SEAMK Talk: HEROES Alliance has had a flying start
HEROES Alliance is having their first Semi-Annual Meeting at Seinäjoki. In this episode there are the president of HEROES Alliance, a student representative from Sweden and an RDI representative from SEAMK talking about HEROES Alliance from different perspectives.
[Sara]
Hello and welcome to SEAMK TALK podcast. We have special days here at SEAMK now, because we have many international guests from many different countries here. And that is because of HEROES Alliance, that is also today’s topic.
And right now we are having Semi-Annual Meeting at Seinäjoki. And I have some guests here with me right now. And first of all, it is a pleasure to have you all here with me.
And we can start by introducing ourselves. And I can start. So my name is Sara and I’m a trainee here at SEAMK.
[Sofie]
My name is Sofie Mols, I’m the president of HEROES and I’m also representing Thomas More University of Applied Sciences as a vice president for innovation and international policy.
[Kari]
Yes, hi, hello, I’m Kari Laasasenaho, I’m from Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. I work here as a senior RDI expert, but I’m also a bot facilitator in circular economy.
[Saga]
Hello, my name is Saga and I am representing Halmstad University in Sweden. And I am a part of HEROES as a student representative.
[Sara]
Awesome, great to have you all here. And before we go to this HEROES topic, let’s just start with this question. How are you all doing?
And now that you have been here at SEAMK and in Seinäjoki for a couple of days, how are you feeling about this city and this University of Applied Sciences?
[Saga]
Oh, wow. I feel very excited to be here, first of all. And it’s been really nice.
We had the great weather. I think Seinäjoki is beautiful and I really like the vibrant feeling at the university as well.
[Sofie]
I agree. I am overwhelmed by the energy and the dedication that all the staff show during this semi-annual meeting. And I have the feeling that we’ve come already so far.
So I’m very proud as a president.
[Sara]
Oh, that’s great to hear. But OK, let’s dive deeper to our topic. And this question is especially to Sofie.
So can you explain what is HEROES Alliance and what can you tell about its background?
[Sofie]
HEROES is the result of a dream and it is an ambition to contribute to a stronger and a united Europe. And through this European University initiative, the European Commission really wants to promote European identity and share our European values and strive to enhance the competitiveness and unity in Europe. So that in itself is a noble goal, I would say.
And at the heart of this vision for heroes are heroes, the heroic, the narrative of a hero. And to me, there is also the most valuable asset in this alliance. It’s always about people.
The human capital is the most valuable asset that we have. And people showing resilience and pushing forward, learning from each other and grow together. That’s truly what is HEROES about.
[Sara]
Wow, that sounded great. Well, HEROES Alliance has been working since the beginning of this year. What are your roles at the moment?
[Kari]
Maybe I can start. So actually, one part of the HEROES Alliance is to promote RDI activities, so research, development and innovation activities. So one way to implement that is to establish this kind of networking activities, so-called bots.
And the bots are practically just networks between the research and researchers. So actually, I’m leading or facilitating this bot circular economy, and we have many members in that bot. And actually, we are trying to promote research, which is related to the circular economy.
So actually, now we are in the phase of starting the activities. So actually, we have had preliminary meetings and now we will have our first workshop on the 2nd of June. So let’s see what happens and how well and how big volume we will have the activities in the future.
But of course, we have been starting our activities and let’s see what happens.
[Saga]
Yeah, it’s great to hear that we’re moving so fast already. I’m a part of the student council where we have student representatives from all of our partner universities and heroes. And we have had a hard time getting started because we’re meeting online.
And this is the first time we have been able to meet almost everyone in real life together and have an actual meeting, which has been really interesting. And we have actually gotten very far. We’ve been efficient in trying to create a structure for how we want to work and how we want to be a part of the alliance in general, how we can contribute in the best way as students.
[Sofie]
Yes, sounds great. Because to me, you as a student, you are the local stakeholder. You are the product of people where our heart is.
So we are building this European university, but for the students, of course. And if I step back to take my role under the microscope, maybe to be honest, my role has been evolving and that transition comes with its challenges. So in the concept phase, when we were writing the proposal, I felt I was the initiator and the driving force, the architect of our shared vision and our story that we’ve created with a fantastic team.
