Facing Common Challenges, Shaping Joint Solutions for Africa and Europe

From 25 to 27 March, Université Hassan II de Casablanca (UH2C) hosted the First African–European CIVIS Forum for Research and Education. Bringing together universities, researchers, partners and professional staff from across two continents, the Forum aimed to translate shared challenges into joint, equitable solutions.

Over three days, discussions focused on climate resilience, public health, migration, digital transformation and the structures needed to sustain long‑term academic cooperation. But it was also a week for human connection, great food and conversations and a memorable stay in Casablanca.

Opening Perspectives: A Shared Rationale for Collaboration

The Forum opened with complementary interventions that framed CIVIS’ strategic direction when it comes to academic collaboration between Africa and Europe.

Professor Houssine Azeddoug, President of UH2C, underlined the need for structured, long‑term cooperation between African and European universities. He recalled that global challenges — climate pressures, social inequalities, technological disruption — require joint efforts. UH2C, with its 140,000 students, 100 research laboratories and 10 thematic research centres, engages in CIVIS as part of a broader strategy to reinforce scientific exchange and build durable, balanced partnerships across continents.

For UH2C’s President, this shift from challenges to solutions requires a profound transformation in the way universities work, providing some hints into concrete actions to tacke within CIVIS:

• promoting interdisciplinarity,
• breaking down knowledge silos
• strengthening the links between research, innovation, education and society.

Now more than ever, the university must be an open space, a place for experimentation and a driving force for innovation in the service of the common good, he said.

Download Professor’s Azeddoug full speech (in French)

It is no longer simply a matter of acknowledging that our challenges are shared and complex, and that they require multidisciplinary and multicultural responses – whether in relation to climate change, social inequalities, digital transformation or global health issues – but rather of building collective responses together, rooted in our respective realities and enriched by the diversity of our approaches

Following this, Professor Estelle Doudet, Vice-Rector for Research at Université de Lausanne, offered a wider reflection on the role of research within the alliance. Referring to legendary Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta as an early model of learning through comparison and exchange, she stressed that transdisciplinary and cross‑regional collaboration is central to CIVIS’ research mission.

Since research became an integral part of the alliance in 2023, she explained, CIVIS has supported projects spanning health, climate, urban issues, gender and citizen‑led methodologies. She described the Forum as an opportunity to consolidate this momentum and to reinforce a civic, societally relevant approach to research.

For Professor Doudet, the forum reflects the will to foster open, equitable, and globally engaged research and provides an opportunity for researchers from all the universities in the alliance to present their projects, make contacts, and, who knows, forge new research connections. It is an ideal moment for discovery, academic exchange, and strengthening ties among the universities of our alliance.

Download her full speech (in English)

When we consider the research activities carried out since 2024, the year the first Europe–Africa research seed funding call was launched, we can be proud of how far we have come. Dozens of projects have been initiated, covering a wide range of topics: from health to urban studies, from gender studies to climate research. This diversity is a major asset to our alliance

Together, their messages outlined a clear rationale for the common journey ahead: CIVIS has built a foundation of tools — joint programmes, seed funding, shared infrastructures — but effective collaboration requires deeper coordination, reciprocity and common standards across African and European partners.

Keynote: Co-creating the University 4.0

The opening morning continued with Professor Emeritus Abdelmajid Bouziane (UH2C), who spoke on University 4.0 and the need for agile, open models of education able to respond to shifting global realities. His call for adaptable learning systems and strengthened collaboration set the stage for the Forum’s thematic sessions.

For Professor Bouziane, knowledge is no longer an exclusive feature of textbooks, classrooms and neither are tests and score they way to measure it. “The University 4.0 is an open, market-sensitive hub powered by advanced digital technologies that delivers personalized education to adapt to changing business models while simultaneously driving sustainable development and broader societal progress”, he explained

In his presentation, he examined Morocco’s strategic roadmap for this transformation, using Hassan II University (UH2C) as a case study to illustrate institutional preparedness in the face of financial, structural and academic challenges, particularly in the humanities.

To navigate this new era, Prof. Bouziane highlighted the importance of human centred skills like creative or analytical thinking, curiosity and lifelong learning or resilience, flexibility and agility. “True University 4.0 transformation requires fundamentally rewiring underlying pedagogy and organizational architecture”, he said.

The keynote ended with recommendations to build together the university that will allow our learners to be competititve in today’s world:

• Agile governance: Implementing flexible management models for digital change
• Industry integration: Co-designing curricula with industrial partners
• Digital transformation: Empowering human and social sciences with digital tools

Success depends on moving from "passive receivers" to "innovative problem solvers" who can navigate the gig economy and a rapidly evolving digital landscape. True transformation goes beyond mere digitisation; it requires reinventing pedagogy to achieve Society 5.0, an ideal where technology enhances our humanity instead of replacing it and supports sustainable development

Download his full presentation

Towards equitable and transformative science partnerships: Which role for CIVIS?

