CLOUD HED was represented at the EAIR 47th Annual Forum, held this year in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The forum, themed "Openness: A Mission Challenged", provided an excellent platform to share the project’s latest findings with the international higher education community.

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WPZ researchers, presented the theoretical framework of CLOUD HED, emphasizing the importance of building resilience in the higher education sector amid war and armed conflict. While the conference largely focused on ideological threats to higher education, CLOUD HED highlights the physical threats posed by war and armed conflict, where ideological factors are often intertwined.

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During their sessions, Verena Régent and Egor Burda shared early insights from a large-scale interview study examining the needs of HEIs and entire higher education systems during ongoing wars, past conflicts, and post-conflict reconstruction. They also addressed sectors at risk due to geographical proximity to potential aggressors.

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Emerging patterns in crisis-affected higher education sectors include:

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• Crisis-driven governance models with emergency task force

• Rapid shifts to remote teaching and digital adaptation

• Mobilization of informal networks and external support

• Crisis as a catalyst for educational transformation

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The findings are currently analysed in depth and are supposed to be published in a handbook in the run of 2026. For keeping updated, please subscribe at the CLOUD HED-newsletter or follow us via LinkedIn.