๐ The February YERUN Newsletter is out now!
๐ This edition highlights the importance of #Erasmus+ for young universities and Europeโs future. Discover reflections from our network and learn how Erasmus+ projects are making a difference across our member universities๐
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๐ฃ YERUN, with leading European R&I organisations, publishes a joint statement on the proposed #ECF under the next #MFF.
๐ Our message: FP10 and the ECF must remain autonomous and complementary!๐
yerun.eu/publication/...
๐ฃ To contribute to the negotiations on the next #Erasmus+ programme (2028โ2034), YERUN has worked with a broad coalition of European higher education and mobility stakeholders to develop a set of joint amendments to the EC's proposal for the next Erasmus+ Regulation ๐
๐ฃ We are pleased to launch the YERUN Strategy 2026โ2030: Thrive Together, marking the start of a new strategic cycle for our network.
๐ Together with our members, we look forward to turning this Strategy into action, and to continuing to thrive together towards 2030 ๐
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Education. Every day.
And today, a little more.
We celebrate it. But we also say clearly: investment in education is more important than ever!
Because education isnโt just nice to have. Itโs the foundation everything else is built on.
And young universities are fully standing up for it.
๐งฑ๐๐งฉ
๐ฃ YERUN welcomes the European Commissionโs stakeholder consultation on the #ERAAct as a timely opportunity to strengthen and advance the coherence of Europeโs #research systems and highlights 5 key recommendations ๐
yerun.eu/publication/...
๐ฃ๐คฉ The YERUN Network Grows: Welcome, University of Bath!
๐ค A leading young, comprehensive university, Bath shares YERUNโs commitment to excellence in #research and #education and a strong focus on societal impact.
Read the press release๐
yerun.eu/2026/01/the-...
โฐ Still one week to register!
Join the members-only RESAVER meeting organised by YERUN on Friday 16 January for an overview and exchange of views on this pan-European pension solution.
๐ Register now ๐
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
๐ YERUN, alongside leading higher education organisations, is calling for an Erasmus+ budget of at least โฌ60 billion for 2028โ2034 ๐
yerun.eu/publication/...
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The YERUN Brussels Office extends its warmest wishes to all our members and colleagues across and beyond the network for a joyful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
โจWe hope you enjoy a restful break and we look forward to continuing our work together in the new year.
Have the perfect tree, the best lights, and cookiesโฆ but Christmas still doesnโt happen without people.๐๐
Same with research assessment. Real change comes from people: leaders who set the right incentives, teams that learn from each other, and evaluators who judge fairly.
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Excellence is not a universal size. Itโs more like a Christmas jumper: one cut does not fit everyone. ๐งถ๐
What โgoodโ looks like depends on mission, discipline, and research culture. So assessment should start by making those values explicit, instead of relying on the usual quick signals.
Today is for everyone whoโs ever baked Christmas cookies and thought: โWhy are theseโฆ flat?โ ๐๐ช
That โfailedโ batch still teaches you something.
Science works the same way. Negative findings stop us from repeating the same dead ends, strengthen what we can trust, and help knowledge rise properly.
Not all โpeerโ review needs to be done by your academic twins. ๐๐ฏ
Peer review isnโt a same-discipline Secret Santa exchange. Sometimes the most helpful feedback comes from different expertise.
Good review isnโt about sharing the same academic postcode, but about adding value, clarity and context.
impact factor โ impact on the ground
Reminder: real-world impact doesnโt come from โtopโ journals alone.
In biodiversity conservation, research often informs decisions and legislation, and that is frequently published in lower-IF journals because itโs locally anchored and aimed at practice.๐ฒ๐
AI is already shaping research assessment via search/sort/summaries. Used carefully, it can reveal fuller contributions and patterns. But it can also accelerate unfairness, so we need transparency, checking, and accountability. โThe tool said soโ isnโt a decision.
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๐ Spark 10 | Reflections & Christmas Wishes from YERUN ๐
As we reach the tenth (and final!) edition of #SparksOfYERUN, weโre closing a remarkable first decade of YERUN with both celebration and reflection.
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#YERUN10
โณ โNarrative evaluations are too time-consuming to be practical.โ
Sure, they take longer than ticking boxes.
But so does doing justice to someoneโs work.
Explore the YERUN x CoARA Advent Calendar below.
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๐ฃ On 12 December, YERUN Policy Officer Myrto Kourouni took part in the NOVA Science & Innovation Day!
๐ In her intervention, she highlighted YERUNโs joint work with major university networks to propose a coordinated set of amendments for #FP10.
๐On 16 January, YERUN will host a members only meeting on the RESAVER Pension Fund, the pan-European pension solution designed to support research organisations and their employees ๐
๐ us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Christmas is almost here, and while it feels like weโre transcending timeโฆ letโs make sure weโre also transcending silos. ๐๐งฉ
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"Research assessment is solely the responsibility of researchers and evaluators.โ โ
Assessment doesnโt happen in a vacuum. It lives in policies, procedures, timelines, and institutional priorities. ๐๏ธ
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โRanking companies are independent evaluators dedicated to informing the public about university quality.โ
Itโs a comforting story, and also a profitable one. ๐ผ๐
Ranking organisations arenโt neutral referees. Theyโre businesses.
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โTDR research can be fairly evaluated at the proposal stage by standard disciplinary review panels.โ โ
A strong proposal review needs experts, but also people with transdisciplinary experience, multidisciplinary generalists and non-academics who can asses relevance & feasibility beyond academia.
โScience is neutral and free of bias.โ
If only. Plot twist: science is done by humans, not snowpeople. โ๏ธ
Recognising bias doesnโt mean losing trust in science. It means taking responsibility for how we assess it.
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โRankings make universities improve.โ
Or do they just make everyone really good atโฆ playing the rankings game? ๐ฒ
When energy goes into looking good in a table, itโs not going into being good for students, staff etc. Real improvement comes from changing practices, environments and opportunities. โจ
โInclusive practices lower the barโ.
Says who?
Usually, the ones who were fine with the bar set at their height.
Inclusive practices donโt lower the bar, but the ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ to excellence. ๐๏ธ
Today weโre unwrapping how inclusion raises quality, not quotas.
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Citation is one of the first things that comes to mind when we talk about research, but does the count reallyโฆ count? 1๏ธโฃ 2๏ธโฃ 3๏ธโฃ
โHighly citedโ doesnโt always mean most original or most useful for society, and important work in smaller fields can be overlooked.
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โIf evaluations start valuing more than publications, researchers will stop publishing.โ
Researchers donโt publish only because they have to. Most publish because they want to share their findings. ๐
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โStudents need rankings to choose where to study.โ
If that was true, no one could have gone to university before rankings were invented.
Students donโt need rankings. They need good, honest information, and the space to decide what matters most to them.
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