The third in Cork CityLabs ‘Future of Port’ Seminar Series, we connect community, city and university colleagues across the UNIC European University Alliance and Port University League. This series brings thought leaders together for conversations that help inspire us to rethink and redesign the future of our urban centers – in a citizen centered, diverse and ecological manner.

UCC recently hosted staff and students in Education from several UNIC universities, for three days of design thinking and creativity in the TESTEd ‘Makerspace’ hybrid event.

Cork City, Ireland is part of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities which currently has 229 active active member cities throughout 55 countries.

TTT 3 - Teach the Teacher Training session 3: International Co-Teaching - is an online international workshop dedicated to the teaching approach of Virtual Exchange.

UNIC partner, the University of Oulu, will host an online event, Visiting Guest Lectures in Transnational Citizen Science, open to UNIC partners, on 30 May 2023 from 9.00am to 11.10am (Irish time). The event will be held online via Zoom and is open to the 100 fastest participants.

More information and registration details: https://unic.eu/en/events/visiting-guest-lectures-transnational-citizen-science.

UNIC partner Erasmus University Rotterdam will host a Summer School on 'Education for Social Change' on their campus on 3rd to 6th July 2023. See more information, and registration details: https://unic.eu/en/news/summer-school-opportunity-unic-academics-education-social-change.

In celebration of Europe Day, May 9th, we asked UNIC colleagues what being part of Europe means to them, and what being part of the UNIC European university alliance means to them.

Delegates from Cork attended the UNIC General Assembly and CityLabs Festival in Bilbao at the end of April 2023. The festival brought together participants from city, university and community sectors from UNIC partner cities for a three-day schedule of meetings, brainstorming activities, and signature UNIC CityLabs. In UNIC, the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition, UCC is creating innovative forms of mobility and community engagement with nine partner universities across Europe and their cities.

Intercultural Dialogue: collaborative teaching and learning in international settings

This workshop is conducted in a collaboration of trainers from different UNIC universities. In the workshop you will meet teachers of partner-universities of the UNIC-Alliance, which come from: Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

In this international setting you will familiarize with the concept of Virtual Exchange (especially COIL: 'Collaborative Online International Learning'), you will reflect on your own teaching culture and discover the learning and teaching culture of your partners. You will collaborate to create a Virtual Exchange setting for your students. You will create first ideas for fostering the collaboration of your students. You will discuss challenges of intercultural encounters and learn how to deal with them. You will have the chance to network with other teachers from the UNIC alliance.

Go Green with the Train instead of Plane (TIP) Scheme! Are you planning to take part in a course at a UNIC university? Will you travel a significant part of your journey by train or ferry? Then you should apply for the UNIC Train Instead of Plane (TIP) scheme.

Two Cork social innovators receive UNIC CityLabs Award to lead international co-design team initiatives under Global Challenge for Sport & Physical Activity.

This workshop is aimed at Lifelong Learning professionals, in particular those working with highly-educated jobseekers transitioning from higher education to entrepreneurship and working life. It takes place online on Tuesday 4th April 2023, 9am Irish time.

• ‘Redesigning the Post-Industrial City’ (RePIC) is a joint master’s programme for those interested in reconceptualising the civic, cultural, and social fabric of post-industrial cities.
• The programme will deliver cross-disciplinary research and teaching with insights from leading European academics and cultural partners as part of the UNIC European University Alliance.
• UCC will collaborate with Cork City Council and local civic, arts, and cultural organisations to bring contemporary urban challenges and solutions to life.
• RePIC students will live and study in up to three universities over two years.

Join us on Zoom for a special workshop that dives into the applications and integration of Engaged Research into eductation, through case studies, experience-sharing and discussion. 

 ISS21 (UCC's Institute for Social Studies in the 21st century) and UNIC present an online research seminar delivered as part of UCC's Refugee Week. Dr Gustavo de la Orden Bosch will speak on "Border Securitisation and the Criminalization of Migration Inside Schengen: The case of the Franco-Spanish border in the Basque Country".

Workshop 5 of the Lifelong Learning Series is an online workshop exploring the integration of migrant children in education. The workshop is aimed at anyone involved in Lifelong Learning. However, it may be of specific interest to anyone involved in the education and training of teachers who work with a multi-cultural and refugee population of migrant children.

UCC joined nine European partners to kickstart the second phase of the European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition (UNIC), signing a mission statement in Zagreb, Croatia.

A workshop coming soon on adaptive learning in continuing professional development within the UNIC Series of Workshops on Lifelong Learning on the 24th of January 2023, 9am (Irish time).

UCC teaching and lecturing staff are invited to join an online training session to learn more about Virtual Exchange and how to integrate in their courses. Sessions take place on December 7, January 19, or April 12 (choose one slot), 12 midday to 4pm Irish time. Register here.

UCC staff are invited to participate in an online course on 'International Co-teaching: Integrating Virtual Exchange into the University Classroom'. The course is aimed at university educators (e.g. lecturers, language teachers). It will be delivered in four 1.5 hour meetings in January 2023. See full details and free registration: here.

UCC will collaborate with the University of Deusto to deliver an online CityLab event on the challenge of ending violence against women. The event will take place on Monday December 5, 2022, 2pm-3.30pm Irish time. University community and civil society stakeholders of Bilbao and Cork are welcome to join. Register here. 

UCC researchers are invited to submit applications for seed funding being made available through the UNIC4ER (Engaged Research) programme. Qualifying researchers can apply for up to 12 months of funding and support for research projects that tackle societal challenges in post-industrial cities.

