INGENIUM Joint Education Lab Projects from the first calls and a new call for your projects!

There have now been two calls for the Joint Education Lab Projects. From the 2024 call twelve projects were selected. From the 2025 call that ended the 1st of June five projects were selected. Also a new call for proposals is open until 31.10.2025!

One of INGENIUM’s goals is to develop and transfer innovative teaching and learning methodologies. To boost that goal Education Lab was created. INGENIUM Education Lab launched a Joint Education Lab Projects initiative to promote joint innovation projects. This initiative aims to fund collaboration between different faculty, educators, and RDI specialists in two or more INGENIUM universities to develop advanced teaching methods, micro credentials, courses, and educational products. Innovation, cooperation, multilingualism and transferability were sought after in the projects.

The projects have sparked innovative collaboration across Europe!

For example, Dr Jeremiah Spillane from the Munster Technological University tells how their project combining science and art has begun with ease. The Disruptive Media Lab: A Cross-Alliance Virtual Hub for Radical STEAM Innovation, Education and Public Engagement –project brings together a team of collaborators. The team is called the “Merian Group”, after the entomologist and scientific illustrator and it’s combined of PhD students, artists, scientists from Xamk, Uni. of Rouen, Uni. of Oviedo and MTU. There is lots of interdisciplinary collaborations, for example, with artists from the Crawford College of Art and Design at MTU with the BioSampo Research Unit at Xamk, and the Microbiology Unit at Uni. of Rouen.

This project’s aim is to have a final exhibition of works in the beginning of 2026. 

– The exhibition will take place simultaneously at Uni. of Rouen, Xamk and MTU in January 2026 and the artworks and process will all be documented so we can share this good practice with colleagues across INGENIUM. We are also keen to further develop this initiative and draw in more collaborators from across the Alliance, tells Dr Spillane. 

Before the final exhibition the team and its undergrad and postgraduate students will collaborate. Some of these students will travel to our partners, to work on their collaborative artworks, through mobility opportunities provided by the INGENIUM funding.Linked to this project there will also be a series of online talks open to all across INGENIUM about creative possibilities around research and research communications. 

Dr Spillane encourages others to be creative with their projects. 

– As a team we really appreciate the Education Labs funding, and their willingness to support the kind of innovative, cross-disciplinary project we are working towards. — I would encourage others applying to the Joint Education Lab Project to think outside the box and take the opportunity to explore novel and experimental educational ideas, highlights Dr Spillane. 

Let’s get to know the innovative joint education lab projects INGENIUM partners now have!

You can find all the already funded projects below. Get inspired by the already funded projects and submit your proposal too!

Projects’ information is gathered from their project proposals. More up to date information about the projects and their closing webinars will be gathered to the INGENIUM website in the future.

Joint Education Lab Projects from the 2024 Call

CHEMIT is led by Raquel G. Soengas from the University of Oviedo. Other partners in the project are MTU and HKA. Their project explores the use of immersive extended reality (XR) technologies, like virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR), as a tool to enhance organic chemistry education by creating interactive, 3D learning experiences. This proposal outlines the first phase the development of an immersive platform that will allow students, teachers, and researchers to interact with complex 3D models, reaction mechanisms, and lab setups from any location, supporting learning across INGENIUM’s European campus.

INVEX is directed by Martin Kipfmüller from Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and other parthner universities are HIS, UNIOVI and  TUIASI. The aim of the INVEX project  is to create a collaborative working format with students from three INGENIUM partner universities to work on common research projects to realize VR-experiences. The idea is to extend a series of already existing projects where students in Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (Germany) set up a parallel kinematic platform to enable immersive surfing experiences at the beaches of Gijon (University of Oviedo, Spain) and model the system in a robotic cell environment supported by VR at the ASSAR Industrial Innovation Arena of the University of Skövde in Sweden. Thus, students from the three sites should not only be encouraged to go abroad by the experience, but the students in Germany also need to work together with the students in Spain that are responsible for the raw data acquisition (mounting accelerometers and cameras onto a surfboard) and with the students in Sweden for model verification and validation.

The scope of this project extends the main current project in Karlsruhe to enable more INGENIUM students to participate in the extension with data collection from Oviedo and VR and robotic environment integration in Skövde. Furthermore, a longer-term objective is to consider this collaborative international project as a permanent international project course in the common EU4m master program in Mechatronics. In the future, this project is expected to continue by extending the methodology to other sports beyond surfing, allowing students to be in a continuous process of improvement the system and learning VR techniques. Therefore, master students on all three partner universities should benefit from the experience of working remote on common projects, which is nowadays standard in major multinational European universities.

