What is EUniWell?
EUniWell - the European University for Wellbeing - is one of 60 European university alliances funded by the European Commission as part of the ERASMUS+ programme. EUniWell consists of the eleven universities of Birmingham (United Kingdom), Cologne (Germany), Florence (Italy), Inalco (France), Constance (Germany), Linnaeus (Sweden), Murcia (Spain), Nantes (France), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Semmelweis (Hungary) and the Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev (Ukraine). The Alliance also works with more than 100 associated partners from all areas of society. The University of Konstanz has been a full member of EUniWell since 1st November 2023.
In the first funding period from November 2020 to October 2023, EUniWell developed a joint research and teaching agenda on the topic of "Well-Being", which follows the core objective of recording, understanding, improving and balancing the well-being of individuals, their own members, the environment and society as a whole at regional, European and global level.
Why “Well-being”?
Europeans today have comparatively high life expectancy and Europe has a strong economy. Yet, the long-term well-being of European citizens is threatened by global challenges such as climate change, new diseases, rising populism, a growing divide between different groups in society, and wars. Meeting these challenges will require a holistic approach in which institutions of higher education, research and innovation have a leading role to play.
Based on their joint values – democratic, inclusive, diverse, research and challenge-based, inter- and transdisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and co-creational – the EUniWell partners aim to develop an action-oriented solution, grounded in high profile research expertise, educational leadership and civic engagement. EUniWell aims to play a critical, intermediary role in shaping research-based policy and pedagogy to inform decision-making, underpin skills development, and realise a measurable impact on our students’ learning experience and the citizens’ quality of life.
EUniWell - Thematic Arenas
With its holistic approach to well-being and excellent and complementary research output in areas like peace studies and human rights, climate change, teacher education, artificial intelligence, and more, EUniWell aims to further boost innovative research related to well-being to sensibly impact on society and to position and establish itself as the European University for Well-Being. As organisational and functional units, EUniWell has therefore created five distinct arenas focussing on research. The aim of the thematic arenas is to coordinate and facilitate bottom-up cooperation in the areas of research, education and training, innovation, knowledge transfer and civil society engagement between all partner universities in the Alliance.
The arenas are closely linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a result of top-down and bottom-up strategic analyses with our researchers.
In the following section you will find the contact persons of the University of Konstanz in the respective EUniWell thematic arenas.
The five EUniWell Arenas for Well-Being
Health and Well-Being
Arena 1 particularly focuses on mental health and the development of innovative biomedical approaches to health and healthcare, emphasizing a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary perspective. This arena is led by Semmelweis University.
Contact Person:
Markus Gruber (Chair of Training and Movement Science)
m.gruber@uni-konstanz.de
Social Equality and Well-Being
Arena 2 explores the connections between social equality, the promotion of diversity and social inclusion, and the relationships between the protection and well-being of individuals and stable, democratically secure societies. This arena is led by Linnaeus University.
Contact Person:
Termeh Shafie (Center for Data and Methods)
termeh.shafie@uni-konstanz.de
Environmental Change and Well-Being
Arena 3 addresses the diverse interactions between the environment and human societies, from regional to global scales, and the challenges that environmental changes pose to the well-being of animals, plants, and humans now and in the future. This arena is lead by the University of Florence.
Contact Person:
Hilmar Hofmann (Staff Unit Sustainability)
hilmar.hofmann@uni-konstanz.de
Culture, Multilingualism and Well-Being
The aim of Arena 4 is to increase the importance of cultural norms and value systems, acceptance of social diversity, mutual respect, tolerance and inclusion, and intercultural understanding through a multilingual approach for the well-being of societies and individuals. This arena is led by Inalco University.
Contact Person:
Theo Marinis (General Linguistics and Multilingualism)
t.marinis@uni-konstanz.de
Teacher Education and Well-Being
Arena 5 focusses on enhancing, expanding, and creating new learning, research, and networking opportunities, especially for teacher students, educators, researchers, and public stakeholders such as local schools, to advance EUniWell's efforts in preparing the Alliance for educating future generations. This arena is led by the University of Konstanz.
Contact Person:
Katalin Schober (Didactics of Foreign Languages)
katalin.schober@uni-konstanz.de
Do you have questions and want to know more about EUniWell? We are happy to answer them under euniwell@uni-konstanz.de.
![[Translate to Englisch:] European Map with the 11 EUniWell partner universities](https://www.uni-konstanz.de/fileadmin/zentral/universitaet/international/EUniWell_Communication/EUniWell_MAP_2023.png)