2025 Arqus Annual Conference

Link to download the LU Welcome Booklet

Link to download the Full Programme

Eva Inės Obergfell (Arqus Alliance)

Eva Inés Obergfell is Rector of Leipzig University. She studied law at the University of Bielefeld, the Université de Strasbourg and the University of Konstanz. In 2000, she received her doctorate from the University of Konstanz and completed her habilitation there in 2010. After working as a lawyer in Berlin and as a research assistant at the Technical University of Munich, she became a stand-in for several chairs at different universities. In 2011, she was appointed professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From October 2016 to September 2021, she held the Office of Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She was appointed Rector of Leipzig University in 2022.

Eeva Leinonen (Arqus Alliance)

Eeva Leinonen obtained an MPhil in Text Linguistics from Exeter University, UK and a PhD in Clinical Linguistics from De Montfort University, UK. Her academic research focuses on pragmatic language processing deficits in children and young adults with autistic spectrum disorders. Eeva Leinonen has extensive experience in higher education in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and internationally. She joined Maynooth University as President in October 2021, after five years of service as Vice-Chancellor and President at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. She has been actively involved in national and international higher education policy discourse and implementation through her roles on numerous boards and advisory bodies.

Mireille van Poppel (Arqus Alliance)

Mireille van Poppel has a Master’s Degree in Medical Biology and a post-doctorate degree in Epidemiology. Her research is in the field of physical activity and public health. After working for almost 15 years at the Department of Public and Occupational Health at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, she moved to the University of Graz in 2015. There, she is a professor at the Department for Human Movement Sciences, Sport and Health, and currently, also Vice Rector for Internationalization and Equal Opportunities.

Stefan Lang (CIVIS Alliance)

Stefan Lang is a renowned Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing expert and serves as Dean at the Faculty of Digital and Analytical Sciences at the University of Salzburg. As a Professor of Earth Observation, he drives research activities on advanced geospatial image analysis, EO-based monitoring, and multi-source data integration. Stefan Lang is active in Skills Alliance projects and coordinates an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s on Earth Observation and Digital Earth. He has launched long-term collaborations with humanitarian organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and is involved in spin-off and related transfer activities of the University. He has been appointed the first Secretary General of the CIVIS University Alliance from October 2024 onwards.

Barbara Gagliardi (UNITA Alliance)

Barbara Gagliardi, PhD, is a Full Professor in Administrative Law at the University of Turin; she was a Visiting Scholar at the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques (September 2008 – January 2009) and at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (2019) at the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught university modules on civil service law, health law, public contracts law, public utilities, and local authorities’ autonomy and has been participating in several research projects mainly regarding public utilities, local authorities, public procurement law and civil servants’ law. Barbara Gagliardi represents the university alliance UNITA.

Daniel Santos (INGENIUM Alliance)

Daniel Santos holds a PhD in Physics. He’s Full Professor of Applied Physics and former Head of the Department of Physics (2016-2021) at the University of Oviedo, Spain. His research interests cover mainly magnetism and magnetic materials, with some publications also in adaptive optics. He has been Vice-Rector for Internationalization at the University of Oviedo from 2021 to 2024, since then he acts as the Rector’s Delegate for International Alliances (ranked as Vice-Rector). Daniel Santos represents the university alliance INGENIUM.

Dorothy Kelly (Arqus Alliance)

Dorothy Kelly is a professor of Translation at the University of Granada (Spain), where she was also Vice Rector for Internationalization from 2008 to 2023. 

She was Chair of the Executive Board of the Coimbra Group of Universities from 2010 until 2017 and was a member of Spain’s national Bologna Experts Team from 2010 to 2013. She was a member of the Board of the Committee for Internationalization and Development Cooperation at the Spanish Rectors’ Conference between 2008 and 2023. She is a member of the Advisory Group on Higher Education to the Steering Committee for Education (CDEDU) of the Council of Europe. She is also a member of the FOREU4ALL Community of Practice Forum Board. Since 2018, she has been the coordinator of Arqus.

Bálint Markó (EUTOPIA Alliance)

Bálint Markó has a PhD in Conservation Ecology from the University of Szeged, Hungary. He works at the Babes-Bolyai University, Romania (UBB), Faculty of Biology and Geology as Professor in Biology. In 2016, he was first appointed as vice-rector of UBB. His portfolio included quality assurance and non-traditional education, being in charge of the distance-learning programmes and of supervising and coordinating branch campuses outside the headquarters of UBB. Currently, he is responsible for the Hungarian Line of Study, education curriculum, competitiveness and branch campuses. Due to his engagement in implementing European policies at UBB, Bálint Markó represents his university in the board of vice-presidents of the EUTOPIA Alliance and the Guild consortium, and leads the EUTOPIA_HEALTH project. Recently, he was appointed president of the National Research Council of Romania.