This project is led by Ida Verna from G.d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. MUS and Xamk are also joined in the project. Their goal is to experiment with the L’Ascolto project between European universities and to implement AI in the L’Ascolto web platform. The L’Ascolto is a web platform whose objective is the creation, management and sharing of knowledge by education actors (teachers, students, institutional bodies and other stakeholders). The creation of such knowledge is the result of a holistic approach to teaching-learning processes, based on a framework that combines the Deming cycle with the QFD Quality Function Deployment and Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. The aim of the L’Ascolto Approach is to enable teachers, students and institutional bodies to use the same methodological approach to teaching improvement (innovation), with a single web platform. Although the actors of education use the platform at different times and in different ways, they work towards the common goal of educational innovation, with the same language (Listening Framework: constructive alignment combination of Biggs, Bloom, Dublin Descriptors, Deming Cycle, Kolb’s experiential learning). The creation, management and sharing of knowledge is the output of a continuous cycle of planning, management, evaluation and improvement of all teaching processes (Curriculum and individual teaching considered as a whole), while these are in progress and for the benefit of all actors:

TEACHERS: development of teachers’ professionalism (ENQA, 2007; OCDE, 2012; EC, 2013; EHEA, 2020) through their continuous self-training, the result of the knowledge-sharing process (best practices) among all the teachers using the platform;

STUDENTS: enhancement of learning (EC, 2017; ENQA, 2020; EHEA, 2020) implemented thanks to the promotion and drive for innovation that the holistic approach feeds into the Deming/Kolb cycle (Verna, 2020) and that the platform manages and shares among the actors, in terms of knowledge/competences;

COURSE COORDINATORS: development of academic leadership, implemented thanks to the knowledge-sharing system that provides continuous feedback (listening to needs) to the coordinator for the improvement/innovation of the teaching processes designed, managed and evaluated as a single system in continuous evolution.

L’Ascolto is ultimately a pedagogical model for experiential learning for teachers, students and institutional bodies.

Irma Martínez García, from University of Oviedo, is leading this project. The other partners are HIS, Ud’A and UoC. Their project proposes a 6 ECTS micro-credential designed to provide targeted training on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and related European regulations, specifically tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). European SMEs are largely unprepared for regulatory requirements, highlighting the urgent need for targeted capacity building initiatives. The micro-credential is aimed at providing specific knowledge, skills and competences acquired through the analysis of European legislation (e.g. CSRD, CSDD, Taxonomy, etc.), European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS, ESRS VSME) for sustainability reporting, and through the exchange of sustainability practices adopted by SMEs from different countries. This collaborative project is based on real-world applications and will provide SMEs with a practical toolkit to meet regulatory requirements and promote sustainable development. Through multilingual accessibility and intercultural engagement, the project contributes to preparing students to work across borders and communicate sustainability objectives effectively in different contexts, which is closely aligned with INGENIUM’s mission to promote sustainability and cultural awareness.

David O Hanlon from MTU is leading the project and MTU is collaborating with MTU. They focus on the development of intercultural competence (UNESCO, 2013) among students from Munster Technological University (MTU) and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA). By “internationalising” the learning experience (through the use of asynchronous and synchronous communication tools available on the INGENIUM Moodle Learning Management System- LMS), students of International Communication (from the International Business programme in MTU) and Business English (from a variety of programmes in HKA) will have the opportunity to experience authentic international communication between one another (without having to travel abroad). This project connects students through self- and peer-assessment of key communication and interpersonal skills (delivery of feedback, presenting to an international audience, networking and cultural/emotional intelligence) using co-designed rubrics. Online collaboration and reflection deepen intercultural understanding and support the development of cultural and emotional intelligence. They aim to refine the approach based on student feedback and share the project’s outcomes across INGENIUM.

Dr Katie Power, from MTU is leading this project. MTU’s partners are HIS, TUIASI and Xamk. This project aims to develop an Ingenium Learning Spaces Learning Community for sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices in the design, creation and use of new and refurbished physical university spaces. This exchange will address both the organisational level where development and implementation of learning spaces take place, and the practical usage of the completed teaching and learning space.

