ICA Rectors and Deans Forum 2023: will be held on 19 and 20 October at JUNIA, Lille, France and will focus on One Health Triad Challenges for Life Science Universities and on the Opportunities and Threats of AI (artificial intelligence) in Education and Research

The ICA General Assembly 2023 will be held online on 12 October at 16.00

ICA Board Education Committees Workshops 26 - 28 April 2023

ICA-CoP Bio-Edu Workshop: Engaging with industry to ensure that graduates and professionals are well prepared for employment in the Bioeconomy.  The Workshop will be held at the Warsaw Univetrsity of Life Sciences (SGGW).

The following two Workshops planned to be onsite events will now be delivered online.  The new programmes will be reposted.

ICA-Edu Workshop: The Student Engagement Challenge

ICA-Edu SIG Workshop: Embedding student challenges and competitions in sustainable entrepreneurship education

In Partnership

ICA CoP Bio-Edu supporting the 5th International Summer School on the Circular Bioeocnomy and Sustainable Development: 24 to 30 July 2023, Organised by  University of Athens in cooperation with Perrotis College (American Farm School) Thessalonika Greece. Was held at the American Farm School Thessaloniki, Greece. 

ICA Standing Committees face to face Events

SILVA Network Annual Conference: 11 – 13 April, 2023 to be held the University of Sopron, Hungary

AGRINATURA Conference: 10 - 12  May to be held at Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic

IROICA Conference: 26^th Annual IROICA Conference 14-16 June 2023 (MCI Innsbruck), 12-13 June (BOKU Vienna, pre-conference)

CASEE Conference: 28 - 30 June 2023 to be held at the Technical University of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova

AGRIMBA Board Meeting: 29 June 2023, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb University, Croatia.  June 30 Project meetings.

ISEKI Conference: 7th International ISEKI-Food Conference "Next-Generation of Food Research, Education and Industry to be held from 5 - 7 July 2023 at AgroParisTech in Paris, France

At the 12th ICA Rectors and Deans Forum in October 2022 focusing on Bending the Curve for Biodiversity: challenges and opportunities for life science universities an important Communiqué was published, in which ICA members pledged to put biodiversity conservation at the heart of their activities.

With this ICA Biodiversity Challenge 2023 we put forward an activity for all ICA members that is fun, brings our staff and students together, and sparks engagement with biodiversity, particularly relating to this part of the pledge made in the Communiqué:

“We will engage to protect and enhance the biodiversity of our own life science university grounds, campuses and other estates, for them to become enlightening examples and teaching tools for biodiversity-based development.”

Register your application to join at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 31 January 2023

EUROPEAN LIFE SCIENCES UNIVERSITIES
ADDRESSING THE URGENT NEED TO BEND THE CURVE OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS

We, the Rectors, Deans and Senior Management of the Association for European Life Science Universities at our Forum, held in Kaunas, Lithuania on 20 and 21 October 2022, addressed the challenges of stabilising and even reversing the loss of biodiversity.

Recognising that university education, research and innovation are vital pillars for the transition to a sustainable circular bioeconomy that conserves, restores and enhances biodiversity; and

Placing biodiversity conservation, restoration and enhancement together with climate neutrality and sustainable food production at the centre of our learning and research, in collaboration with societal partners, and in our campus operations;

Pledge to political leaders, societal influencers, businesses, and the general public that:

• We will share our understanding of biodiversity, its intrinsic heritage value, its trends and dynamics and its functional significance for the sustainability of natural and urban ecosystems;
  
  
• We will combine fundamental research on biodiversity with a quest for nature-based solutions, contributing to conservation, restoration and enhancement of biodiversity along with climate neutrality nd sustainable food production in a sustainable circular bioeconomy;
  
  
• We will encourage our students – the professionals and decision makers of the future – to internalise all available understanding of the need, means and paths for society to conserve, restore and enhance biodiversity in all types of terrestrial and marine ecosystems;
  
  
• We will engage to protect and enhance the biodiversity of our own life science university grounds, campuses and other estates, for them to become enlightening examples and teaching tools for biodiversity-based development.
  
  
• We will seek active collaboration with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), the European Commission and with urban planning and other economic and societal sectors in our regions across Europe. We will engage with the marine, agrifood, forestry, and biobased industries, to stimulate and implement concrete behavioural and institutional changes to effectively curb, and even reverse, the downward trend of biodiversity, and advance the transition to a circular, climate neutral society.

Download the full text COMMUNIQUÉ

Dear Colleagues,

I want to reach out and send my best wishes to you and yours for the coming year 2023. I hope that 2023 holds health, success and good fortune in the endeavours you pursue. I am so grateful for your continued partnership and cooperation, and I look forward to working together in the new year.

2022 started with a new and ambitious “ICA Strategy Towards 2030” and a stronger secretariat which in close cooperation with ICA Board, ICA Board Committees and ICA Standing Committees will be implementing “ICA Action plan”and “ICA Communication Plan” for the period of 2022-2024.

Moreover, the new “ICA European Board Committee” was recently established which aims to be central to implementing the “ICA strategy towards 2030” by initiating and maintaining interactions with European institutions, collecting, and disseminating EU business intelligence, and contributing to the agenda of the European Commission. The ICA European committee aims to enhance the current benefits of ICA membership and will contribute to ICA members' thought leadership, visibility, and recognition in the European Networks.

Addressing our challenges in 2022 and 2023

ICA Network for Innovation in Life Sciences Higher Education (ICA-Edu)

Read the Report of the Colloquium here

The Colloquium explored the opportunities and challenges of mainstreaming blended learning in Life Sciences Higher Education: through institutional, student and lecturer perspectives. Blended-learning practices and experiences may vary widely in design and execution. Improvements in both university curricula and learning technologies, together with the impacts of the COVID pandemic, means that it is a learning mode that continues to gain momentum and usage.

ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education (ICA CoP Bio-Edu)

Read the Report of the Colloquium here

The Colloquium addressed Interdisciplinary Education for the Bioeconomy: embedding the mindset of the bioeconomy in the curricula of Bachelor degree programmes. Students follow many different Bachelor degree programmes which provide opportunities for careers in the different fields of the bioeconomy. The Colloquium will address how an interdisciplinarity mindset of the sustainable circular Bioeconomy can be embedded throughout the curricula of these Bachelor degree programmes.