A webinar to present the CHARM European University alliance to the University of Barcelona teaching staff took place last Monday May 18. The aim of this online event was to gather people interested in taking part in the pilot phase of the project. During this first phase, CHARM-EU is developing the Knowledge Creating Teams (KCT) formed by groups of experts from different disciplines in order to work on a 90-credit pilot master’s degree. The KCTs will be structured in the following areas: research of Health and life, Water, Food, and Energy, related to the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG).

More than sixty participants including academics and researchers from different departments had the opportunity to learn more about CHARM-EU and how to actively engage in the project.

The rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias acknowledged the attendees for their participation in this webinar, particularly given the current coronavirus pandemic situation in which teachers are making an extra effort to conduct their activities. The rector also highlighted the importance of being part in the design of an international project such as CHARM-EU which will help to make the European university system of the future possible.

Participants also had the opportunity to know more about a new European Union call addressed to the alliances that were selected last year for their innovative proposals. This new call for research coordinators has a budget of 2 million euros for each European universities’ alliance and will be open soon.

During the session, Núria Cassamitjana, Rector’s Commissioner for CHARM-EU presented a general overview of CHARM-EU, by explaining its innovative character, its main objectives, the different work lines and the current state of play of the project. After, Glòria Rubert, rector’s delegate for the teaching innovation and coordination of the Faculty of Economics and Business and the UB RIMDA program, introduced the knowledge creating teams and how they are shaped, including its main purposes and objectives, as well as the basic architecture of the pilot master.

Attendees were able to ask questions, which were mainly focused on how the topics of the transdisciplinary approach of the pilot master were selected (Health and life, Water, Food and perhaps a part of Energy); how the process of participant selection for the KCT would be, how students would be able to choose their challenges; whether CHARM-EU considered to use UB modules from existing master’s degrees, and whether existing courses from other programs would be applied in this new project. To conclude the session, different comments and suggestions were taken to bring to the CHARM-EU initiative, including the idea of collecting good practices and the results of previous experiences on European joint masters.

The teaching and research staff interested in the new project can send questions and suggestions to the CHARM-EU Office (charm-euoffice@ub.edu). For academic issues, please contact the rector’s commissioner, Núria Casamitjana (ncasamitjana@ub.edu).

To watch the full webinar (in Catalan), please click here.