The physical spaces where students learn and faculty teach, are a core component of the university experience and this team see a need to focus on design/develop/use the spaces within the Ingenium partnership in ways that optimise the process of development and implementation, and the experience for all. The project will promote inclusion and equity for all students and faculty.

Deliverables from the education lab will be

  • Established Ingenium network on teaching and learning environment development
  • Best practices on how to include stakeholders in the process of learning environment development

Róisín O’Grady from Munster Technological University leads the EUcanLEAD project. Xamk and TUAISI are also part of the project. In EUcanLEAD they will build on their experience in delivering staff leadership programmes and student engagement associate training, to develop a unique, wholly transferable, leadership programme for students who have demonstrated a prior interest in, and capacity for, leadership.

This applied leadership programme will go beyond traditional academic learning, fostering leadership skills such as communication, teamwork, collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making, skills essential in today’s dynamic work environments. By engaging students in workshops, real-world projects and mentorship, this programme will provide hands-on experience and insights into professional practices across Europe. This programme seeks to enhance the students’ emotional intelligence (EI/EQ) for leadership. Additionally, integrating industry-relevant scenarios and collaborations with industry partners can deepen students’ understanding of leadership roles and expectations. Their aim is to develop this leadership programme to enhance students’ academic experience and to prepare them to transition effectively into a diverse workplace with confidence and resilience.

The RAFIL-CIHE projects is led by Tom O’Mahony from Munster Technological University. MTU’s partners are UoC, Xamk and TUIASI. The aim of this joint project is to develop and pilot a co-taught, on-line, micro-credential module titled “Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education” that will be available to all INGENIUM partners. Assessment & Feedback are recognised as a “wicked problem” in higher education. This project will leverage partner expertise to design a module addressing current challenges, including Generative AI (GenAI) and feedback in large classrooms, while introducing research-based and culturally responsive assessment approaches. It will also model innovative teaching strategies such as problem-based learning and learner co-creation.

The proposed 27-month project is designed around three consecutive Education Lab proposals, each with a dedicated 9-month phase as follows:

  • Phase 1: The focus of this application, will
    • Explore and research the assessment and feedback context and experiences at the three partner institutions by conducting a needs assessment, to identify common challenges and share expertise and perspectives.
    • Design an accredited, 10 credit module at Level 9 that reflects the future needs of the Ingenium consortium that will challenge traditional assessment paradigms and include resources that integrate digital tools, student co-design, and multilingual accessibility.
    • Facilitate collaboration among partners who have committed to joint module development, regular planning meetings, and shared dissemination goals.
  • Phase 2: Will pilot the developed module, incorporating participant feedback to refine the content.
  • Phase 3: Will enhance accessibility and intercultural understanding by developing key materials in multiple languages and conducting action research to evaluate the impact of the module on participants’ learning experiences.

IT-EMISE project is led by Kati Kontinen from Xamk, and Xamk is partnering with MTU. This project aims to assemble Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create real-time environmental monitoring sensors. These sensors will analyse carbon dioxide (CO₂), particulate matter (PM), air temperature, and air pressure. The primary goal is to build these sensors using readily available components and integrate them into educational courses related to IT, environmental sampling, and monitoring.

Project Objectives:

  • Development and Assembly: Assemble the necessary parts to build the environmental monitoring sensors.
  • Educational Integration: Use the sensors in IT and environmental courses to provide hands-on experience in developing and using such devices, fostering practical skills and knowledge.
  • Data Collection and Analysis: Install the sensors on the premises of partner universities to collect and share real-time data on air pollution and CO₂ levels with each other.
  • Scientific Research: Utilise and share the collected data with students to work on the patterns and trends in air pollution, cross-validate findings, and produce scientific material.

Project Impact:

  • Educational Value: Provides students with practical experience in IoT and environmental monitoring, enhancing their technical skills and understanding of real-world applications.
  • Collaboration: Strengthens partnerships between universities through shared data collection and analysis efforts.
  • Research Contribution: Generates valuable data for scientific research on air pollution, contributing to the broader understanding of environmental trends.
  • This project not only explores the development of environmental monitoring devices but also integrates them into educational frameworks, offering students the opportunity to engage in meaningful, hands-on learning while contributing to important environmental research.

Maria Careri from Ud’A is leading this project. This project builds upon ongoing research on French and Latin poetic additions in a 13th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Bonport. The project aims to explore cultural exchanges between Norman monasticism and Abruzzo, and more broadly between France and Italy.

