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CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026

CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026

When

14 October 2026    
All day
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Where

Åbo Akademi University
Tuomiokirkontori 3, Turku, 20500
An event banner for the CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026. The left side features bold text reading "EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES ALLIANCES, DEMOCRATIC VALUES, AND SOCIETAL RESILIENCE," alongside the CHARM-EU logo. The center text details the event as the "CHARM-EU ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2026" taking place on "14th October 2026" at "Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland," including the hashtag #CHARMEU2026. The right side features an illustration of two students, a historic tower building, and a stylized European Union flag under a starry sky. The bottom of the banner displays a row of partner university logos and a "Co-funded by the European Union" logo.

In an era of accelerating geopolitical, technological, and environmental crisis, what is the anchor that prevents our societies from drifting apart? This question lies at the heart of the CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026. As we face disruptions that test our social fabric, we recognize that true resilience depends on foundational values—democracy, trust, and inclusion. These values underpin resilient societies and enable constructive dialogue and collective action in times of crisis.

European University Alliances are uniquely positioned to protect these values by serving as long-term, systemic spaces for democratic learning and practice. By integrating innovative governance, transdisciplinary research, and deep engagement with our cities and regions, we are moving beyond traditional education to build sustainable welfare societies. At the conference, we will gather to explore how our transnational cooperation can act as a platform for co-creation, ensuring a resilient future for Europe and beyond.

Sessions will cover topics such as: 

  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Transdisciplinarity
  • The role of alliances in times of crises
  • Democratic values in the classroom
  • Open Science
  • Democracy labs

Venue: Astra, Porthaninkatu 3, Turku, Finland in an on-site format

How to arrive: https://share.google/Gm1ISsiOAo11s9cMO 

Format: On-site with partial live streaming. The morning pannel session will be live streamed on the CHARM-EU YouTube Channel. The rest of the conference is designed to be attended onsite only.

Host of the CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026: Åbo Akademi University



Registrations are open

CALL for posters

The Open Call for Posters for the CHARM-EU Annual Conference 2026 is officially live. Whether you are an academic, a student, support staff, or an external stakeholder, we want to hear your voice on topics like inclusive university cultures, educational innovation, and transnational cooperation.

If accepted, you’ll get to pitch your work in person this October 14th at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. There you will engage with higher education change-makers, and have your work featured in the CHARM-EU resource centre.

Don’t miss your chance to contribute to sustainable welfare societies—review the submission guidelines and submit your abstract before August 31st.



View the Open Call

PROGRAMME

Full speaker lineup and detailed session abstracts are currently being finalized. Please check back for updates.

Morning Sessions





8:00 – 9:00 Registration & Coffee

9:00 – 9:15 Opening by Rector Professor Gunilla Widén

Rector of host university ÅAU, Professor Gunilla Widén, welcomes the conference participants. 

9:15 – 9:45 Universities as democratic actors

Keynote Speech by ÅAU Professor Kimmo Grönlund

9:45 – 10:45 From Mobility to Democratic resilience: The Role of European University alliances

Panel Session

European University alliances are often framed as vehicles for mobility and institutional cooperation, yet their potential role in supporting democratic values remains underdeveloped. In a context of growing political fragmentation across Europe, this panel examines how alliances can move beyond exchange formats such as Erasmus+ and contribute to democratic resilience. 

10:45 – 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 – 11:30 Energizer

11:30 – 12:15 Design processes and initiatives for promoting sustainability leadership, civic engagement and inclusive mindset: the REDINEST Impact Labs 

Interactive Lecture

Get inspired by the story of a journey that transformed the entrepreneurship education for computer science students into an international level interdisciplinary and impactful initiative: educational methods, goals, achievements, and activities for a student-powered and challenge-based impact lab network for the development of transformative competencies and inclusive mindset. Share your thoughts and ideas on creating cross-subject, cross-faculty and cross-institutional learning opportunities that form sustainability leadership and civic engagement skills of future changemakers. 

Lecturer:

  • Dr. Barbara Hegyi (ELTE)

12:15 – 12:30 Group Picture

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 15:00 Workshops – parallel sessions






Social Entrepreneurship: Building Solutions for Resilient Communities 

How can we turn academic ideas into tools for societal welfare? This workshop explores the link between innovation and social impact. Participants will work in small groups to “pitch” a solution to a local community challenge, focusing on how entrepreneurship can support democratic values like equity and inclusion. 