And it led to this funding of this ambitious project. But now in this startup phase, I often find myself juggling multiple responsibilities. I am, of course, the president.
So I chair the board of presidents, which is the highest governing body of our alliance. And this group is incredibly inspiring, continuously pushing beyond the immediate scope of our project and thinking how HEROES can impact the local ecosystems across regions. But simultaneously, I also represent Thomas More as one of the nine institutions involved.
And so one of the siblings in our HEROES family. And while contributing as a full member of the steering committee in our executive body also demands quite a lot of me. And then last of all, I see myself in the role of a coach, supporting the team through challenges and fostering this collaboration and keeping the momentum alive and bearing in mind that this is a marathon, not a sprint, because I feel that people are pushing forward.
But we have to, of course, deliver. And this interdependency between everyone can be very demanding. But as an engineer, I always like to say that where there is friction, there is energy and that energy also drives us forward.
So it’s important. And during this semi-annual in Finland, I learned a new word, which is sisu. And sisu is about the fierce determination and the perseverance to push further.
And this resonates truly deeply with me because it’s how I work and how I live and pushing through, refusing to give up and looking back at what we have accomplished already. I can really say we’ve built something remarkable. So I’m very, very proud.
[Saga]
Yes, I agree with you. I really like the word heroes and name HEROES. And I really feel like it’s perfectly portraying the work that we are doing.
And we have been so efficient so far. And it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come in just four months.
[Sofie]
Thank you. That’s very kind.
[Kari]
One funny fact about this word sisu. Actually, it’s used as a boy’s name in Finland as well. And one of my boys is named after Sisu.
[Sofie]
Great.
[Saga]
Great name.
[Sara]
Yeah. But great to hear all of this. If we go a little bit more into details here.
What are the main topics you are working on at the moment with HEROES team?
[Sofie]
Yeah, I can go first. When we drafted the blueprint of this project, we were facing or we’re still facing challenging times. Times marked by poly-crisis.
So we have the energy crisis. But then in 19 came the pandemic, of course. And for the first since World War II, we have an ongoing war very close to our homes, which made us realize that in this phase of constant change, we need knowledge, which is important.
But a true superpower is to be resilient and to use innovation to make an impact. And we are now preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet. And the turnover that artificial intelligence will bring, it’s important that we equip and train students to be resilient and to cope with changes throughout time.
[Kari]
Yeah, this, how to say, word resilience is very important nowadays, because as you said, there are lots of crises going on in the world and we need very much resilience to adapt the situation. And I think research is one way for adaptation. Actually, when we are building up new knowledge and make studies and research, then we know better how this world works and then we can adapt better.
And by doing that together with this alliance, I think there was a much more valuable trip to go ahead, because then we actually can utilize knowledge from each partners and we can share our thoughts and make this kind of, how to say, good tool for all of the partners how to adapt these crises and how to make this world a better place to live.
[Saga]
Yeah, as students in this big European project, I often feel like we are kind of like chameleons. We have to be able to understand all of these different sections at enough level to be able to have discussions in them and to bring our perspective on it. But at the same time, it’s a really broad discussion topics and most of the staff members are very centered on one topic.
So it’s very interesting we get the bigger picture, but it’s also difficult. So I guess what we are working on currently is wrapping our heads around this entire project and seeing how we best can, like I said previously, come with our student influence and input. And I think in the bigger picture, the general picture, also we are working to improving student influence at a European level, because that’s one of the first thing that we noticed when we started this project is that different cultures and different countries have different routines regarding student influence.
In Sweden, for example, where I’m from, it’s needed by law. And I know that’s not the case everywhere. So it’s been really interesting to see how we can help future students through this project be more involved in their education.
[Sara]
Yeah, that’s very interesting. And you are doing a very important job, all of you. Well, this HEROES Alliance has been going on a few months now.
How do you all feel about cooperation so far? What are the best features that you have noticed?
[Saga]
Well, that’s a difficult question.
[Sofie]
Anyway, I can feel the energy and the dedication of, the dedication and also the friendship between all staff and students and stakeholders involved. Everybody really wants us to succeed, and that really gives me energy. I think it’s normal in this startup phase that you have some alignment to do and hurdles to overcome.
