This Strategic Partnership includes five European universities and two associate organisations. With the focus on both innovative practices in the digital era and the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, our common goal is to advance digital undergraduate research in Europe. In the long term, this should also strengthen the undergraduate research network in Europe (similarly to that achieved by our associated partner CUR, the US Council on Undergraduate Research) and improve its global integration. The joint development of digital undergraduate research should serve as a catalyst for the European network. Undergraduate research (UR), i.e., student research as a teaching and learning principle, is an innovative and open pedagogy and has become a major consideration among universities around the world. As studies show, UR supports rapid, deep learning in a discipline, reduces dropout rates and fosters inclusion. Therefore, UR is considered a characteristic of high-impact educational practices and of leading European research universities. Our project EU-dUR aims to support students, university educators and universities in the implementation of DIGITAL UR, by providing specific, online UR tools and adequate schemes of UR mentoring that will be applicable Europe-wide. The EU-dUR project comprises three main project strands, each involving intense transnational collaboration and responding to the identified needs for UR under Covid-19 (cf. Grineski et al. 2020): 1. Digital TOOLS ("Virtual UR Citizen Lab"): Devloping digital research platforms for UR in general and citizen science specifically. 2. Research PROCESS support ("Student Research Hub"): Developing a scheme (appropriate for the challenges of Covid-19) to support the research process in UR (digital/physical). 3. Specific MENTORING (MTEL Module "Digital UR"): Training university educators for mentoring roles in digital UR. All three project strands pay attention to issues of inclusion. In addition, the project will include a joint scientific study leading to publication. The publication will present the EU-dUR results globally and discuss them in light of current research on UR. As a long-term project goal is the strengthening of a European UR network, the project will undertake specific dissemination activities from the beginning. In addition to ensuring high visibility via social media (throughout the project duration) and the final conference (involving other universities and the scientific community), these will include: - Attendance and participation in WorldCUR 2022, the World Congress on Undergraduate Research in Warwick, UK (our focus will be on digital UR); - A separate event on teacher training in Europe (as this is a specific multiplier for UR into the scientific disciplines). Our project is is aligned with the EU strategy Europe 2020 (combining smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, cf. European Commission 2010) and the agenda for the modernisation of Europe’s higher education systems (demanding digitally-enabled open science, cf. European Commission 2017). The project partners are: 1. University of Oldenburg, with the Center for Lifelong Learning (C3) and the Center for Open Education Research (COER); 2. Université de Paris, with the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity (CRI); 3. Universität Wien, with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL); 4. LCC International University, Lithuania; 5. University of Warwick. The two associate organisations are: 1. PH Luzern, Switzerland (with their own resources); 2. US Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org).
We formulated the objectives according to the four identified needs. Objective 1 (digital UR tools): To develop digital tools to support promising new applications, such as UR in citizen science or sustainability research. Studies show the motivating effect of conducting real, "meaningful" research (e.g. Wessels et al. 2020). Objective 2 (UR process): To develop "pandemic-proof" structures to support the process of UR. From the literature, we know the importance of considering the research process in UR (Pedaste et al. 2015). Objective 3 (specific UR mentoring): To develop an appropriate online training course for UR mentors in Europe. Mentoring is a central component of UR, as defined by the US Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org), and indispensable for successful UR outcomes (Rowlett et al. 2012). Objective 4 (European UR network): In the longer term, the project should advance the European network on UR, strengthened by a common digital practice of UR support.
Our project and the associated strategic partnership grew out of the Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research (Mieg et al. 2022). That work highlighted the need for much closer collaboration throughout Europe in the development of undergraduate research (UR). The COVID-19 pandemic drastically limited opportunities for research. Therefore, the consortium joined forces to develop concepts for digital UR and to start building a European UR network. Studies show that UR supports rapid, deep learning in a subject, reduces dropout rates, and promotes inclusion (Mieg & Haberstroh 2022). Therefore, under pandemic conditions, it was important for us to maintain those benefits for students, and adapt them to new digital opportunities. We identified these four key needs (in accordance with a US study on the initial impacts of COVID-19 on UR, Grineski et al. 2020): Need 1: Provide digital tools that support students’ research motivation. Need 2: Support students throughout the process of UR. Need 3: Support UR mentoring. Need 4: In order to fully address needs 1 to 3, our project group agreed that it is essential to strengthen the European UR network with regard to university teachers and universities committed to UR.