How to make your research or teaching methodologies more transdisciplinar?

Moving from theory to practice, this session explores how researchers and teachers can adapt their projects/work on a more transdisciplinar way of doing things.

From Inclusion to Resilience: European University Alliances in times of crises 

In recent years, universities and alliances have had to respond to different types of crises: social inequalities, mental health issues, migration, political tensions, climate-related challenges and increasing mistrust towards institutions.  At the same time, European University Alliances are becoming long-term cooperation structures with the capacity to connect universities, local stakeholders and communities across borders.  This workshop would like to explore a simple question: beyond academic cooperation, how can alliances connect and support people and communities in times of crisis?  The workshop would also be an opportunity to exchange experiences between alliances and reflect collectively on what could realistically be developed together in the future. 

 

CHARM-EU Values in the Classroom: Practical Methods   

How do we “teach” democracy? This session is for educators and students to share tools for bringing CHARM-EU values into the curriculum. We will explore how to facilitate difficult conversations and ensure that “Challenge-Based Learning” remains rooted in respect and fundamental rights. 

Open Science Made Simple: Sharing Knowledge for a Stronger Society 

Open Science is often seen as a technical hurdle, but it is a democratic tool. This workshop provides a “starter kit” for researchers to make their work open and transparent. We will discuss the benefits of sharing data and how it builds public trust in science and democratic institutions. 

In the democratic lab: live deliberative experiment

The results of this experiment (including an analysis based on the questionnaires) will be presented with the closing remarks in 10-15 minutes.

Chair:

  • Isak Vento (ÅAU)

15:00 – 15:20 Poster Session – One-minute Pitches

The poster session will be a space where members of European University Alliances, university staff, students and external stakeholders can exchange ideas and discuss the posters. Poster presenters will give a minute pitch and then engage in discussions. 

15:20 – 16:00 Poster Session & Coffee Break 

16:00 – 16:15 Interactive Quiz

Cultural interactive quiz with questions from CHARM-EU universities, cities, countries, traditions, music, food, culture in general, football, etc.

16:15 – 17:00 Closing Remarks

17:15 – 19:00 Cocktail with musical elements

information about Turku

Venue Information





CHARM-EU ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2026 at Åbo Akademi University

Åbo (Turku in Finnish) 14 October 2026

VENUE FOR THE MEETING
Astra, Porthansgatan 3, 20500 Åbo

Room: Bonfire

Turku (in Finnish)/Åbo (in Swedish) is vibrant city of 200,000 inhabitants and the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. Finland having two main official languages, Turku/Åbo is officially bilingual and 5,2 percent of its population identify Swedish as their mother-tongue.

Åbo Akademi University is the only Swedish-language multidisciplinary academic university in Finland. The campus is located in the old city centre, at a walking distance from the hotels listed in this document.

When speaking about the city in English, the Finnish name Turku is usually used, as the majority of the inhabitants are Finnish-speaking. You will however see most names of streets in both languages, so remember this when you are wondering about two very different street names/addresses indicating the same location!

Turku is the oldest city in Finland and the former capital of the country and will celebrate its 800th anniversary in 2029. Located on the seaside of Southwest Finland, Turku is a regional hub for education, culture and business and the third biggest urban area in Finland. Students make up a fifth of the city’s population.

BY AIR ALL THE WAY TO TURKU

Turku Airport is eight kilometres/30-minutes by local bus (line 1)/15 minutes by taxi from the city centre. If you can find a reasonable flight to Turku Airport (TKU), it is the most convenient option. (If your arrival time to Turku Airport is after the last bus and there is no taxi to be found, you can order one by using the service phone which is located near the exit on the arrivals level of the terminal).

The air companies operating in Turku are:

  • o Finnair (through Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Stockholm Arlanda)
  • o SAS (through Copenhagen Kastrup and Stockholm Arlanda)
  • o Air Baltic (through Riga)
  • o WizzAir (through Vilnius, Gdańsk and Bucharest)

 BY AIR THROUGH HELSINKI OR STOCKHOLM

Many airlines operate flights to Helsinki Airport, e.g. Finnair. From Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) you can take a bus or train to Turku. Turku–Helsinki is 166 km; the bus or train will take you about 2,5 hrs.

