Innovative Networking Opportunities for Early Career Researchers in Europe
Freiburg, 8 April 2025
With its new Hubs, EPICUR is establishing a virtual platform for networking and supporting master’s students and Early Career Researchers.
The new EPICUR Hubs, developed by the European university alliance EPICUR under the leadership of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), serve to network Early Career Researchers and master’s students from various European universities, foster exchange across disciplines and national borders, and strengthen competencies in research, teaching, innovation, and transfer. The first EPICUR Hub on Sustainable Transformation will be launched on 8 April 2025 with a virtual kick-off event.
‘The new EPICUR Hubs provide young researchers an uncomplicated means of establishing Europe-wide networks, collaborating on current research topics, and gaining new impetus for their research work and career’, says Prof. Dr. Melanie Arndt, Vice Rector for Internationalization and Sustainability at the University of Freiburg. ‘For us at the University of Freiburg, that’s a great opportunity to stimulate European exchange in research, test innovative new formats for collaboration, and provide targeted support to Early Career Researchers pursuing an international career path. At the same time, the hubs make a valuable contribution to preparing the European research area for the future and further improving its international visibility.’
Networked across Europe: New EPICUR Hubs strengthen young researchers
The newly established EPICUR Hubs provide master’s students and Early Career Researchers in Europe an attractive space for international networking, qualification, and research collaboration. As transnational, interdisciplinary centres within the EPICUR alliance, they create a flexible platform for advancing research in an international context through a wide range of formats, from virtual and hybrid offers and blended learning to brief research stays.
Tackling global challenges together
‘The Hubs empower early career researchers to gain international experience and drive transformative initiatives. They foster idea exchange and provide access to infrastructure and funding opportunities for educational purposes, helping to tackle pressing global challenges’, says Kirsten Rosa, EPICUR Officer for Research-Oriented Teaching. She leads the first hub on Sustainable Transformation together with Professor Nicolaos Theodossiou from the Aristotele University of Thessaloniki.
By the end of 2026, three more hubs focusing on European Values, Global Health, and Digital Transformation will follow, acting as incubators for new ideas to foster collaboration between academia, business, and society.
About EPICUR
The European university alliance EPICUR (European Partnership for an Innovative Campus Unifying Regions) aims to create an attractive, innovative European university for a new generation of students and researchers in Europe. The partners are nine universities in Europe, including universities in Poznan, Amsterdam, Thessaloniki, Freiburg, Mulhouse, Vienna, Odense, Strasbourg, and Karlsruhe.