The Student Engagement Fund (SEF) is a mini-grant funding scheme aimed at supporting student-led joint initiatives within the CIVICA alliance.
Student Engagement Fund
About the Fund
The CIVICA Student Engagement Fund supports student and early stage researcher (ESR) initiatives within the CIVICA alliance. It aims to foster cross–campus collaboration among students, student associations and ESRs from different disciplines and backgrounds in tackling the important issues facing Europe today and to further enhance the students’ experience within the alliance.
How does it work?
Projects are implemented by student associations from at least two CIVICA partner universities or by an ad–hoc project team formed by students and early–stage researchers representing a minimum of two CIVICA partner universities.
Projects should offer clear added value to students and early-stage researchers within the CIVICA alliance, while also generating a positive impact on their respective student communities. Ideally, project topics should align with CIVICA’s four thematic priorities or broader EU priorities such as sustainability, multilingualism, diversity and inclusion, solidarity and the promotion of European culture and intercultural exchange.
In the first 2024/25 funding round, successful projects took diverse forms, including conferences, short films, policy papers and hackathons.
Winning projects from 2024/25
Institutions involved: Hertie School and LSE
The project is bringing students together to develop the skills necessary for responsible and ethical AI deployment. Through expert-led talks and a hackathon aimed at creating new governance frameworks, participants will assess AI solutions, identify risks and propose improvements to existing regulatory practices. This interdisciplinary initiative offers opportunities to engage with policy experts, legal scholars and industry professionals, while exploring governance challenges in critical sectors such as healthcare and education. The program culminates in a comprehensive report on AI governance in the EU, synthesising key insights, recommendations and the winning case study.
Institutions involved: SGH and SSE
The goal of this project is to analyse the distinct economic contributions of diasporas—particularly the Turkish diaspora in Germany and the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland—focusing on their impact on labor markets, entrepreneurship, macroeconomic phenomena, and cross-cultural collaboration, and to share the findings with students and academics.
Institutions involved: CEU, EUI and LSE
The conference aims to convene a diverse group of scholars, grassroots activists, artists, and communities outside academia who have lived and material experiences with extractive industries, climate-related conflicts, and other themes relevant to Transitional Justice. It aims to cultivate inter- and transdisciplinary exchanges that cut across law, environmental studies, gender studies, political science while creating opportunities for novel, decolonial and feminist perspectives, as well as participatory and collaborative thinking not typically placed in dialogue with each other.
Institutions involved: Hertie School, SSE and LSE
The CIVICA EU Regulation Game immerses students in EU law-making roles to inspire civic awareness and democratic participation. The aim is to empower young Europeans with a deeper understanding of EU governance, motivating them to engage in democratic processes and address low voter turnout.
Institutions involved: Hertie School and IE University
HackEd 2025 unites the Hertie Education Policy Club and IE University’s Big Data and AI Club to address issues of education access and quality in Europe using digital solutions, through a Hackathon in Madrid, where a maximum of 30 students get a chance to innovate at the intersection of policy and technology. Our goals are to 1) transform education through digital innovation and edupreneurship, 2) create valuable networking opportunities and 3) provide for an enriching cultural exchange.
Institutions involved: CEU and LSE
This project aims to critically evaluate and operationalise the integration of Generative AI within higher education through evidence-based strategies, fostering an ethically robust and pedagogically transformative academic ecosystem. We aim to establish an evidence-based framework for the ethical and effective integration of Generative AI in higher education, enhancing pedagogical practices and academic integrity, culminating in a guide for researchers, a toolkit for learners, and a white paper based on the evidence-based insights from this project.
Institutions involved: EUI and SGH Warsaw School of Economics
This initiative uses the universal language of sports to promote diversity and inclusion across CIVICA institutions. By organising interactive workshops and panels, we aim to engage participants to work on the role of sports in social inclusion and equality. We aim to achieve greater understanding of social barriers that exists in sports and how to successfully overcome them, as well as encouraging other universities to promote inclusion in sports.
Institutions involved: SGH Warsaw School of Economics, and LSE
This project aims to foster collaboration between CIVICA universities, develop climate-resilient urban policies, and engage students in real-world policy challenges through a public policy competition, workshops, mobility exchange, and a conference.
Insitutions involved: Sciences Po and LSE
This project is a short documentary which explores the impact of recent Russian aggression on neighbouring democracies, specifically Estonia. The goal is to explore how proximity to conflict impacts democratic institutions, civic engagement, and national unity using a contemporary case study.
Institutions involved: Hertie School and Sciences Po
This initiative aims to demystify the United Nations by offering an in-depth exploration of its operations, key challenges, and relevance to global governance. Through panel discussions, career workshops, and networking sessions, we seek to empower students to pursue careers in international organizations, foster cross-campus collaboration between Sciences Po and Hertie School, and create a platform for intercultural exchange and professional connections.
Institutions involved: IE University, SGH Warsaw School of Economics and SSE
The Warsaw Negotiation Round is a prestigious international negotiation tournament for students who are outstanding representatives of the world’s best universities. The aim of the project is to educate students about negotiation, create space for international collaboration and create long-lasting connections between student associations and individual students from different universities.
Institutions involved: CEU, IE University and Sciences Po
The goal of this conference is to both showcase inspiring women who have forged their own paths in underrepresented industries, and foster connections to help open doors and get more women a seat at the table. We aim to empower the conference attendees with concrete tools that will allow them to advocate for their needs and support their professional and personal development.
Institutions involved: Bocconi University and Sciences Po
By underscoring the pervasiveness of patriarchal structures and inaction facing inequalities, we want to motivate accountability and spur action in our target audience while reminding them to take an inclusive stance on issues that may feel remote but in fact impact everyone.