Your end station would be “Turku Tuomiokirkko” or “Turku linja-autoasema = Turku bus station”.

 

BY FERRY THROUGH STOCKHOLM

From Stockholm there is a night ferry to Turku. You sleep on the ferry and arrive in the Port of Turku the next morning. The ferries are operated by Viking Line and Silja Line.

Central Turku is quite small and easiest to get around on foot. Turku is easy to navigate also on bike or electric scooter. Föli offers city bikes and e.g. Voi, Dott and Ryde operate electric scooters.

 

There is an extensive local bus network (going all the way to our nearest National Park). Bus tickets cost ca. 3-4€ and can be purchased beforehand in an app or by card (contactless payment) on the bus. For timetables and bus stops, please see here. The bus stop nearest the ÅAU campus, by the Cathedral is called “Tuomiokirkkotori” and the bus stops closest to the city centre are all called “Kauppatori” (there are several around the Market square). Buses do not automatically stop at every stop. Passengers wanting to get on board must wave their hand.

Do you recommend the train or the bus from HEL?

This will depend on where your hotel is located. If in the city centre, the bus is better. But if staying next to the train station (Sokos Hotel Kupittaa), the train may be more convenient.

There are buses and taxis outside the station, so you will easily get into town, but taking the bus at the airport will take you closer to the city centre directly.

The bus stop for the bus taking you from Helsinki to Turku that is closest to your hotel will probably be at the Cathedral (Tuomiokirkko), but you can also go until the bus station, which is not far either.

How much time is needed between my arrival at the airport and taking the train or bus?

If the flight is on time and you are travelling light, with hand-luggage only, 30-40 minutes will be enough for you to catch both options. Check the information and follow the signs.

The bus/train schedule says there is a transfer/connection, will I manage?

Yes!

For the train, there will be a transfer from the commuter train to the intercity train in Pasila, which is 25 minutes from the airport. The platforms are side by side, so it takes only a few minutes to change trains.

For the bus, if there is a transfer (rare occurrence), the first bus will take you to the second bus and not leave before the second bus is there. The transfer is 20-25 minutes after the departure from the airport.

Should I buy my ticket in advance for the day when I arrive in Finland?

It is a good idea to buy it in advance; the tickets are usually cheaper when bought in advance. On the other hand, if your flight is delayed, you will lose the ticket. You could also wait until you land and buy the ticket online, on your mobile phone (see the links provided above), when exiting the aircraft or while waiting for the train. And if you notice the bus/train is full when buying the ticket, maybe you can take another option instead.

For the bus, you can also buy the ticket from the bus driver. For the train, there is a ticket machine on the platform.

How about the day when I leave Finland, should I buy my bus/train ticket already now?

You can buy it already before arrival.

Participants are responsible for finding and booking their own accommodation. For some hotels there is a special rate, which is mentioned for every hotel separately.

Closest to ÅAU (ca 10 min walk)

City Center (10+ min walk)

The eduroam WiFi is available throughout the whole campus; you can access it using your home university login.

Finland uses the euro. Cards are widely used and notes larger than 50 € may not be accepted everywhere. Contactless payment with cards is common. Some places are cash-free.

In October, it might still be relatively warm during the daytime but the weather can be unpredictable (prepare for rain) and evenings are colder. Daytime temperatures are 10 degrees and nighttime temperatures 5 degrees on average in southern Finland and the sun rises at 8 am and sets after 6 pm in October.

Please note that some restaurants and most museums are closed on Mondays. Often kitchens close in restaurants around 9 or 10 pm. Some restaurants may have longer service hours during the weekends.

Pia le Grand, CHARM-EU Manager, pia.legrand@abo.fi, +358 50 321 1400

Harriet Klåvus, CHARM-EU Manager, harriet.klavus@abo.fi, +358 46 921 6130

Matias Dahlbäck, WP17, matias.dahlback@abo.fi, +358 50 475 1515

Sara Joas, WP6, sara.joas@abo.fi, +358 50 465 3965