Author and Affiliation: Rui Mendes, Director of International Affairs Division, IST

Bio: Rui Mendes is currently the Director of International Affairs Division at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST | University of Lisbon).

At the international level, he was recently elected to the Steering Committee of the Magalhães Network, which brings together more than 40 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Latin America and Europe. He is also an advisor to the Presidency of the T.I.M.E. Association, a global network with more than 50 HEIs that promote double and joint degrees, and Coordinator of GAST – Grant Application Support Team within CLUSTER, a prestigious European alliance of engineering schools.

In recent years, Rui served as the Director of Human Resources at IST, leading key governance structures such as the Data Protection and Privacy Team, the Whistleblowing Channel Committee, and representing IST on various international boards. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the T.I.M.E. Association (responsible for communication strategy), the Monitoring Committee of the Magalhães Network, and participated in the International Cooperation and Human Resources Task Forces of the CESAER network. Rui coordinated or co-led several Erasmus+ projects, including International Credit Mobility, Horizon Widening, Strategic Partnerships and Cooperation Partnerships, and Capacity Building for Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training (VET). In the past decade, he has coordinated or taken part in around 30 European projects, including UNITE, Unite! Widening, INCOMM, ATTRACT, REDEEM, INGDIVS, IDEAL, ENACT, ELA4Attract, UNICATION, I-MAT, DX-Sea, ENGAGE, e-Campus, BOOST, WELCOME, and SILICE, among others.

He holds a degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in Statistics and Information Management.

Title: UNITE! Opportunities -Take your Piece

Abstract: 

1. Brief Context UNITE!

2. Joint Programmes / Double Degrees

3. Seed fund initiatives

4. AGORA Shared Catalogues: Research Infrastructures, Communities of Practice, Short courses, Research and Innovation proposals

5. Webinars / UNITE! Matchmaking: present your research and/or academic topics

6. UNITE! Research Week

7. UNITE! UTrain!

8. UNITE! Soft-landing services for Start-ups

9. UNITE! Widening 21 for Trainings for Staff Weeks, 6 Sabbatical periods, 7 PhDs industry

10. Q&A

11. End