- The meeting will bring together decision bodies such as the EELISA Governing and Executive Boards, the EELISA Student Council, and working teams focused on Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship ecosystems in the context of the EELISA Days
- The big meeting will be hosted by Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, from Monday 18 to Wednesday 20 of November, 2024.
EELISA is entering a pivotal phase as it launches its 5th year of existence and transitions from a project-based initiative to a long-term, integrated collaboration across its member institutions. To support this transition, and in line with its biannual meetings, EELISA is inviting all Rectors, Presidents, and Directors to come together, engage in discussions, and demonstrate their commitment to the Alliance’s future growth and success.
The upcoming strategic discussions of the EELISA Governing Board will focus on engaging the leadership of EELISA’s member institutions to unlock the full potential of the Alliance. This will be an opportunity for the leaders to take stock of the outcomes from the first year of the roll-out phase, with an emphasis on the concrete achievements made and the commitments presented by Rectors, Directors, and Presidents at the last Governing Board meeting held in Erlangen, Germany.
The meeting will also secure continued leadership support for accelerating the implementation of the Alliance and its integration within each institution. A key focus will be defining the terms of reference for establishing a Legal Entity, which will be crucial in supporting the Alliance’s operational framework and ensuring its long-term sustainability.
At the end of the discussions, the EELISA Governing Board will release a joint statement, sponsored by the Chair of the Governing Board and co-signed by Board members. The statement will outline a common framework for attracting and nurturing talent within the EELISA network, as well as fostering excellence in research and innovation across its member institutions. This statement aims to drive a collaborative effort to create a unified approach to talent identification, development, and support, ensuring that EELISA remains at the forefront of academic and professional advancements.
A Symbolic Handover Ceremony
As established last year, every six months, the Rector, President, or Director of one of the EELISA members assumes the role of Chair of the Alliance. This is an opportunity for the institution to inspire and sponsor important topics for both the institution itself and the entire Alliance. Joachim Hornegger, President of FAU and current Chair of the EELISA Governing Board, will hand over the baton to Rector Sabina Nuti (SSSA) and Director Luigi Ambrosio (SNS).
Reflecting on the significance of this transition, both Rector Nuti and Director Ambrosio remark: “It is a great responsibility, this half-year as chair of EELISA, because we are approaching a crucial phase. In the fifth year of the Alliance’s existence, we should manage together with the other institutions in the network the transition from a shared project-based initiative to a fully integrated long-term collaboration that aims to promote a new model of the European engineer, scientist and humanist ready to contribute to global challenges, with smart and sustainable solutions and the issuance of special certificates in that way to the students who are part of our network”.
This opening ceremony will include welcome speeches from the hosting leaders, as well as from EELISA President Dale Martin.
The handover event will be open to all EELISA members in person and will be streamed online on both the SSSA and EELISA YouTube channels on Monday 18 November from 14:00 – 15:00 hrs (CET)
To kick off the sessions, this leadership meeting will feature a keynote speech by Arianna Menciassi, Vice Rector, Pro-Rector for Research, and EELISA Voice of SSSA. The meeting will also include other keynote speeches, such as one by Fosca Giannotti, SNS, on Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, Robert-Jan Smits, President of the Executive Board of Eindhoven University of Technology and Chair of the Eurotech Universities Alliance, will be a special guest speaker.
The Governing Board meeting in Pisa will also welcome and onboard two new Rectors: Hassan Charaf of BME and Hasan Mandal of ITU.
Parallel meetings and work sessions.
As in previous major meetings, the EELISA Student Council will convene in parallel with the Governing Board. In four distinct sessions, student representatives will focus on evaluating the achievements of past goals and identifying strategies to set and reach even more ambitious objectives for the new year.
Key topics will include the reelection of student representatives in EELISA bodies, the annual review of the EELISA Student Council Roadmap, and discussions on the next steps for the Student Council’s presence in European forums such as EUSAF and the Conference of the Student Bodies of the Alliances of the European Student Union.
Participants will also explore ways to strengthen the connection between Student Clubs across different EELISA institutions and will also engage in training workshops. One of the workshops will focus on connecting to more European forums and leveraging the European Universities Alliances framework for organizational growth, while the other will help participants acquire effective communication skills through best practices on social media.
Additionally, the members of the EELISA Executive Board will meet to oversee the execution of tasks and objectives, ensuring the implementation of actions towards the accomplishmet of milestones. And in the last days of the meeting, members of the teams focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the EELISA Network for research and talent will discuss actions to implement their strategies and actions through a combination of separate and collaborative sessions.
The EELISA machinery will be in full gear, propelling the Alliance forward towards new horizons!