About the ENGAGE.EU Expedition
The ENGAGE.EU Expedition is a one-week intensive, international and multidisciplinary co-design programme and learning experience for students who work together with experts and mentors on finding solutions to real-life problems. It is a collaborative program, which focuses on creating value for society and uses the framework for inno-preneurship as guiding principle. They offer formal and informal learning in context together with ENGAGE.EU partners.
By engaging in this international co-design program, students contribute to real-life societal transformations. They work with other students in teams on challenges presented by the societal partners of ENGAGE.EU universities. Throughout the programme, they are guided towards knowledge-based and mission-oriented solutions by using design-thinking principles.
About the Skills and AI theme
Many urban areas are facing demographic shifts, such as aging populations and declining birth rates, with potentially critical consequences for urban environments and their communities. These developments have sparked the European Commission to launch the European Year of Skills, spanning from May 2023 to May 2024, in which equipping urban economies with necessary skills for sustainable growth is a key objective. This is crucial in helping regions and cities avoid falling into a talent development trap, which represents a decline in the working-age population, a mismatch between education and the labor market (both in terms of quantity and quality), and difficulties in retaining talent. If left unaddressed, this talent development trap can further deepen structural labor market inefficiencies and innovation shortfalls.
Many cities and regions, as hubs of economic and social activity, are at the forefront of addressing these challenges. They are tasked with attracting and retaining talent, for example, in sectors facing critical shortages, such as health care, the technical industry and education. The need for skills transcends traditional education and degrees, emphasizing the importance of diverse and inclusive labor markets.
In the midst of this paradigm shift, Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as a major force reshaping the landscape of the labor market and skill demands. AI, with its profound implications for productivity, innovation, and job creation, introduces both opportunities and challenges for urban economies.
On the one hand, it acts as a catalyst for the creation of new job categories and the enhancement of workplace efficiency, particularly in sectors related to the green transition. On the other hand, the rapid integration of AI technologies necessitates a reevaluation of the skill sets required in the workforce. This underscores the urgency for cities to not only foster AI literacy and specialized technical skills but also to emphasize the development of soft skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence, which are less susceptible to automation.
Moreover, AI can play a crucial role in addressing the talent development trap by providing advanced tools for skills forecasting, personalized learning, and job matching, thereby facilitating a more adaptive and responsive approach to workforce development which ensures that nobody gets left behind.
In the upcoming months challenges on the Skills and AI theme will be formulated in co-creation with the associated partners of the ENGAGE university network. The challenges will be presented to the students during the expedition week.
Expected impact for stakeholders
Gain and deepen their knowledge and attitudes that enable them to act upon opportunities and transform them into value for others, being:
- Taking initiative, motivation and persistence, and self-efficacy and self-confidence.
- Creating and recognizing opportunities, creativity and innovativeness, and decision making under uncertainty.
- Collaborating in diverse and interdisciplinary contexts, mobilizing resources, and implementation.
- Systems thinking, future and disruptive thinking and ethical and sustainable thinking.
- Developing, in addition to specialist knowledge, numerous other skills such as research, cooperation, dealing with uncertainty, solution-oriented thinking, organization and communication
ENGAGE.EU expeditions are organized on top of the regular curriculum of the student.
For a tour on past editions of the ENGAGE.EU Expedition week:
Format of Expedition Week
Groupwork in interdisciplinary and international teams. Students should be able to attend the program in Tilburg, The Netherlands from Monday 18 November 2024 to Friday 22 November 2024.
Additional activities
You will have the opportunity to join a rich social and cultural program in Tilburg. We will organize exciting activities during the program. There will be time to socialize in the evening and explore the city’s (night)life.
Accommodation
Tilburg University does not have residence halls of its own, but near the university you can book a room to share with others at the youth hostel Roots.
Your Profile
The ENGAGE.EU Expedition@ Tilburg University edition is targeted at bachelor’s students in their last year and master’s students. Students of any citizenship and any field of study who are enrolled in an ENGAGE.EU partner university are welcome to apply.
Application
To apply for the ENGAGE.EU Expedition you should provide:
• A short letter (max. 300 words) explaining your motivation for applying to the ENGAGE.EU Expedition@ Tilburg University
• Curriculum vitae (education, work experience, language skills, study/work abroad, other relevant skills and experiences),
• Academic records (transcript of records).
Selection
Submitted applications are evaluated by the academics and staff working in the ENGAGE.EU Labs. Candidates will be evaluated based on their motivation letter and CV. In order to ensure equal participation among students from the different partner universities, the selection committee will aim at choosing three students from each partner university. Final decisions also consider a range of criteria for cohort composition, including but not limited to disciplinary balance, institutional diversity, and demographic diversity.
Scholarship
Selected students may receive scholarships for participation in the ENGAGE.EU Expedition Week. Details will follow from the home university after being selected for the expedition week.
Additional Details
In order to complete your application, you will have to fill in the application form below and upload your CV, academic records and motivation letter (in Word or PDF format), together with:
Applications must be submitted by September 22nd, 2024, at midnight CET. All documents must be in English, except for the academic records (which can be in any language of the partner universities).
Results will be communicated by October 7th 2024.
For further information and to submit a topic/issue, please contact:
e.j.m.deneubourg@tilburguniversity.edu