Circle U. Summer Schools

Summer Schools in the Circle U. European Alliance lead the way in innovative interdisciplinary courses addressing key societal challenges; global health, climate change and democracy. Since 2022, the summer schools are offered on campus in Berlin, Oslo and Paris as well as online. In 2023, a new summer school programme will be added in Aarhus.

Circle U. European University Alliance: Université Paris Cité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, King’s College, London, UCLouvain, University of Oslo, Aarhus University, University of Belgrade, Université of Pisa and Université of Vienna.

The summer portfolio is evolving and adapting to meet the needs of the students in the alliance.

Rethinking Global Health – Université Paris Cité

Designed for PhD students including postgraduate medical doctor students (MD) from any discipline with an interest for the health field, the Global Health Summer School offers a unique learning environment, providing exposure to a wide range of topics such as health inequalities from an individual to a global perspective, the distribution of health resources, migration and the role of women’s health, and the past and future of globalized medicine, from colonial medicine to global health. Through a combination of lectures, active learning, group work, and dilemma-based approaches, participants will reflect on global health challenges while developing critical thinking skills.

Evidence and Democracy in Times of Crisis – University of Oslo

The systematic use of knowledge in the public sphere – politics, administration, and public services more generally – is usually discussed under the label of evidence-based or evidence-informed policymaking.  Despite its theoretical appeal, the normative ideal of evidence-based policymaking encounters multiple challenges when faced with acute crises. Acute crises such as the current pandemic confront political and administrative decision-makers with an urgent imperative to act. They must make decisions under conditions of ambiguity and uncertainty and without a solid knowledge base. Both climate science and epidemiological knowledge have also become increasingly polarized sites of controversy in which evidence is continuously discussed and contested. Hence, democratic decisions are not simply informed by evidence, but become sites of the construction and social negotiation of evidence.   Recent developments trigger several fundamental questions regarding the role of evidence and expertise in modern democratic settings, which will be addressed in this summer school. 

Climate Change & Policy: How to Transition to a Post-Carbon Future – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Over the course of two weeks, five days of online sessions and five in person students will take part in interactive lectures, seminars, workshops, simulations, and panel discussions, all led by renowned interdisciplinary researchers and policy experts from across Europe. Together with Circle U. peers from nine European cities, participants will not only learn about basic concepts of climate science, but also discover the potential of mitigation actions, as well as the dynamics of environmental psychology and climate politics. Through a hands-on simulation, students will take on the role of a UN delegate negotiating climate goals and will find out how to strategically set an agenda. In small teams, they will analyse and document examples of the climate impact in their home region, and research environmental and sustainability policies at their university. Students will walk away with plenty of new insights and skills to their subject of study, as well as five ECTS for successful participation.

Negotiating Climate Change in the Context of Absolute CO2 Limits and Time frames – Aarhus University 

The summer school establishes an interdisciplinary approach to understand, examine and address the negotiations that determine current and future climate change and actions to handle the challenges of climate changes, in a perspective where societal actions are linked to the bio-physical reality of climate change. Negotiations and their outcome are vital for climate actions and for understanding climate change causes, impacts and solutions. Climate negotiations refer to the difficult dilemmas and decisions that are negotiated in policies and politics at different levels where competing interests are balanced, as well as in citizens’ everyday choices and behaviour, in business development, and in innovation, choice and application of technologies. 

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