On 22 October 2026, representatives from across the ENHANCE Alliance gathered at RWTH Aachen University to exchange ideas and help shape the Alliance’s future priorities.
Hosted in the university’s modern Super C building, the Advisory Assembly brought together students, administrative staff, early-career researchers, professors and associated partners for a day of collaborative workshops and forward-looking discussions.
The meeting began the evening before with a dinner near Aachen’s historic Elisenbrunnen, providing an opportunity for participants to connect and exchange perspectives ahead of the workshops.
The Super C, a central hub for student services at RWTH Aachen, provided an inspiring setting for the Assembly’s work with a view of the city. Participants were organised into mixed groups, bringing together different institutional roles and experiences to explore three themes that will inform the ENHANCE grant application for the 2027–2029 project period.
In the the first workshop the group explored how experts across the Alliance’s ten universities can collaborate on shared topics in ways that create genuine added value. Participants identified factors that could make such thematic Hubs successful, potential pitfalls to avoid, and principles to guide their future design.
The second workshop focused on the community-building. Participants explored how local community-building efforts could strengthen local ENHANCE communities, prioritising core responsibilities and identifying ways to measure their impact.
The third workshop addressed the idea of building an annual event format designed to connect students active in the Alliance, including Student Forum members, ENHANCE Ambassadors and participants in funding initiatives such as Seed Funds. The groups developed ideas for a programme combining skills development, networking, and student- and professor-led activities.
The discussions generated valuable ideas and concrete recommendations for the Alliance’s next steps. The core operational staff will use the outcomes to help refine the relevant activities and concepts for the upcoming project proposal, which is currently under development and scheduled for submission in early 2027.
The Assembly demonstrated the value of bringing different voices together: by combining perspectives from across the academic community, ENHANCE can continue to develop initiatives that respond to the needs of its members and create lasting value across the Alliance.
A sincere thank you to RWTH Aachen University for hosting us, and to all participants for their thoughtful contributions, collaborative spirit and commitment to shaping the future of ENHANCE.
