The results of the Arqus Innovation Fund 2025 selection process have been published!

Arqus is delighted to announce that the results of the 4th call for the Arqus Innovation Fund have been published!

The Arqus Innovation Fund seeks to incentivise innovative, internal bottom-up initiatives led by Arqus staff and students that have an impact on the entire Alliance.

To achieve this, it provides seed-funding to foster innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset, strengthen the visibility of Arqus internally and promote further staff engagement.

The aim of this seed-funding call 2025 was twofold:

For Arqus Working Groups:

The aim was to provide guidance to Arqus Working Groups on the external funding opportunities available for the individual innovative initiatives in the Arqus Erasmus+ work plan 2022-2026, and to provide financial support for expenses that cannot be covered by other sources. Please note that priority has been given to Arqus Working Groups that had received little or no funding from the Arqus Innovation Fund in previous calls. In addition, funding for the design of innovative forms of mobility has been assessed separately under this seed-funding call.

For ad hoc bottom-up initiatives:

The aim was to incentivise innovative ad hoc bottom-up initiatives from Arqus academics, administrative staff and students with a joint approach. At least 60% of the available funds have been reserved for ad-hoc bottom-up initiatives.

Types of activities supported under this call: challenge-based-learning programmes, collaboration project labs, cross-disciplinary seminars, events for the general public, joint short-term study projects, research training, twin/triplet transition initiatives, workshops.

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Selection and criteria

• The evaluation and selection of initiatives submitted by the Arqus Working Groups were made by a selection committee composed of academics and administrative staff from each Arqus partner university.
• The evaluation and selection of ad hoc bottom-up initiatives submitted by Arqus staff and students were made by a selection committee composed of academics of different disciplines from each Arqus partner university.

Each selection committee organised its own joint selection meeting to evaluate, select and rank the applications submitted for the corresponding sub-call according to the established selection criteria.

Both selection committees were asked to appoint a chair and vice-chair who met in a joint selection meeting to discuss the selection results of each sub-call and prepare a proposal for the allocation of funds. Following the committees’ proposal, the final decision on the allocation of funds was made by the Executive Council of the Arqus European University Alliance.

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RESULTS: Selected initiatives

Initiatives submitted by Arqus Working Groups:

• Exploring AI in Academia: Practical Applications and Best Practices
• Arqus PhD Week for Careers beyond academia 2026

Ad hoc bottom-up initiatives:

• Arts and Creativity in the Foreign Language Classroom: Interdisciplinarity and Innovation in the Process of Teaching and Learning Slavic Languages
• VISURB: Workshop on Visual Methodologies in Urban Research
• “Project AiRQUS” AI in Language Learning and Teaching Pedagogy – a Series of Online Workshops and Webinars with Experts to Enhance Innovativeness and Competitivity at Arqus Universities
• Arqus Verde: Connecting Botanical Gardens for Europe’s Biodiversity and Cultural Heritage
• Science on Stage: Learning to Dramatize Figures, Discoveries, and Ideas
• Bottom-up initiative for Research Security
• Virtual Reality Human Library
• Storytelling in Social Advocacy: Building a Partnership Between Academia and NGOs
• Arqus Women Connect

All selected initiatives will be contacted by the co-leads of the Arqus Innovation Fund with detailed information regarding next steps and monitoring procedures. Initiatives that were not selected for funding will also receive individual feedback outlining the reasons for their rejection.

Read the complete information on the results, including the selected and non-selected initiatives:

Learn more about Arqus Innovation Fund here.