Competition vs. cooperation in times of crisis: reimagining European collaborations

Sciences has no borders. The remarkable mobilization of the scientific community throughout the Covid crisis, and now in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, demonstrates the critical importance of international collaboration, not only for scientific excellence, but for generating solution to complex, cross-border problems.

However, an increasingly tense geopolitical context poses challenges for internationalization in higher education and research, both in Europe and across the world. The dynamics underpinning European collaborations have shifted, creating new parameters and expectations for international partnerships between universities.

The second of a series of policy dialogues on the new geopolitics of Higher Education and Research will focus on the evolution of academic competition and collaboration in Europe against the backdrop of the return of war to Europe and an arguably more politicised approach to research cooperation. The discussion will cover the implications of this new context for European universities, as well as how we can preserve and maintain academic collaborations in times of uncertainty.

Welcome :

- Dr Catherine Saracco, Head of Education, British Council France

- Dr Minh-Hà Pham, Counsellor for Science and technology, French Embassy in the UK

- Lucy Shackleton, Head of Public Policy & Partnerships, UCL European Institute 

Confirmed speakers :

- Professor Alain Beretz, former President of the University of Strasbourg. In charge of the mission on European universities by the Prime Minister in 2018-2020. President of COST, European cooperation programme in science and technology

- Dr Uta Staiger, Executive Director of the European Institute and Pro Vice-Provost, Europe, UCL

- Professor Christine Musselin, CNRS research director, lecturer at Sciences Po, Centre de Sociologie des Organisations

- Dr Vincent Carpentier, Reader in the History of Education, IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society

Please note this dialogue will be hybrid. Please register for an online, or an in-person, ticket.