Students played a central role in the XI Unite! Barcelona Dialogue

Over the course of four days, Barcelona was the centre of a series of activities on the UPC campus, with interactive workshops, working sessions and debates focused on the crucial role of students in shaping the Unite! Alliance’s future. The event hosted numerous working sessions for the different Unite! Communities, alongside meetings of the alliance’s governing bodies and the vice rectors of the member universities.

Under the motto 'Unite! Students: our soul, our core', the event highlighted the central role of students in building a more dynamic university network, emphasising the importance of initiatives that promote inter-institutional collaboration and scientific innovation across Europe.

Some of the standout moments included the PhD contest, where three candidates from each university presented their research in just three minutes. Representing the University of Lisbon were our 2024 Three Minute Thesis winners Nuno Miguel Cabecinhas Gonçalves, from the Faculty of Sciences, with his thesis 'O Poder do Arco-íris' [The Power of Rainbows], and Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Jordão from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine with 'Uma vacina contra o vírus da peste suína Africana?' [A vaccine against the African swine fever virus?], who respectively took 1st and 3rd place in this international contest.

The agenda also featured the U!Talks, presented by students from the nine Unite! Universities, including Beatriz Rodrigues of the Faculty of Pharmacy, who shared reflections, stories, and passions that drive them.

Another main highlight was the Unite! Widening project, a spin-off of Unite!, which aims to reduce inequalities in access to research projects and promote scientific excellence in countries such as Portugal and Poland. This project is coordinated by Fátima Montemor, a professor and researcher at the Instituto Superior Técnico along with the contributions from various University of Lisbon faculty members and staff. The project aims to 'boost innovation and inclusion in European research, promoting a more connected and creative scientific community', says the coordinator.

The new Unite! website was officially presented. The platform offers an improved user experience, features a segmented structure tailored to different audiences and showcases the progress of ongoing projects as well as various training and research catalogues.

As a lasting reminder of this edition in Barcelona, UPC inaugurated a new street at the UPC Campus Nord named 'Unite!' in honor of the strong collaboration with the alliance. Each bench along the street is named after a member university, symbolising the shared values of the alliance: cooperation, innovation, and collaboration for the future of higher education.

The baton now passes to Aalto University, in Finland, part of the Greater Helsinki area, where the next Unite! Dialogue will take place from 6 to 9 October 2025.