UCC will collaborate with Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Oulu to deliver an online CityLab event on the political participation of youth. The event will take place at 10am - 11.30m (Irish time) on November 25 and is open to students, academia, local authorities, youth organizations, and anyone with an interest in this topic. Register here: UNIC CityLabs: Political Participation of Youth (office.com).

UCC lecturer in the study of Religions, Dr James Kapalo, participated in a successful collaborative online course with colleagues from UNIC partner universities led by Dr Martin Radermacher of Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with Dr Katharina Baeur of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Dr Nazli Ozkan and Dr İpek Rappas of Koç University Istanbul. A co-authored article on the course was recently published in 'Mediapolis' journal: Dignified Spaces in European Cities: A Co-teaching Experiment – Mediapolis (mediapolisjournal.com). 

MaREI (Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy) at UCC and Drift for Transition at Erasmus University Rotterdam will host an online City Lab session on participation of citizens in renewable energy infrastructure projects. The event will take place at 2pm - 4pm (Irish time) on November 22 and is open to interested parties from across local authorities, academia, municipalities, NGOs, industry and policymaking. Register: UNIC CityLab: Eventbrite.

This online teacher training is on the topic of 'Intercultural Dialogue: collaborative teaching and learning in international settings'. It is aimed at teachers who mainly focus on foreign language development. This session will be held from 2pm to 4.30pm (Irish time) on Thursday November 10, 2022.

UNIC partners Ruhr Universität Bochum and the University of Oulu, Finland, will host an online 'Superdiversity School' on Wednesday November 16 to Friday November 18, 2022. UCC students, staff and researchers are invited to join. Participants can choose to sign up for individual workshops on these days.

UNIC partner Ruhr University Bochum will host an online CityLab session on the topic "From data collector to co-researcher - how to successfully collaborate with society". Open to all UCC researchers, the event will take place at 9am Irish time on Thursday November 10, 2022.

UCC is working with university, city and civil society partners across ten European cities, including Cork, to build a second-round proposal for the ‘European University of Post-Industrial Cities’ (UNIC).

What can, could and should the future of education look like? While we don't yet have all the answers, UNIC has offered us a new way to answer these questions. As our time as UCC’s student representatives on the UNIC Student Board draws to a close, we are afforded some time to pause and reflect on what this has meant for us — both as UCC students and global citizens.

By Alicia O’Sullivan and Jack Lehane

University College Cork (UCC) hosted an online Superdiversity School in May 2022 (17th-19th) as part of the UNIC initiative. The School is the latest in a series of events being held under the UNIC Superdiversity Academy (WP4), and a total of six Schools are planned for the duration of the project across partner institutions.

Koc University in Istanbul, a member of UNIC, is offering a place free of charge for a UCC student at the Virtual Leadership Summer programme this July. Participating students will receive a Global Learning Certificate: Leadership, Sustainability and Social Innovation in 21st Century.

Applications are open until June 29th. Please follow the applications process and indicate that you would like to avail of the free place for UCC: https://oip.ku.edu.tr/online-programs/

Virtual Workshop on Thursday 26th May, 9 am (IST) / 10:00 (CET): Please contact Deirdre O'Byrne for more information: deirdre.obyrne@ucc.ie

Speaker: Eleanor McSherry, ACE at University College Cork

This workshop will showcase and discuss the Diploma in Autism Studies at UCC ACE, an innovative course to introduce adult students to the different ways in which people on the autistic spectrum experience the world. Click to learn more about the diploma:

UCC students are invited to take part in Online Turkish Practice Hours (TPH), a language cafe offered by Koc University, Istanbul, one of UCC's UNIC partners. Register for free by February 24th, 10 AM Irish time, at https://forms.gle/yzkaX6ifAuPnCpRaA. For more information, watch this YouTube video or visit the Koc University website.

A future pan European university for Cork is a step closer as University College Cork was awarded € 442,000 in funding to continue to develop a new model of European education together with seven cities across Europe.

On June 11, UNIC (European University of Post-Industrial Cities) will answer what it means to be a European University, and more, as it hosts its latest conference, Regenerating our Post-Industrial Cities: the Role of Universities.

City-University partners across our UNIC European University Alliance believe ports and port cities have a particularly unique role to play in helping us to rethink and redesign the future of our urban centers - in a citizen centered, diverse and ecological manner.

Join us for a roundtable discussion chaired by Irish Times Journalist Lorna Siggins, bringing thought leaders into conversation around this ambition as part of the Cork Harbour Festival 2021 programme.

University College Cork has joined a European alliance of eight universities based in post-industrial cities, with the aim of boosting mobility and inclusion for social impact.

The European Commission  has provided support of €5M to conduct a pilot initiative to develop the European University of Post Industrial Cities (UNIC). 

University College Cork is part of a pilot project funded by the European Commission to establish The European University of Post Industrial Cities (UNIC). This is an alliance of eight universities from eight European countries: University of Deusto (Spain), Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), University College Cork (Ireland), Koç University (Turkey), University of Liège (Belgium), University of Oulu (Finland), University of Zagreb (Croatia) and Erasmus University Rotterdam (coordinator, the Netherlands).

As part of our involvement in UCC's membership of the UNIC universities initiative, and our membership of IMISCOE, ISS21 is participating in the recently launched UNIC online lecture series, 'Migration and Corona'. 

UCC, along with 8 EU partners in ‘The European University of Post-Industrial Cities’ (UNIC) alliance have developed a lecture series and Master Course for the Summer term 2020 on “Migration and Corona“. The initiative is part of a unique partnership to boost mobility and inclusion through teaching, research and community engagement across the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Koc University Istanbul, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, University College Cork, University of Deusto, University of Oulu, University of Zagreb and University of Liège.