Nine academic cooperation projects from Universidade Católica Portuguesa receive funding from Transform4Europe

Nine academic cooperation projects aimed at diversifying the educational offering of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa will receive funding from the Seed Funding programme of the Transform4Europe (T4EU) university alliance, with a total investment of over 55 000 €. All of them aim to create sustainable joint educational offers.

With a total of 19 projects submitted to this programme and 14 selected, Católica was the university in the network that submitted the highest number of applications and had the most applications approved, achieving an impressive success rate of 90%. It was also the university that raised the most funds.

Among the approved projects in which it is involved, Católica leads two in the areas of Theology and Inclusive Education, cooperating with three member universities of the alliance and also with universities outside T4EU. In this way, it reinforces the T4EU Outreach activity that Católica heads.

The university also collaborates on seven other projects in areas such as Sustainability, Food Literacy, Linguistics, Cultural Integration, Social Challenges, Design and Well-being, and Entrepreneurship.

These projects involve the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Biotechnology, the Faculty of Education and Psychology, the Católica Porto Business School, and the Institute for Political Studies.

It is worth noting that most of the projects represent seeds for the enrichment and diversification of the educational offering available to the entire Católica community.

“The dynamics, competitiveness and results presented are recognition by Católica's academic community of the value and opportunities of collaborating in a network, particularly with and through Transform4Europe,” says Francisco Mendes-Palma, Director of Transform4Europe at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

For Inês Monteiro, researcher at Católica Learning Innovation Lab, “the approval of the application to the Seed Funding Programme with the Collaborative Pathways to Inclusive Education project represents an important step in my doctoral project on Inclusive Education in Higher Education, as it allows me to expand the scope of the research initially planned. This will move from a national context, focused on Higher Education Institutions in Northern Portugal, to an international dimension, through collaboration with partner universities in the Transform4Europe alliance in Germany, Spain and Lithuania."

In particular, "the funding will enable the joint creation of a micro-credential on diversity and inclusion, as well as the establishment of international Learning and Practice Communities dedicated to this topic", she concludes.

The third call for the Seed Funding Programme - Transform4Europe is now open and will run until 15 March 2026. This is another opportunity to obtain funding - with grants ranging from €3,000 to €30,000 - to build lasting academic partnerships and promote sustainable change across borders, benefiting from the structure and support of T4EU.

“The Seed Funding programme is more than just an opportunity to obtain funding for a joint project: it is a true seedbed for ideas, capable of germinating in future calls for new training programmes, courses, research and innovations that will have an impact on the lives of students and society in general, contributing to the construction of a truly transformative alliance,” says João Cortez, coordinator of this activity at Católica.

Founded in 2020, T4EU is part of the European Universities initiative and currently comprises eleven universities.