Observatory of Higher Education Innovations

SCIANCE: AI in Science (2025–2028)

Funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme

The EU funded SCIANCE project supports the development of the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE) and coordinates AI-enabled scientific research across Europe through a bottom-up approach. The project mobilises leading European scientific organisations and research infrastructures across five pilot areas together with AI research centers and e infrastructures. SCIANCE will identify AI-in science research and innovation priorities and pilot the structure of the RAISE Secretariat for AI in science.

KI:HO! — Best Practices in the Use of GenAI at Universities: What Can Germany Learn from India? (2026–2028)

Funded by BMFTR

This project, carried out in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christoph Lattemann (Constructor University) and Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer (University of Göttingen), aims to identify best practices for the application of GenAI at universities. Using an Action Design Research approach, the project involves the iterative development, testing, and evaluation of prototypical GenAI solutions in real-world institutional settings. Our project team, led by Prof. Dr. Isak Frumin, is responsible for the international comparison and evaluation of best practices in GenAI regulation, acceptance, and use, including a comparative analysis of “managed” GenAI adoption driven by university administration and “organic” adoption by students and academic staff in Germany and India. The project also contributes to the assessment of best practices at German universities and supports knowledge exchange, international cooperation, and the dissemination of results across academia, policy, and society.

Emerging Demands and Innovative Practices in Use of AI in Higher Education and Science (2026-2029)

Funded by Constructor Tech

The project investigates emerging demands and innovative practices in the use of AI in higher education and science. It combines cross-country monitoring, expert input, and scalable text analytics to identify early AI-related practices, innovators, and infrastructure trends across universities, research institutions, labs, and developer communities. The results are intended to support evidence-based research, institutional strategy, and the development of future-oriented EdTech products and platforms.

How Universities Adopt GenAI: Comparative Perspectives from Chinese and German Higher Education Systems (2026)

Funded by Confucius Institute Bremen

This project examines how universities in China and Germany adopt and integrate generative AI into governance, teaching, and research. Taking a comparative approach, it explores institutional strategies, policy frameworks, and practical implementation, generating insights that can inform scholarship and evidence-based policymaking in both contexts.

Higher Education for Openness, Peace, and Empathy (2025–2028)

Co-funded by EU through the Erasmus+

This project strengthens the capacity of Israeli higher education institutions to act as hubs for peace education, constructive conflict resolution (CCR), and social cohesion. HOPE (Higher Education for Openness, Peace & Empathy) brings together universities in Israel, Germany, and Greece to support the development of curricula, pedagogical expertise, and institutional practices that foster dialogue, CCR skills, and intercultural understanding.  Strategically, HOPE enhances the third mission of universities and contributes a transferable model for how higher education can support democratic resilience and coexistence in conflict-affected contexts.

Green Deal for Central Asian Universities (2024–2027)

Co-funded by the EU through the Erasmus+ program

This project brings together universities in Central Asia and Europe to strengthen higher education’s capacity to drive the green transition. Through new curricula, flexible learning pathways, and sustained cooperation with public institutions, businesses, and civil society, it equips universities to develop practical skills in sustainability, ESG, and regenerative development aligned with the European Green Deal. Strategically, the project builds a durable regional network—including interconnected Green Deal Centers—that anchors these innovations institutionally and positions universities as long-term actors in ecological, economic, and societal transformation.

How universities navigate generative AI (2024–2026)

This project aims to explore how universities are responding to the rapid and widespread adoption of generative AI. The discussion will focus on the interplay of three key forces: the adoption of generative AI by individual actors, institutional (university) governance, and system-level governance. It is framed by an understanding of both the transformative power of GenAI development and the uniqueness of universities as organisations and higher education systems. We expect the project to contribute both to the conceptual understanding of the changes and challenges of GenAI for universities and to the understanding of the evolution of higher education systems in a comparative perspective (insights from country-specific case studies from Brazil, China, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US).

Frumin, I., Vorochkov, A., Kiryushina, M., Platonova, D., & Terentiev, E. (2026). Mapping the Generative AI Research in Higher Education: 2022–2024 Insights. Higher Education Quarterly, 80(1), https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70075

How AI transforms science: newcomers with AI expertise in research teams (2024–2026)

This project examines how GenAI specialists are integrated into existing research teams and how their expertise is reshaping scientific work and team dynamics. Through interviews and observations, we will explore the role GenAI plays in both scientific discovery and the broader research enterprise, from writing to project management. The study bridges AI4science with research governance and organizational studies, and contributes to academic conversations about science policy and team-based knowledge production.

Foresight of Digital Skills in Azerbaijan (2024)

Funded by Innovation and Digital Development Agency of Azerbaijan

Analysis of trends in digital skills demand and supply in Azerbaijan. Development of policy recommendations for the government and skills providers.

Private Higher Education in Germany (2024–2025)

Combining Europe-wide data with deep dives into German universities, this project explores how private institutions are driving growth, absorbing new student demand, and pioneering digital and AI-enabled models at a moment when public systems are under demographic and financial strain. It reframes private higher education not as a fringe sector, but as a key engine of systemlevel change in the digital age.