The Ulysseus Alliance invites its community of teachers, students, and staff engaged in collaborations beyond Europe to share their stories and achievements through poster presentations at a high-level conference in Brussels.
Submit your poster proposal by 31 August 2026 for the chance to showcase your work on the international stage, at the conference taking place on November 10, 2026, in Brussels.
As the European Union prepares for the next Multi-annual Financial Framework beyond 2027 and considers the future development of both the Global Gateway strategy and the European Universities Alliances initiative, this conference offers a timely opportunity to strengthen dialogue among European university alliances, their international partners, and EU institutions.
It aims to bring university-level experience and international partner perspectives into policy discussions, while translating shared European priorities into reciprocal, sustainable, and operational forms of institutional cooperation.
The conference will bring together invited non-EU universities, Ulysseus members, and representatives of EU institutions to deepen dialogue and develop new forms of collaboration.
Ulysseus aims to serve as a coordinated European interface for international universities seeking multilateral engagement with its member institutions. The event will contribute to an operational blueprint for the alliance’s internationalisation objectives, identify potential flagship activities aligned with relevant Global Gateway priorities, and feed evidence and recommendations from university into EU policy discussions.
By bringing EU internationalisation policy closer to universities and returning evidence-based recommendations to policymakers, the conference will contribute to discussions shaping the post 2027 Multi-annual Financial Framework and the design of Ulysseus Phase 3. It will also identify practical and transferable cooperation models while ensuring that the priorities and perspectives of non-EU partners are reflected in the design of reciprocal, sustainable, and strategically coherent partnerships.
Key issues to be discussed at the conference include:
• Bringing the EU’s strategic approach to international cooperation in higher education, research, and innovation closer to the alliance and its non-EU partners
• Exchange practice on functioning models of inter-university collaboration between EU and non-EU universities, with special interest in the voices from outside the EU.
• Developing proposals for cooperation models for Ulysseus with non-EU countries
• Formulating evidence-based recommendations for improving EU programs and funding instruments that support cooperation with non-EU countries
The Conference programme will feature keynotes by prominent persons from the European Commission, Ulysseus universities’ international partners, and recognised guest speakers. Poster presentations will highlight the wide range of collaboration activities taking place between Ulysseus members and their international partners.
The Ulysseus Alliance invites teams from its member universities to showcase their stories of successful collaboration with partners beyond the EU, especially from Ulysseus strategic regions for international cooperation. [1]
We welcome applications to present a poster that illustrates your collaboration through text and visuals. Selected posters will be displayed at the Ulysseus International Networking Conference in Brussels.
What we are looking for
We want to highlight impactful actions between EU (Ulysseus) and non-EU partners, such as:
– Knowledge and skills development initiatives
– Successful research projects
– Joint regional development projects with business or public sector partners
– Student development and mobility activities
The applications extend beyond the alliance’s project activities to all the Ulysseus partner universities’ community collaborations.
Activities should also demonstrate support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a participatory, co-creative approach to international collaboration.
Posters should additionally convey messages to the Ulysseus Alliance and the European Commission about the prospects for the next stages of your projects.
[1] [1] Region 1: Western Balkans; Region 2: Neighbourhood East; Region 3: South-Mediterranean countries; Region 5: Asia; Region 9: Sub-Saharan Africa; Region 10: Latin America; Region 12: US and Canada
Send your application form via this link
Instructions to the applicants can be downloaded HERE.
Selection: Applications will be reviewed by the Ulysseus Task Force on International Cooperation. Results will be announced by 11 September 2026. To enhance poster quality and ensure alignment with the Conference goals, feedback or suggestions may be provided to the poster owners.
The conference is taking place on November 10, 2026 in Brussels.
For inquiries, please contact the conference coordinators at the University of Montenegro, at ulysseus@ucg.ac.me
