One of the main goals of the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH) is for teachers to develop co-created and interdisciplinary courses and training opportunities for the EUGLOH course offering. Last year, Max Liljefors, professor of Art History and Visual Studies at Lund University, Sweden, applied for seed money from his home institution to develop an idea for a course with colleagues from one of the EUGLOH universities. The course, entitled “Arts and Creative Health and Wellbeing”, focuses on how the arts can be used in healthcare and how the arts affect our health.
“When I saw that it was possible to apply for seed money for idea development concerning courses, I saw an opportunity,” says Max Liljefors.
The course idea had been used previously. Max Liljefors already had a commissioned education course on the topic via Lund University Commissioned Education (LUCE), which he conducts in cooperation with Region Skåne. This spring he began to develop a proposal for a course syllabus and course content. The eight other EUGLOH universities were then sounded out to explore options for collaborations.
The choice fell on UiT – The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, which had an interesting profile with researchers who have similar specialisations. The application was then made together with colleagues from Tromsø, where a visiting professor from London, Tony Ghaye, became involved.
“The application procedure was a lot smoother than expected, which was largely due to LU’s EUGLOH office. They have been very helpful throughout the process,” says Max Liljefors.
Max Liljefors and his colleagues received about 8,600 EUR to develop the course plus 2,150 EUR for travel. He recommends other teaching staff members at the EUGLOH partner universities to apply for seed money and has some tips:
“The most important thing is that you really want to do it. Then it can be a good idea to check what EUGLOH-funded courses already exist. Don’t hesitate to contact the University’s EUGLOH office, even early in the idea stage, to ask questions,” says Max Liljefors.
EUGLOH has recently published a call for application for its seed money programme. Read more here: Apply for seed money for course and programme development.
This article was originally published by Lund University.