The meeting, held at the SupBiotech facilities, brought together representatives from the universities that form the European Alliance, including rectors, heads of work packages, and students. Over three days, delegations worked on key areas such as governance, joint academic offerings, international mobility, research, innovation, and communication.
The UAL delegation, led by rector José J. Céspedes, along with UNIgreen head José Luis Ruiz and Strategy, Communication, and Coordination head Miguel Pérez, as well as representatives from other vice-rectorates and students, aimed to coordinate work and share experiences to advance common projects with a direct impact on the Almerian university community.
In the student sphere, María Mañas participated in sessions dedicated to students, while Oliver García and Francisco José Martín were finalists in the UNIgreen SURES Innovation Challenge. García secured second prize for his project 'Grantwise Agro'. Students discussed the creation of the future UNIgreen Student Council to give students greater prominence in the Alliance's decisions and activities, proposing the inclusion of students in each work package.
María Mañas expressed interest in joining work package WP5, focused on diversity and inclusion, reflecting student involvement in building the Alliance. The UNIgreen SURES Innovation Challenge aims to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, connecting university knowledge with current challenges in agriculture, sustainability, and the environment.
The meeting also included workshops on the impact of university alliances, featuring Anastasia Butovska from UAL, and on communication, in collaboration with the YUFE alliance, to enhance UNIgreen's visibility. The final session addressed the upcoming strategic lines of UNIgreen+.
UAL's participation in these JIC meetings allows for the transfer of its university community's needs and proposals into the collaborative work of the eight partner universities, contributing to shared initiatives in training, research, mobility, and sustainability. The UNIgreen work is built through this daily collaboration between universities, and meetings like this facilitate sharing progress, making decisions, and continuing projects that translate into opportunities and activities for their university communities. The event program is available at this link.