The second day of the forum brought together Dr. Samia Chasi, Prof. Mustapha Lkhider, Mary Ryan and Prof. Fabio Sciarrino for the panel Towards equitable and transformative science partnerships: Which role for CIVIS? Panellists highlighted the importance of ensuring that collaborations create space for partners to lead, contribute and benefit on equal terms.

Professor Mustapha Lkhider (UH2C) highlighted the persistance of structural disparities due to, among other reasons, uneven access to funding, administrative constraints, lack of visibility and uneven levels of engagement. He pleaded for true equitable and transformative collaborations with mutual benefits for partners involved and for CIVIS to become a stronger plaftorm for advocacy.

For Mary Ryan (UofG), CIVIS can support an evolution towards true transformative partnerships by paying attention to the ecosystems in which research takes place, incuding actors like professional service staff and by continuing to provide a platform to meet in person.

CIVIS has been already advancing in that direction, said Prof. Fabio Sciarrino (SUR), who mentioned initiatives such as CIVIS seed-funding, the sharing of research infrastructure among CIVIS members and recognised the need to keep working on enhancing PhD and early-stage researchers’ mobility.

By applying the Charter across its growing joint educational offer and by creating spaces where knowledge and best practices flow both ways, CIVIS can contribute to equity and transformation, said Dr. Samia Chasi (University of the Witwatersrand).

Turning Vision into Commitment: Signature of the Africa Charter

A defining moment of the Forum took place with the signature of the Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations. Prof. Isabella Aboderin, Director of the Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC) explained that the Charter:

• establishes principles and practical measures to support equitable, inclusive and transformative partnerships.
• It puts Africa at the centre,
• focuses on global academic systems and shifts hierarchies,
• draws attention to the multiple layers of imbalances in research collaborations
• helps build a community committed to fundamental change,

For Prof. Aboderin, the Charter is not just a statement of values. It offers CIVIS a concrete way to deepen its civic engagement, broaden inclusive research practices, and embed equity into its long-term vision.

Signing on behalf of CIVIS, Professor Stefan Lang, Secretary General, reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to strengthening African leadership in global research ecosystems. Speakers emphasised that the Charter must translate into institution‑level practice: not only values, but governance, resourcing and accountability.

Building Momentum 

As discussions unfolded across the three days, a recurrent theme became clear: collaboration must be driven by shared purpose, yet anchored in practical, equitable mechanisms. Speakers from across the alliance emphasised the importance of strengthening advocacy, consolidating networks, addressing funding challenges jointly and ensuring that the principles of the Africa Charter are reflected in operational choices.

CIVIS Progress Since 2023

The Forum also provided an opportunity to take stock of progress made since CIVIS integrated research into its mission in November 2023. Professor Estelle Doudet noted several milestones:

• Two rounds of CIVIS seed‑funding calls supporting dozens of emerging collaborations
• A Memorandum of Understanding on shared research infrastructure
• The launch of the MSCA project PartiCIVIS
• The expansion of joint master and doctoral initiatives across the alliance

These developments, combined with UH2C’s extensive engagement in CIVIS mobility schemes, Horizon Europe projects and bilateral partnerships, reflect the growing maturity of African–European cooperation within the alliance.

Looking Ahead Together

The final sessions brought this message into sharp focus. It marked the close of the First CIVIS African–European Forum — and, with it, the conclusion of a dynamic Staff Week and three days of rich discussions, presentations and encounters that sparked ideas, launched new collaborations and expanded the community of civizens. Once again, the Forum confirmed that CIVIS is a living laboratory: an experimental, collaborative space where a diverse community comes together to advance equitable partnerships across continents.

In line with CIVIS tradition, the final session was dedicated to reflecting collectively on the road ahead. Participants explored how the goodwill, energy and shared purpose generated throughout the Forum could be transformed into concrete, sustainable progress.

They called for:

• More opportunities to connect with new partners, both within and beyond the alliance.
• Ways to deepen relationships initiated in Casablanca, ensuring continuity after the event.
• Better documentation of outcomes, to strengthen institutional memory.
• More diverse formats and tools, supporting a vibrant, transdisciplinary community of scholars, students and professional staff.

As Secretary General Prof. Stefan Lang reminded the audience, “we are all winners already” — a sentiment that captured the collective sense of achievement and forward momentum that characterised this inaugural African–European Forum.

The event concluded not with a sense of closure, but with a shared understanding that the work ahead requires sustained coordination across institutions, disciplines and continents.

Staff Week

Running parallel to the Forum, the CIVIS Staff Week allowed participants to compare institutional approaches, identifie shared challenges and discusse practical ways to improve coordination across the alliance. Through workshops, peer‑exchange sessions and campus‑based activities, it addressed the day‑to‑day structures and practices.

Immense thanks go to our hosts at Université Hassan II de Casablanca, whose warm welcome and active engagement made this milestone gathering possible.

• Photos: Esther Malice, CIVIS Communication Unit
• Livestream videos: Université Hassan II Casablanca.