Worldwide Universities Network

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Research

Through its Research Development Fund, WUN provides support to initiate collaborative research that falls within the broad theme of sustainable development, inculing the following domains:

Social justice, human rights, inequality
Sustainable world: cities and urbanisation, energy transitions, water and food security
Mental health, child and maternal health, ageing
Responsible and ethical use of computing: artificial intelligence, information security, privacy

A call for projects is launched each year in June-July, with a deadline in September-October. An email will be sent to the relevant academic staff whenever a call is published.

UNIL projects

Completed projects

JIR-CliPS: comparison of Clinical Practice Strategies in Juvenile Inflammatory Diseases between 4 world regions (Prof. Michael Hofer, Faculty of Biology and Medicine)
Sexuality across cultures: International Sex Survey in South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, and Taiwan (Prof. Joël Billieux, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences)
Gender Trouble: Glocalization of gender politics and challenges for public health and democracy (Prof. Irene Maffi, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences)

Current projects

Inclusive Law-making & Intelligent Assistive Technologies (Prof. Sophie Weerts, Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration)
Education in a Warming World: A Collaborative Research Network on Education and Climate Change (Prof. Julia Steinberger, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment; Prof. Fabrizio Butera, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences)
Intersectional Research Methodologies: Towards a Sustainable Post COVID 19 Future (Dr Eléonore Lépinard, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences)

Special Interest Group

To promote sustained collaborations, WUN will encourage the formation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that bring together researchers from multiple member universities to pursue a shared research interest. WUN may provide funds for SIGs to hold workshops and launch special initiatives.

Global Africa Group

This collaborative research program is designed to support sustainable development and capacity-building in Africa in both the natural and social sciences. The five research priorities of the Group sit at the intersection of WUN’s existing expertise and research collaborations, Africa’s development agenda as outlined in the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals:

Environmental change and food security
Public health
Governance, inequality and social inclusion
Higher education and research capacity
Natural resources for inclusive growth and sustainable development

More information

Mobility

The IRO covers part of the travel expenses of UNIL teaching staff visiting a WUN member university, under the conditions applicable to bilateral agreements, or to SEMP agreements in case such an agreement has been signed.

The IRO also covers part of the housing expenses of a visitor from a WUN member university, under the conditions applicable to bilateral agreements, or to SEMP agreements in case such an agreement has been signed.

Meetings and events

Annual General Meeting

The WUN Annual General Meeting (AGM) usually takes place in the second half of May. Multiple governance groups come together to network, evaluate the previous year’s achievements and set the course for the year ahead. Academic workshops may also be organised during the AGM.

WUN seminars and workshops

Workshops can be held at any time and are for the relevant Global Challenge Steering Group to approve with the Secretariat if funding support is required. They can be at a member university, jointly organised with a relevant international society or agency, and include research fellows working with such partners.

Member universities

Autralia

University of Technology Sydney

Brazil

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Canada

University of Alberta

Germany

Ruhr Universität Bochum

Ghana

University of Ghana

Hong Kong SAR