co-creation of open data on their teaching and research activities through collaboration with citizens and citizen groups (Task 8.2).

Lead: University of Salerno (Italy)

• Promote digital transformation through the effective use of new technologies with the aim of strengthening Europe's global position and leadership in digital transformation;
• Promote technological knowledge, research and digital skills to support all universities in shaping the future of education in a shared virtual world by developing and adopting an analytical digital framework (Task 9.2);
• To become a leading European university for metaverse approval across the NEOLAiA campus, in line with the European Commission's Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade: "Technology should unite people, not divide them" (Task 9.3).
• Leading by example as a European University in digital education by offering courses for NEOLAiA partners in the Metaversum, using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Metaversum Living Labs at each partner campus (Task 9.2);
• Promote seamless mobility through digitally supported academic recognition between NEOLAiA partners by creating a common identity mechanism (Task 9.1).

Lead: University of Nicosia (Cyprus)

• Develop a plan for dissemination and communication activities ( PDC ) (Task 10.1).
• Facilitate communication between NEOLAiA Alliance members (researchers, faculty, students, alumni) and society at large, focusing on the Alliance's mission statement, activities and successes (Task 10.2).
• Raise awareness among society at large, businesses and regional governments of the pace of current projects and collaborations by utilising inclusive communication channels (digital forums) with a particular focus on a strong digital presence and branding (Task 10.3).
• Ensure continuity of the NEOLAiA Alliance beyond funding from the European Universities through regular and transparent financial and sustainability reporting (Task 10.4).

Lead: Å iauliai State University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania)