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Third Partners’ Meeting in Prešov: Advancing the Manuals and Preparing for the Testing Phase
Third Partners’ Meeting in Prešov: Advancing the Manuals and Preparing for the Testing Phase
The ConnectDiverse consortium recently came together in Prešov, Slovakia, for the project’s third partners’ meeting, hosted by the University of Prešov (UNIPO). In the approved proposal, this meeting is included as a key transnational project meeting dedicated to assessing progress in the development of project results.
The meeting marked an important moment in the project’s implementation, as partners focused on the finalisation of the manuals and workshop materials for academic teachers and administrative staff. This work is central to ConnectDiverse, which aims to equip universities with practical tools that improve their openness to neurodiversity and strengthen support for neuroatypical students. The proposal confirms that the project is developing both a manual and workshop set for academic teachers and equivalent resources for university authorities and administrative staff, first in test versions and later in final versions after testing.
A major part of the discussions in Prešov focused on the transition from development to implementation. In line with the project plan, partners reviewed preparations for the upcoming testing phase, during which the initially developed solutions will be tested with the project’s main target groups: university authorities, administrative staff and academic teachers. The proposal explains that this stage is essential for gathering users’ opinions, improving the quality of the materials, and preparing the final versions of the results.
The meeting in Slovakia was also highly relevant from a substantive perspective. The proposal describes the partner meeting in Slovakia as an opportunity for discussion among academics, exchange of experience, and the development of high-quality results related to supporting neuroatypical students in higher education. It also notes that partnership meetings are intended to support knowledge transfer and the exchange of good practices, including contributions from invited experts in neurodiversity and higher education.
In addition to the manuals and testing preparations, partners discussed dissemination opportunities and communication practices across the consortium. This connects directly with Work Package 5, which is dedicated to informing about the project and disseminating its results.
The third meeting in Prešov therefore served as both a working session and a coordination point for the next project phase. By reviewing progress on the manuals, aligning preparations for spring–summer testing, and sharing dissemination practices, the consortium strengthened its joint approach to producing practical and relevant outputs for higher education institutions across Europe.
As ConnectDiverse moves forward, the work carried out in Prešov helps ensure that the project’s results are not only research-based, but also practical, collaborative and ready to be tested in real university environments.
From Research to Resources: ConnectDiverse Begins Work on Practical Manuals and Workshops
From Research to Resources: ConnectDiverse Begins Work on Practical Manuals and Workshops
Following the completion of interviews, focus groups and research summaries, the ConnectDiverse partnership has now moved into the next major phase of the project: developing the first practical resources for universities. This stage focuses on turning research findings into concrete support tools for both academic teachers and administrative staff.
As described in the approved project proposal, the research findings were intended to feed directly into the development of the project’s manuals and workshop content. For university authorities and administration, the results of interviews and surveys were to be summarised in a report with recommendations and then used to shape the detailed structure and content of the manual, as well as the themes and format of workshops for administration. A parallel process was planned for academic teachers: focus group findings were to be analysed and translated into the detailed structure of the manual for educators and the topics of workshops for teaching staff.
This marks an important step for the project, because ConnectDiverse is designed not only to identify challenges faced by neuroatypical students, but also to develop practical, accessible tools that universities can actually use. The project foresees four core results: a manual for university authorities and administration, a manual for academic teachers, a workshop package for authorities and administration, and a workshop package for academic teachers. All of these are planned first as test versions, to be refined later after feedback from the testing phase.
The manuals and workshops are expected to respond directly to the needs identified in the research. For administrative staff, the materials are intended to address issues such as understanding neuroatypicality, identifying students’ needs, providing effective support and adjustments, building positive relationships, and promoting equal treatment and inclusion. For academic teachers, the planned content includes recognising neuroatypicality, adapting teaching strategies, strengthening communication and support, and sharing practical scenarios and good practices for more inclusive teaching.
This development phase is a key moment for the ConnectDiverse partnership. It is where research begins to become action: insights gathered from university authorities, administrators, teachers and students are now being transformed into practical manuals and training materials that can support more inclusive and responsive university environments across the partner institutions.
Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students: Second Partners’ Meeting in Riga, Latvia
Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students: Second Partners’ Meeting in Riga, Latvia
The second transnational meeting of the Erasmus+ Project: ‘Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students’ (Project 2024-1-PL01-KA220-HED-000245082) was successfully held at the Riga Technical University, in Riga, Latvia, on 15th and 16th September 2025.
Building on the momentum of the inaugural meeting in Wroclaw, Poland, the partners gathered to review the project’s progress and discuss the next steps in its implementation.
The meeting opened with a presentation and discussion of the results from the primary research carried out by each partner institution. This research included in-depth interviews with university administrators, survey responses from students, and focus group insights from academic tutors. The findings provided a comprehensive view of the current practices, challenges, and opportunities for supporting neuroatypical students in higher education.
Following the review of research results, significant time was dedicated to the creation of the project’s guide — a key intellectual output aimed at equipping universities with practical strategies, tools, and recommendations to foster inclusive and supportive environments for neuroatypical students. The consortium engaged in collaborative discussions to finalize the structure, key themes, and methodological approach of the guide.
In addition, the partners focused on dissemination activities, outlining strategies to effectively communicate the project’s aims, findings, and outputs to stakeholders across Europe. The discussion covered the use of institutional channels, social media, academic conferences, and professional networks to maximize the reach and impact of the project results.
The meeting concluded with an agreement on the timeline for the next stages of the project, including the drafting and peer review of the guide, as well as the planning of upcoming workshops.
The partners agreed that the next consortium meeting will be hosted by the University of Presov, and will take place in Presov, Slovakia in March 2026.
Partners Advance ConnectDiverse Research on Supporting Neuroatypical Students
Partners Advance ConnectDiverse Research on Supporting Neuroatypical Students
The ConnectDiverse partnership is currently engaged in an important stage of project implementation: gathering first-hand insight on how universities work with neuroatypical students and how institutional support can be improved across Europe.
As outlined in the project proposal, ConnectDiverse began with a deeper diagnosis of needs through primary qualitative and quantitative research, including in-depth interviews (IDI), focus groups (FGI) and questionnaire research in the target groups. This research phase is central to the project’s goal of increasing universities’ openness to neurodiversity and strengthening their capacity to cooperate more effectively with neuroatypical students and staff.
The internal management update further clarifies the practical rollout of this research phase. According to the project management presentation, each partner was expected to conduct 5 interviews with university and faculty authorities and 5 interviews with heads of administrative departments, prepare partial summaries, and run an online questionnaire among students with a minimum of 100 respondents.
At the same time, the partnership also moved forward with Work Package 3, focusing on academic staff. The proposal states that this work package aims to understand the problems and needs of academic teachers working in neurodiverse classrooms and in individual settings with neuroatypical students. For this reason, partners planned focused group research with teaching staff, looking at both group teaching and one-to-one supervision contexts.
These interviews and focus groups are more than a research exercise. They are helping the consortium understand how universities currently recognize neuroatypicality, how staff respond to student needs, where uncertainty still exists, and what kinds of tools, practices and training are needed to build more inclusive academic environments. The findings will directly inform the development of the project’s practical outputs, including manuals and workshops for university authorities, administrators and academic teachers.
Bringing together five higher education institutions from Poland, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania, ConnectDiverse is using this collaborative research phase to capture diverse institutional experiences and translate them into practical solutions that can strengthen inclusion and support across European universities.
Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students: Kick-off meeting in Wroclaw, Poland
Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students: Kick-off meeting in Wroclaw, Poland
The inaugural meeting for the Erasmus+ Project: ‘Preparing Universities to Cooperate with Neuroatypical Students’ took place at the Campus of the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, in Wroclaw, Poland on 13th and 14th March 2025.
On day one of the kick-off meeting the partners proceeded with a presentation of their universities before discussing and confirming the protocol that shall govern consortium members’ cooperation and communication. Then, project implementation rules and milestones were presented and confirmed by the partners. Following approval of the project’s governance, the discussion moved to the consideration of the procedures that partner universities follow in the management of neurodiverse students and academic staff. Further, published best practices that other than the partner Universities in Europe implement were presented and discussed. Work packages were then articulated in detail, followed by an allocation of their implementation to the partners.
On day two, methodological matters that are centrally concerned with the implementation of work packages were discussed, and it was agreed that such research tools as the following will be deployed: in-depth interviews with university administration, a survey questionnaire for students, and focus groups with academic tutors. Finally, the rules and steps to be involved in the dissemination of the project’s findings were discussed and agreed.
During the second day of the partners meeting, it was agreed that the next partners' meeting shall take place in Riga, Latvia on 15-16th September 2025.
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