This COIL course project is led by Mariya Loginova from Xamk. Xamk is partnering with UNIOVI, MTU, URN, TUIASI in this project. They are developing and testing the Ingenium COIL course, “Tackle Real Work Life Challenges.” This course, in collaboration with local companies, provides students with real-world challenges. Teachers will act as coaches, guiding international, multilingual student teams through problem-solving processes, enhancing their practical skills, and preparing them for global workplaces.

Students will engage with business representatives, work in multidisciplinary teams, and develop problem-solving abilities. Teachers will facilitate learning and support student teams to ensure successful outcomes. The course also aims to foster networking among all parties involved: company representatives, students, teachers, and RDI specialists, creating a new model for international cooperation among Ingenium partners. The outcome will be a tested course and cooperation module. The process will be documented and an article published in an international scientific journal.

Jeremiah Spillane from MTU is leading the Disruptive Media Lab (DML) project. MTU’s partners ar URN, Xamk and HIS. DML is an interdisciplinary, alliance-wide virtual STEAM lab and art movement designed to push boundaries in media innovation, education, and public engagement. Inspired by Coventry University’s Disruptive Media Learning Lab and the Science Gallery model, the DML aims to foster a collaborative environment (for both staff and students) for radical media creation that invites public interaction, engagement, and experimentation. By combining experts with lab spaces and facilities from science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), the DML will empower participants to develop disruptive media that challenges traditional academic and social narratives, facilitating a cross-alliance network of researchers, artists, and technologists. The result of these collaborations will see new and innovative teaching and learning opportunities emerge.

DML’s aim is to promote interdisciplinarity and co-creation, to innovate how faculty share knowledge about their disciplines through disruptive artistic interventions. The project leaders will establish a “Leonardo Group”, comprising 50 members, which will include specialists and students from all INGENIUM universities from across all STEAM disciplines. The Leonardo Group will also include other experts from communities peripheral to INGENIUM’s various European campuses. These might include, but are not limited to street artists, dancers, social media influences, comedians and so on. The aim of this Leonardo Group is to foster collaborations between academics and experts within INGENIUM and other creative and thought leaders outside of academic settings in our communities. These collaborations will draw on the various facilities – media labs, science labs and so on – to create radical and/or artistic interventions to communicate knowledge and educate in new and disruptive ways.

Joint Education Lab Projects from the 2025 Call

Kallia Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts from the University of Crete (UOC) is leading this AAFIL-CIHE project which is the Phase 2 of the RAFIL-CIHE Joint Education Lab project which is a project from the first call. UOC is partnering with Xamk, MTU, URN, TUIASI and Ud’A. The 27-month, three-phase structure of the project is designed to ensure a cumulative, sustainable impact:

Phase 1: Exploration and collaborative design of inclusive, multimodal, and culturally responsive assessment practices, enhanced by online workshops and pilot trials.

Phase 2 (this proposal): Delivery, refinement, and research-informed development of an 8-week, 10-credit, asynchronous MOOC accessible to all INGENIUM partners. Key materials will be made available in English, Greek, Finnish, Romanian, French, and Italian, with potential to expand.

Phase 3: Dissemination and expansion, including the creation of an Ebook compiling evidence-based participant research and action research findings. This phase will deepen intercultural engagement by translating materials into additional languages and sharing best practices in accessible formats, ultimately informing broader higher education communities.

TBL4COIL Lab is led by Mikhail Nemilentsev from Xamk. MTU and HIS are partnering with Xamk. This project will focus on the development of online Team Based Learning (TBL, Michaelsen and Sweet, 2011) to support collaborative online international learning (COIL – where students from across borders collaborate online) within the Ingenium community. TBL is a structured approach to groupwork in higher education which is used throughout the world in a variety of disciplines. It has been found to benefit both academic achievement and the development of transversal skills sought by employers e.g. communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving (Alizadet et al., 2025).

Despite TBL’s apparent suitability to support COIL, there is little research or examples of TBL being used to support COIL activity. The collaborators in this project will devise and develop a TBL unit that will be trialled with students from partner universities engaged in COIL activity through the Moodle platform. They will research the student and staff experience of COIL through TBL; and disseminate learning to aid members of the Ingenium Community and the wider academic community who wish to build engaging, impactful COIL, in a sustainable manner. Outputs will be a “step-by-step” guides to using TBL for COIL, a workshop for staff who wish to implement TBL and presentations/workshops at international conferences about TBL for COIL. Also we hope to write a conference paper and journal article to disseminate beyond Ingenium.

