Science and The City: EUGLOH is shaping the future of European higher education
At the latest Annual Summit held as part of EUGLOH 2.0, the EUGLOH alliance, coordinated by and co-founded by Université Paris-Saclay, explored ways of fostering innovation for global health. The event brought together nearly 300 participants from the alliance’s 10 member universities and partner institutions, including the University of Amsterdam, which will officially join the alliance in January 2027. The Annual Summit was opened by Hauke Heekeren (President of the University of Hamburg, which hosted the summit), Delphine Placidi-Frot (Vice-President for International and European Relations at Université Paris-Saclay), and Margarida Lima Moreira (representative of the EUGLOH Student Council, University of Porto).
Two days to shape the alliance’s next chapter
Held on 15 and 16 September 2026, the Summit took place across several campuses of the University of Hamburg. The choice of location was far from incidental: as a port city with a strong focus on research and industrial innovation, Hamburg is home to a university that embodies the close relationship between science and its surrounding region, alongside major research institutes, technology transfer organisations and healthcare companies.
The event also offered an opportunity to (re)discover the alliance’s universities and their specific strengths, and above all to expand participants’ networks. Alongside the workshops and conferences, the “EUGLOH Hub: Meet the Alliance’s Universities” provided an opportunity for Annual Summit participants to connect, discover each institution’s strengths, exchange ideas and practices, explore opportunities for collaboration and make contact with colleagues from across the alliance.
Beyond reunions and informal exchanges, the Summit addressed a specific strategic priority: consolidating the achievements of the past seven years and collectively preparing for the alliance’s next phase. The event’s workshops and conferences were therefore structured around the alliance’s four main thematic areas:
- Health in urban and rural environments
- Sustainability and biodiversity
- Resilience and disaster prevention
- Digital health, AI and medical technologies
EUGLOH 2Plus: the alliance enters a new phase
The announcement came a few weeks before the Summit, in July 2026: the European Commission confirmed continued funding for EUGLOH under the European Universities Initiative for 2027 and 2028. A new phase, known as EUGLOH 2Plus, will enable the alliance to strengthen the integration of its member universities, continue developing a transnational European campus for education, research and innovation in global health, and better prepare graduates for the skills they will need in the future.
This new phase will place particular emphasis on interdisciplinary cooperation, bringing together not only students, teaching staff and researchers, but also administrative and technical staff.
Advancing a European higher education space together
For Delphine Placidi-Frot, the Summit was an opportunity to emphasise that building the alliance is a long-term endeavour, requiring continued efforts to strengthen the links between shared governance, student communities and partners on the ground. This ambition was also reflected in discussions on the future of higher education in Europe: at a time when universities need to adapt and cooperate, alliances such as EUGLOH provide a valuable space for creating synergies, pooling resources and learning from one another.
The University of Amsterdam’s arrival in 2027 as the alliance’s tenth partner university will mark its official entry into a new phase. As the largest university in the Netherlands, it will further strengthen the network’s disciplinary diversity and academic excellence, while extending its geographical reach into Northern Europe.
In the meantime, students, teaching staff, researchers and staff at Université Paris-Saclay can already take advantage of the many mobility, training and collaboration opportunities offered by EUGLOH.
Contact: eugloh@universite-paris-saclay.fr