Sergio Villanueva Baselga (CHARM-EU Alliance)

Sergio Villanueva Baselga is an Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona. He has an academic background in Communication and Media Studies as well as Biotechnology and holds a PhD in Communication and Information Studies. He is also the research coordinator of the NGO Stop, one of the Spanish leading NGO in the fight against HIV. His research is transdisciplinary and focuses on the intersection between media, sexual health and health identities formation. He is the director of the University of Barcelona of the CHARM-EU alliance.

Lucas Zinner (Circle-U Alliance)

Lucas Zinner has been working in research and research-related institutions for around 25 years. A mathematician by training, he set up and heads the Department for Research Services and Career Development at the University of Vienna. He has been particularly involved in the debate on doctoral studies in Europe and beyond. In 2017, he co-founded the PRIDE Network Association for Professionals in Doctoral Education. PRIDE aims to increase the visibility of professional support staff and to provide an international forum for exchange and continuous development. As Chair of the Research Committee, Lucas Zinner represents the Alliance Circle-U, where he particularly seeks to advance the research agenda within the Alliance.

Colin Tück (expert)

Colin Tück is a self-employed higher education policy consultant with 15 years of experience in European higher education cooperation. He works in collaboration with different European projects and initiatives related to quality assurance, recognition, transnational cooperation and data exchange, amongst others. Colin Tück was the Director of the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR). He managed the founding of EQAR as Project Manager on behalf of its founding members (ENQA, ESU, EUA and EURASHE) from July 2007 and later served as its first Director until April 2023. In that capacity, Colin also led the conception, implementation and management of the Database of External Quality Assurance Results (DEQAR).

Cedric Jürgensen (Arqus Alliance)

Cedric Jürgensen studied Liberal Arts and Sciences (Major Governance), Political Sociology, and European Studies at the University of Freiburg, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Leipzig University. During his studies he was a visiting student at Université de Montréal and École normale supérieure (Paris-Ulm). Since March 2021, he has been a PhD candidate in sociology at Leipzig University, and since April 2021, he has been associated with the Centre Marc Bloch. Since October 2022 he has also worked at the Centre for the Study of France and the Francophonie at Leipzig University. In his PhD project investigates the impacts of Brexit on the Dover-Calais border region.

Sebastian Schöttler (EUTOPIA Alliance)

Sebastian Schöttler holds degrees in Economic History and Digital Data Management. He spent seven years at Humboldt University in Berlin, where he worked as a research and teaching assistant. From 2018 to 2019, he served as a project coordination assistant for the Priority Programme 1859, “Experience & Expectation: Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour”. Since 2023, he has been coordinating the “Digital Transformation” Work Package of the EUTOPIA university alliance at Dresden University of Technology (TUD), focusing on developing strategies for digitalization in areas such as student mobility, e-teaching, and Open Science.

Alex Hinojo (Open-EU Alliance)

Alex Hinojo is a knowledge strategist. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Open University of Catalonia and post-degrees in Cultural Projects Management as well as Museology. He has worked with leading museums, libraries, archives and universities of Spain, and with various international institutions. Alex Hinojo has specialised in cultural dissemination on the Internet through open platforms, and in the analysis of complex cultural and educational organisations, helping them to define medium-term strategies. He is the secretary general of the university alliance Open EU.

Uršulė Barkauskaitė (Arqus Alliance)

Uršulė Barkauskaitė is a third-year microbiology student at the Life Sciences Center in Vilnius University. She is an active member of VU SR (Vilnius University Students’ Representation) and is the International Students’ Affairs Coordinator responsible for the advocacy process of international students and the overall assurance of the integration process of international principles, crucial to the individual and collective experience of students in Vilnius University. In addition to her duties at VU SR, she has experience in student scientific projects oriented at applying sustainable development goals to acknowledge and solve worldwide problems. As the Vice-president of Arqus Student Council, she recognizes the importance of a unified approach towards understanding the significance of student involvement in the developmental processes of the alliance.

Patrycja Matusz (Arqus Alliance)

Patrycja Matusz graduated in Dutch and German studies and got her PhD at the Institute of International Studies in 2006, University of Wroclaw. She is an expert in the field of international cooperation, the implementation of transnational projects and the principles of functioning of the European Union and did extensive research on international migration, immigrant integration and intercultural education. Since September 2020, Patrycja Matusz acts as the Vice-Rector for projects and international relations at the University of Wroclaw. In March 2024, the Polish Minister of Science appointed her as the plenipotentiary of the Minister of Science for European Affairs and the Presidency of the Republic of Poland in the Council of the European Union.

Lucas de Uña Ocampo

Lucas de Uña Ocampo holds a first degree in mathematics from the University of Granada and is currently studying Computer Science and Engineering. He has been very active in diverse bodies of governance of student associations at faculty and university level, among them the role of Vice-President of Institutional Policy of Granada’s student council, as well as president of the student council of the faculty of Mathematics and Statistics. Since 2024, Lucas de Uña Ocampo is the President of the Student Council of the Arqus Alliance and also Governance Advisor to the University of Granada.