European University Initiative (Proposal preparation for Call 2025)
The European Commission has launched a new call for the upscaling of European University Alliances. Currently, a project group in ELLS, led by SLU, is developing a proposal for ELLS. The funding is for 2 years.
- Contact person: Ylva Hillbur, ylva.hillbur@slu.se
DOC-BEST (Granted KA2 CB Project)
In the current context, European doctoral training systems are often fragmented, lacking a coherent framework to stimulate international collaborations among PhD students and supervisors and prepare young scientists capable of addressing global societal challenges. Doctoral students frequently encounter limited opportunities to work on transdisciplinary issues, and professional integration—particularly outside academia— remains a significant challenge. Furthermore, sustainability concerns and agri-food transitions in doctoral training remain insufficient. DOC BEST aims to address these gaps by proposing an innovative approach and a shared framework for doctoral education in Europe.
DOC BEST seeks to develop a European doctoral framework to train a new generation of “scientists for society”, committed to addressing challenges in sustainable food systems and the environment through a transdisciplinary, challenge-based approach.
DOC BEST will address the following specific objectives:
- SO1: Establish a European transdisciplinary doctoral framework in agrifood and environmental sciences that fosters international and interdisciplinary cooperation while removing administrative barriers to facilitate seamless collaboration among scientists.
- SO2: Promote collaboration in transdisciplinary research and training within agrifood and environmental science
- SO3: Equip scientists and doctoral candidates with skills and knowledge needed to tackle complex societal challenges within the domain of agrifood
- For more information, please contact Alice Francois, alice.francois@supagro.fr
Microcredentials (Working Group)
Under the leadership of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), a working group on Microcredentials has been established. The participating partners are WUR, BOKU, EMU, SGGW, L’Institut Agro, CZU, and SLU. In 2026, the group will deliver the final framework and present recommendations for implementing the courses.
- For more information, please contact Ulrike Wild, Ulrike.wild@wur.nl
Cross-cultural approach of European Agriculture (Granted KA2 Project)
This activity is part of a language project developed within the ELLS network. It uses French agriculture as a thematic support to offer a language course for international students, in line with the objectives of internationalisation at home and preparation for academic mobility. The project consists in creating a shared pedagogical framework for a language course, offered in French, English or German, and focused on the discovery of French agriculture. This framework is intended to be shared with ELLS partners so that they can use it as a basis to develop similar content on the agriculture of their own country, or adapt it to other disciplinary themes.
The activity is an online, mainly self-paced learning programme, including structured courses, pedagogical resources and assessments. It is designed as a modular and transferable model, allowing linguistic and thematic adaptation according to partners’ needs, while maintaining a common foundation focused on language learning and the understanding of national agricultural contexts.
- For more information, please contact Barlet Benjamin et Céline Fabre, benjamin.barlet@supagro.fr.
Attractiveness for Students (Working Group)
To improve the attractiveness for students, the Task Force Education is looking into student enrollment data and trends. Furthermore, an ELLS institutional learning session was organized for Student Recruiters, where best practices were shared and a session on Portfolio management.
- For more information, please contact Marta Mendel, marta_mendel@sggw.edu.pl.
Shared Research Facilities (Working Group)
The development of shared research facilities involves a comprehensive assessment of existing infrastructure, including a list of equipment and technologies with the relevant contact persons, as well as documentation of availability, usage restrictions, and specific use cases and requirements for research. This forms the basis for the creation of a centralized, up-to-date catalog that improves transparency and accessibility. At the same time, standardized procedures and guidelines need to be established to ensure efficient and equitable access. These include access provisions for research, teaching, and staff exchanges, as well as clear conditions regarding costs, on-site or remote use, and scheduling. To support sustainable and responsible use, contractual aspects and liability agreements need to be considered that regulate legal aspects such as usage agreements, intellectual property rights, insurance coverage, and compliance with institutional and data protection guidelines.
- For more information, please contact Wilhelm E. Kincses, wilhelm.kincses@uni-hohenheim.de.
ELLS STAR (STudent Agrifood Research) - (Proposal Preparation For KA2 Cooperation Partnerships Call 2025)
For the purposes of this project, Research-Oriented Learning (ReOL) is an educational approach that integrates challenge-driven, experiential learning into the curriculum, in order to develop students’ capacities in inquiry, critical thinking, and knowledge creation. Unlike standard coursework, ReOL supports students to engage in the full research cycle with the guidance of faculty members - from idea, to hypothesis, choice of methodology and study design, data analysis and interpretation as well as dissemination. These activities go beyond typical student research participation by ensuring scaffolded engagement in real research settings and producing tangible outputs. Guided by faculty mentorship, ReOL gradually fosters independent inquiry, critical thinking, and advanced research skills for academic and professional success and societal benefit.
- For more information, please contact Petra Chaloupkova & Olga Leuner, chaloupkova@ftz.czu.cz