This project is led by Teija Rautiainen from Xamk. The project is combining the expertise of University of Rouen Normandy, department of IAE-Rouen Normandie and South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk), department of Hospitality Management Education. The goal of this Education Lab project is to gather data from the use of audio escape games that would be utilized in contact teaching, remote teaching, as well as hybrid teaching and develop both universities teaching methods. The audio escape game method has been used in Xamk and it has provided innovative thinking in teaching. The need for innovative thinking in teaching has been recognized as a necessary skill to be learned at the University of Rouen Normandy. Audio escape game can offer a new teaching tool in different learning environments. Gamification methods are newly discovered in higher education and both universities see the need of developing those methods.

In their experience the audio escape game can provide insights into working life by simulating real working life situations and can enhance substantive knowledge growth. The audio escape game is played in groups and can increase interaction as well as group work skills. Escape game (gamification) studies support this claim. Using audio escape games in higher education is lacking in testing across different teaching environments and subjects. During this project, they are fostering the scalability of audio escape games to various fields so that in the future, they can be integrated into different subjects and teaching methods. Audio escape games can provide easy access to gamification and simulated learning. Through this educational lab project, they can transfer information about this gamification-based teaching method to all participants of the INGENIUM alliance. The goal of the project’s activities is to provide universities with more knowledge about the various teaching methods in use and to apply existing methods through collaboration and co-creation.

Maria Fouskaki from UoC is leading the SOCE project and UoC in partnering with Oviedo. SOCE) education lab is a dynamic initiative designed to foster inter-university collaboration in science outreach across disciplines such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Earth Sciences. The proposed project engages in this collaborative environment, Chemistry Outreach Group, COG (https://www.chemistry.uoc.gr/cog-eng/) from the University of Crete (UoC) and the ARENA research group from the Departments of Functional Biology and Education Sciences of the University of Oviedo (https://arena.grupos.uniovi.es/presentacion). Their combined strengths on the effective creation of educational resources and high-quality training ensure the successful implementation of the project.

The education lab structure encompasses three key components:

  1. Exchange of knowledge between science outreach teams and participation in local outreach events
  2. Train-the-trainer seminars/workshops on science outreach for faculty members and students
  3. Joint development of science outreach activities

Through these activities, SOCE aims to strengthen inter-university collaboration, enhance the quality and reach of science communication, and empower participants with improved outreach skills. In general, the proposed project is well aligned with INGENIUM’s mission to promote innovative teaching and learning approaches throughout the alliance.

This project is led by Ruben Martin Payo from the University of Oviedo. UniOvi’s partners in this project are Xamk and MUS. Health Promotion strategies for nursing projects is making a two-section course, theoretical and practical. Through health promotion strategies, nurses can lead positive health outcomes, for example, adherence to health behaviours, quality of life, promoting environmental restructuring, and patients’ knowledge of their illness and self-care. In addition, to develop effective health promotion strategies, it is essential to base them on the best knowledge and scientific evidence available. Students will gain knowledge about the planning and evaluation of health promotion programs, which will allow them to develop skills to work in the field of community and public health, to develop actions aimed at strengthening people’s skills and abilities, but also actions aimed at changing the social, environmental and economic determinants of health to optimize their positive impact on public and personal health. In sum, to contribute to the well-being of people. The theoretical section will include content theoretical bases and methodologies used in the development of health promotion strategies. Specifically: concept and evolution of health promotion; social determinants of health; The Health Belief Model; The Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior; I-Change Model; The Behavior Change Wheel. The practical part will include the design of a health promotion strategies.

Now you have a chance to get funding for your Joint Education Lab Project!

A joint education lab project develops or spreads innovative teaching methods, pedagogies, or products throughout the INGENIUM alliance and beyond. The ideas do not have to be fully realised, as it is important to allow for experimentation during implementation. Goal is to encourage collaboration between two or more INGENIUM universities.

The Joint Education Lab Project could involve, for example, co-teaching, co-creation with students, or interdisciplinary collaboration to solve novel problems, develop teaching methods or learning environments, or create new micro-credentials.

Faculty, education, teaching, and RDI specialists are invited to submit proposals for Joint Education Lab Projects. The projects can have their justified mobility, materials, and other reasonable expenses covered by their university to help get their projects off the ground.

See the call for proposals for more information.

The call for applications is open until 31st of October 2025.

Star Star Apply here!