The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities

EU Legislative Interests

Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, European Research Council, Open Science, European Universities, European Education Area, European Research Area, EU-Africa Partnership (in research and innovation), Health, AI

Communication Activities

In 2024, The Guild’s communication activities included: POSITION PAPERS * The use of artificial intelligence in research: unlocking its full potential. How can Europe harness the power of AI in research while keeping it responsible and human-centered? The Guild’s position paper outlines key strategies to advance AI innovation ethically, enhance research productivity, and strengthen Europe’s global leadership. Explore how responsible AI can drive transformative research across disciplines. * Beyond Horizon: creating an ambitious framework programme for Europe's R&I excellence. The European Union is about to start negotiations for its tenth framework programme for research and innovation (FP10). The Guild urges for a future-oriented outlook on FP10. The framework programme must be geared towards building Europe’s competitiveness and resilience based on its scientific leadership. STATEMENTS * FP10 must be distinguished by excellence, impact, and purpose. The Guild welcomes the Expert Group's report on Horizon Europe and its recommendations for the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) * We need much more MSCA! R&I organisations across Europe call for the MSCA to be recognised as a crucial R&I instrument and ask for an increased budget to unlock its full potential. * Open letter to Commissioner-designate Zaharieva. The Guild publishes recommendations on European research and education policies ahead of the commissioner candidate hearings. * Open letter to Commissioner-designate Síkela. * Open letter to Commissioner-designate Várhelyi. * Open letter to Commissioner-designate Hoekstra. * Open letter to Executive Vice-President-designate Virkkunen. * Open letter to Executive Vice-President-designate Séjourné. * Open letter to Executive Vice-President-designate Mînzatu. * Open letter - RESEARCH MATTERS campaign. As part of the #ResearchMatters campaign, leading research and innovation organisations from across Europe are calling for a significant increase in investments in research and innovation. * What should be captured with a European degree? The Guild’s response to the higher education package. * The Guild's Deans of SSAH on UK and Swiss (re)association. The Guild’s Deans of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities stress the importance of the re-association of the UK to Horizon Europe and its successor programmes, full empowerment of SSAH research collaborations in EU framework programmes and the urgent need for Switzerland to associate to enhance Europe’s competitiveness and resilience to better address societal challenges. * The Guild’s recommendations for the Investment Pathway of European Universities alliances. The Guild's contribution to the current discussions on the future funding of the European Universities alliances. * The Guild welcomes the opportunity to co-develop Europe’s approach to research security. * Open letter on research & higher education in EC impact assessments. MAJOR EVENTS * Re-framing innovation policy: The dynamics between the R and I : it focuses on the discourses and priorities of research and innovation policy and their wider links to Europe’s competitiveness in the coming decades. * AI in European universities: Opportunities and challenges. The event aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges we face in using artificial intelligence (AI) in our teaching and research activities based on the experiences of The Guild member universities. If Europe is to be a driver in AI, what stands in the way of universities helping to achieve this goal? * Back to Fundamentals of Research: Ethics and Academic Freedom.The event will focus on the impact of new technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, and rapid geopolitical changes on the research ecosystem. It aims to explore measures to protect, facilitate, strengthen, and optimise academic freedom, which is considered a fundamental right and the main route to excellence in science.

Interests Represented

Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members

Member Of

EOSC https://www.eosc.eu/

Organisation Members

Aarhus University https://international.au.dk/ Babeș-Bolyai University https://www.ubbcluj.ro/en/ The University of Bern https://www.unibe.ch/index_eng.html The University of Bologna https://www.unibo.it/en Ghent University https://www.ugent.be/en The University of Glasgow https://www.gla.ac.uk/ The University of Göttingen https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html The University of Groningen https://www.rug.nl/ Jagiellonian University https://en.uj.edu.pl/en King's College London https://www.kcl.ac.uk/ The University of Ljubljana https://www.uni-lj.si/en UCLouvain https://uclouvain.be/en/index.html University of Luxembourg https://www.uni.lu/en/ The University of Oslo https://www.uio.no/english/ Université Paris Cité https://u-paris.fr/en/ Pompeu Fabra University https://www.upf.edu/en/ Université PSL https://psl.eu/en Radboud University https://www.ru.nl/en The University of Tartu https://ut.ee/en The University of Tübingen https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university.html Uppsala University https://www.uu.se/en The University of Vienna https://www.univie.ac.at/en/ The University of Warwick https://warwick.ac.uk/