It’s part of a project. But everyone is facing similar challenges, whether you live in Denmark or in Portugal or in Czech, and being surrounded by like-minded people and exchanging to craft solutions that benefit all of us is really uplifting. And it makes me feel that you’re really part of something bigger, of something greater.
Heroes don’t stay on the sidelines. They really want to make an impact, and I feel it.
[Saga]
Yes, definitely. Me too.
[Kari]
Yeah, I agree.
[Saga]
And also, even though we have dissimilar areas of expertise and dissimilar topics, we still bring such different views to the table, which is so interesting with an international collaboration like this.
[Sofie]
Exactly, and we can learn a lot from these multi-perspective things and learn from each other’s approaches and try to improve our own processes back home. So it’s great to grow together.
[Kari]
I definitely agree with you because I feel the same energy, as you said. And actually, there is lots of motivation in the air, I would say also, and lots of new things and ideas how to utilize this network. But of course, the future will show us what happens and what kind of target we will reach.
But of course, this is a very good platform for all kinds of cooperation and new research ideas and projects, and future maybe horizon projects as well. So many opportunities, I see.
[Sara]
Yeah, absolutely. Well, if we think about the name HEROES, we already talked a little bit about it. But it’s very fun and it’s a very uplifting abbreviation.
But what does the HEROES word stand for from your point of view?
[Sofie]
Well, just definition-wise, the abbreviation is Higher Education for Resilience-Oriented and Empowered Societies. And to me, the world needs heroes. The future needs heroes, people who are resilient, who are bold enough to dream bigger.
And I think we may be very proud that we can help shape the heroes of the future.
[Saga]
Yeah, and I think apart from the actual abbreviation or meaning of it, I think it also brings a spark or something a little extra to the project because we all feel like heroes and we’re always reminded that we are heroes. We are doing something good for other people. And I think it’s a little bit childish, but it’s also fun and playful to be reminded that this is heroes, we are heroes.
[Sofie]
I have goosebumps now hearing you say it. I’m glad it resonates with the students because that was what we were aiming for.
[Kari]
And I totally agree with you. And actually, I think the heroes abbreviation means for me that education is a superpower for all of us. So actually, I think the education and research is the weapon against the crisis.
So actually, I think the cooperation between the higher education institutions is the superpower for us.
[Saga]
Wow. That’s a very interesting way to put it.
[Sofie]
Well said.
[Saga]
Many ways to look at it, in other words.
[Sara]
Yeah, very well said from all of you. That was wow. Well, what are you all looking forward to from this project and from HEROES Alliance?
[Saga]
There’s so much.
[Saga]
I look forward to keeping up the contacts and the networking that we have with so many people across Europe. I think it’s an opportunity of a lifetime, of course, and to keep seeing what our results will be. I mean, already, as I said, in four months we have so many results, so I can’t wait to see what we are in one year or four years.
[Kari]
I think we have to always remember that actually the project is not doing anything. The people inside of the project are doing everything. So actually, I wait that I can connect with other people and make new friends and new relationships between the people.
So actually, I wait that after this project ends, we will have a more strong cooperation between the people and we can truly say that people are making the cooperation and people can see what kind of benefits it will bring to all of us.
[Sofie]
Yeah, I think I have nothing to add. The world needs, indeed, these heroes, professionals who are entrepreneurial, who have the courage to think outside the box and who have the courage to fail and to start over and to find, embrace that inner sisu and to make an impact together, to have a resilient and a strong Europe.
[Sara]
Wow. Does someone want to add something? Because that was our last question.
[Saga]
I could just touch upon the topic of impact again and saying how much it means to me. It’s a privilege for me as a student and I’m also very proud to be a part of a project like this, not only representing the students of my university in Sweden or students in all of Sweden, but also we are representing students from all over Europe. And I think that is what we need to remind ourselves with sometimes, that it’s a big thing.
It’s very lovely to see.
[Sara]
Hey, thank you all so much for coming here to talk about this topic. It was very, very nice to get to hear more about HEROES Alliance and let’s see how in the future it will go and maybe we can make a new episode then and let’s see how it goes. But enjoy your time here at Seinäjoki and good luck with everything.
[All]
Thank you.