With its headquarters at LAC and co-leadership branches in Austria, Spain, and Portugal, the SPACE Centre’s initiatives will span nine universities. School of Management team at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) is in the co-leadership role together with Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV, Spain) and Santarém Polytechnic University (IPSantarém, Portugal), forming the management board of SPACE center.
From January 20th to 22nd, the SPACE Centre team from 9 universities convened for their first in-person meeting at LAC, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the alliance. The three-day event opened with a formal launch of the SPACE Centre on the first day. This was followed by an intensive workshop focusing on the Centre’s operational plan. Discussions focused on structuring the management framework for activities, laying the groundwork for initiatives planned over the next four years.
A Multi-National Effort Across 9 Universities
By leveraging the collective expertise of its member institutions, the Centre is well-positioned to create meaningful impacts in society and inspire long-lasting transformation. The ACE²EU Alliance:
- Latvia: Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC) (WP4 Lead)
- Austria: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) (WP4 Co-lead)
- Portugal: Instituto Politécnico de Santarém (IPSantarém) (WP4 Co-lead)
- Spain: University Francisco de Vitoria (UFV) (WP4 Co-lead)
- Germany: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI)
- North Macedonia: Goce Delčev University (UGD)
- Poland: Medical University of Gdańsk (MUG)
- Romania: University Constantin Brâncuși Târgu-Jiu (UCB)
- Lithuania: Kauno Technikos Kolegija (KTK) / Lithuanian University of Applied Engineering Sciences (LIK)
Mission, Conceptual structure and Key Activities
The SPACE Centre aims to promote collaboration with external stakeholders, driving sustainable societal transformation and fostering deeper connections between universities and communities, including government, NGOs and businesses. Its activities emphasize developing social solutions in areas such as well-being, inclusion, multiculturalism, gender equality, and creating a shared cultural platform to exchange diverse experiences and expertise.
The Centre's initiatives and activities 2025-2028 are based on two conceptual pillars:
- Social Impactors (SI): A dynamic platform that leverages the Alliance’s expertise to address socio-economic challenges and connects universities and stakeholders. Alliance-wide conceptual lead: Dr. Marika Gruber
Social Impactors (SI): The conceptual lead, Dr. Marika Gruber, coordinates expertise across the nine universities, with CUAS-supported administration by Mélissa Pébayle. SI bring together expertise in socio-economic issues with societal and government stakeholders across 9 countries on the following four topics: 1. Inclusion & Multiculturalism; 2. Social Well-Being; 3. Respect & Dignity; 4. Gender Equality. The goal of experts is to develop service-to-society activities to address and positively impact current and future societal challenges. SI activities, designed to implement together with universities and stakeholders, will include awareness campaigns, volunteering programmes and challenge-based workshops focused on collectively tackling social challenges.
“The Social Impactors are a platform that acts like a think tank on the four topics: 1. inclusion & multiculturalism; 2. social well-being; 3. respect & dignity; 4. gender equality. In the conception of the Social Impactors, we follow scientifically sound concepts on topics such as participation, stakeholder involvement and social impact measurement. In this context, stakeholder involvement will not only be directed outwards (towards our existing and future partners), but also inwards and involve the various internal stakeholders of the participating universities, such as students, professors, researchers, and employees of the service departments. This involvement, which is reflected in the co-creation of the various measures, is intended to strengthen co-operation internally and externally on three levels in the long term: Micro-level (within the universities), Meso-level (between the universities and the regions in which the universities are located; promoting a place-based approach), and Macro-level (at the level of the European University Partnership).” Dr. Marika Gruber, Social Impactors SPACE lead.
- Culture Hub (CH): A collaborative initiative aimed at celebrating and deepening understanding of the diverse cultures within the Alliance. By promoting integration, inclusion, multilingualism, and mutual respect, this hub fosters intercultural collaboration. Alliance-wide lead: Dr. Ieva Zemite, CUAS Lead: Dr. Colin Heller
SPACE center key activities/initiatives include:
- Kaleidoscope Culture Festival: Led by Ieva Zemīte from the Latvian Academy of Culture, this first annual festival celebrates multiculturalism, multilingualism, and inclusion. The event unites alliance universities, with Dr. Colin Heller from Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) coordinating CUAS’s contributions from students. There will be 4 editions of the festival: Germany 2025; Romania 2026; Latvia 2027; Portugal 2028.
- Student Volunteer Programme: Led by Paula Pinto from Santarém Polytechnic University, this program empowers students to confront societal challenges by participating in impactful volunteer opportunities.
- Culture Traineeship Programme for Staff: Alessia Tressoldi and her team at Francisco de Vitoria University introduced this mobility training initiative, which combines in-person and online sessions. It focuses on fostering cultural understanding, inclusion strategies, and heightened cultural sensitivity among staff members across the alliance. There will be 3 editions of the program, implemented at 3 co-lead SPACE locations: Spain 2026; Austria 2027; Latvia 2028.
Through activities like these, the SPACE Centre aims to become a catalyst for sustainable change, nurturing a vibrant cultural dialogue among its partner universities and the communities they serve.
For more information, visit:
CUAS School of Management SPACE WP4 Team:
- Dr. Svetlana Buko (WP4 CUAS Coordinator)
- Dr. Colin Heller (Culture Hub)
- Dr. Marika Gruber (Social Impactors)
- Mélissa Pébayle (Coordination)
- SPACE Centre Headquarters: Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC), Riga, Latvia
- Head: Professor Dr. Ieva Zemite
