In addition to shared core values, the EUniWell member universities – now including the University of Konstanz – are united by the long-term goal to promote the well-being of all and in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through research, teaching and social responsibility.
“We deliberately think of ‘well-being’ from multiple perspectives and in an interdisciplinary way, since well-being is never realised in a vacuum, but is always the result of a complex interplay of individual, societal and environmental factors,” explains EUniWell Chief Development Officer Prof. Beatrix Busse. “Therefore, the University of Konstanz with its interdisciplinary orientation is a great asset for our Alliance.”
Both in research and teaching as well as at the institutional level, the University of Konstanz is already strongly aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We are very pleased to have been asked to join this attractive Alliance that fits our university so well. Our membership in EUniWell will give us the opportunity to further strengthen our work in the areas of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, for example, in inequality research, ecological sustainability, teacher education and health, as well as to expand and advance these activities together with strong international partners,” says Prof. Katharina Holzinger, Rector of the University of Konstanz.
The University of Konstanz
Since its foundation in 1966, the University of Konstanz has distinguished itself through its top-level research, its excellence in teaching, its international presence and its interdisciplinarity. In the German ‘Excellence Strategy’ programme, the University of Konstanz is currently one of only eleven German Universities which have been awarded the status of a ‘University of Excellence’.
The University of Konstanz is comprised of thirteen departments, which are in turn grouped into three faculties: The Faculty of the Natural Sciences, the Faculty of the Humanities, and the Faculty of Politics, Law and Economics. According to its original foundation as a reform university, the University of Konstanz has flat academic hierarchies. The reform principle is also mirrored in the administration and the organisation of the University of Konstanz. Unique features are the services, standards, and achievements in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion as well as family support: from the university’s own childcare centre to its Codes of Practice on Gender Equality and on Diversity, through which the university commits itself to equality, diversity and inclusion in all areas and on all levels.
At the international level, the University of Konstanz fosters select and sustainable partnerships with over 70 research-focused universities in order to promote scientific collaboration and student exchange.
Background: the European University for Well-Being
EUniWell was launched in 2020 in the second pilot phase of the European University Initiative. The Alliance pursues a holistic, knowledge-based and action-oriented approach to well-being, in response to the call of the Council of the European Union to the Member States to promote the ‘Economy of Wellbeing’, a virtuous cycle between society, economy and the environment, leading to greater well-being across those dimensions. The core mission of EUniWell is to understand, improve, measure, and rebalance the well-being of individuals, our own community, and society as a whole based on our joint values – democratic, inclusive, diverse, research and challenge-based, inter- and transdisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and co-creational.
As the tenth member of the European University for Well-Being, the University of Konstanz joins the Universities of Birmingham, Cologne, Florence and Murcia, Leiden University, Linnaeus University, Nantes Université, Semmelweis University, and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Researchers: apply now to run collaborative workshops with EUniWell member universities!
EUniWell has introduced its new initiative to promote cooperation and collaboration in well-being research: the EUniWell Well-being Research Incubator.
The Incubator will give researchers access to an established, well-connected European alliance of universities and partners from the public, private and third sectors.
Researchers from EUniWell member universities are invited to submit an idea to the Incubator for an online collaborative workshop. The format of the workshop is to be decided by the applicant. Each workshop needs to bring together researchers from at least three partner institutions from the EUniWell alliance, and must relate to one of the four EuniWell research themes, described in the Call for Workshops.
See the Call for Workshops for more information, then complete this application form by midnight on 25 November 2022.
More details: https://www.euniwell.eu/what-we-offer/euniwell-well-being-research-incubator
Ph.D. students: apply now to receive the EUniWell Research Thesis Prize!
EUniWell has established EUniWell Research Thesis Prizes for Ph.D. Students. The selected Ph.D. are invited to a professional seminar on “Science Communication” at Nantes Université.
EUniWell seeks to support Ph.D. Students, invest in their training and spread new skills and competencies in the field of science communication and science transfer to society for Ph.D.s from EUniWell member universities all over.
See the Call for Thesis on the EUniWell website and apply via e-mail by midnight on 25 November 2022.
Photos: Inka Reiter, Patrick Doodt
