Tag: AIF 2026

Talk 1

Title: Noesis: An Advanced BCI System for Autonomous and Intelligent Wheelchair Navigation

Talk 2

Title:Development of a Computational Model for the In Silico Prediction of the Spatiotemporal Evolution, Metastatic Spread, and Therapeutic Response of Breast Cancer

Talk 3

Title: Hult Prize On Campus UOWM

Short Team Description:
Hult Prize On Campus UOWM is the official volunteer student initiative of the University of Western Macedonia participating in the global Hult Prize social entrepreneurship competition.

The team’s mission is to organise a student social innovation competition, through which students of the University of Western Macedonia develop innovative and sustainable entrepreneurial solutions that contribute to addressing global social challenges, while also fostering entrepreneurship, collaboration, and interdisciplinary engagement among students.

The winning team of the local Hult Prize On Campus UOWM competition advances to the next stage of the international Hult Prize competition, moving one step closer to competing for the USD 1 million prize.

The panel “Empowering the Margins of Europe: Synergies in Education, Research and Community Engagement” explores how different initiatives in higher education, research, and community engagement can be interconnected in order to generate meaningful and systemic impact at the European level.

Through the discussion, the speakers examine the key challenges that hinder the transition from isolated good practices to a more coherent ecosystem of collaboration, highlighting the gaps and discontinuities between education, research, and society. At the same time, the role of EMERGE is explored as a mechanism that can bridge these gaps and strengthen alignment across different levels and stakeholders.

The aim of the panel is not to present isolated examples, but rather to highlight the connections, tensions, and opportunities for greater cohesion, while raising the question of how Europe can meaningfully empower its “margins” through cooperation and a shared strategic direction.

The panel “Social and Political Sciences and Artificial Intelligence” explores AI not merely as a technological milestone but as a profound social and political force that reshapes our understanding of reality. The central theme suggests that AI has transitioned from a tool that describes the world to an active participant in defining it, raising critical questions about who holds the power of interpretation when knowledge is mediated by algorithms. By questioning whether AI serves as a mechanism for understanding or a mere engine of prediction, the discussion highlights the danger of reducing social complexity to measurable data and the risk of defining “normality” through automated systems. Ultimately, the panel argues that the social and political sciences are more essential than ever; their role is to ensure that critical thought is not constrained by algorithmic logic, but rather enhanced by it, using AI as a lever to illuminate social complexity rather than replace human judgment.

This parallel session focuses on the challenges of enhancing teaching and learning in higher education. Representatives from the Teaching and Learning Centers (KEDIMA) of Greek Universities will share insights from their institutional experience and the work of their scientific committees. The discussion will highlight key challenges, current initiatives, and priorities for strengthening the quality of university teaching and academic development in Greek universities.

Presentation of the novel educational program titled “Educating about the Shoah of the Greek Jews and other 20th century genocides and mass atrocities”, aims to create and implement a sustainable and feasible educational program to familiarize Greek educators and students with the traumatic past of the 20th century. Taking into account the unique history of Greece, the proposal aims to create an educational platform for studying and learning about this tumultuous period using the tools of digital humanities, which can be used in most school subjects. Greece is one of the few countries in the world that experienced the consequences of two genocides in the first half of the 20th century. During the interwar period, Greece was host to Christian populations who suffered under the genocidal policies of the Young Turks and the Kemalist regime. Two decades later, the country’s Jewish population was targeted in the Holocaust. Furthermore, early in the decade of 1990, The Yugoslavian War or the so called “The Third Balkan War” brought back the nightmares of mass atrocities in the Balkan Peninsula.

This panel is conceived as a focused policy-and-practice conversation on micro-credentials and flexible learning pathways as emerging instruments for lifelong learning, reskilling, upskilling, and European educational mobility.

Rather than treating micro-credentials in purely promotional terms, the discussion is designed to examine the conditions under which they can become credible, flexible, and socially meaningful learning arrangements across higher education, vocational education and training (VET), continuing professional development, and labour-market-oriented learning.

The overall aim is to position micro-credentials within a wider architecture of lifelong learning, connecting universities, VET providers, employers, professional bodies, and public policy, while retaining academic credibility, public trust, social purpose, and meaningful learner progression.

Core discussion axes

• Micro-credentials as complementary instruments within degree systems, continuing education, and lifelong learning strategies.
• Quality assurance, certification, recognition, transparency, and portability across institutional and national settings.
• Flexible and stackable learning pathways: how short-form learning may connect to broader qualifications and progression routes.
• Micro-credentials in VET, continuing education, and labour-market learning: responsiveness to sectoral change, employability, and re/upskilling needs.
• Access and inclusion: the possible value of micro-credentials for adult learners, working learners, career changers, and other non-traditional participants.
• Institutional and policy challenges: sustainability, trust, fragmentation, and the relationship between flexibility and academic standards.