Innovating Higher Education Ecosystems: AI, Data and Digital Interoperability

Channa van der Brug facilitates the exchange of innovative strategies between universities, policymakers, and technology experts to accelerate the digital transformation of higher education. She supports the development of digital learning environments that enhance learning, teaching and student engagement on an international scale. She contributes her expertise to two projects for the Stifterverband: the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung and the European Digital Education Hub. Founded in 1920, the Stifterverband is a joint initiative of German companies and foundations that advises on and promotes improvements in education, science and innovation.

JaapJan is a policy advisor at the MBO council in the field of data-enhanced education in secondary vocational education and training. He is also national leader of the pilot hub Educational Data and AI in the Dutch national growth fund programme Npuls.

Allard is one of the coordinators for educational applications in the University of Groningen’s Team ICT for Education. In this role, he has been involved in the early phases of digital exams at the institution and the university’s transition to Brightspace as its LMS and exam environment. The team is responsible for a collection of applications spanning the entire student lifecycle, allowing them to optimally align these systems to ensure the best possible user experience. The team includes coordinators, student assistants who provide first- and second-line support, application managers, and developers.

Alfred Pallarca is a professional with over two years of experience in managing EU projects. He recently began a new role as Project Officer at DAAD Brussels, contributing to the European Digital Education Hub. He holds a Master’s in International Relations and Spanish Literature, and a Bachelor’s in Political Science and Journalism.

Martin Franzen has been serving as Digital Learning Manager at Aalen University of Applied Sciences since 2017, where he leads the Digital Learning Team (“Canvas Core Team”) and oversees the university’s entire IT infrastructure for teaching. Since 2023, he has also been the Digitalisation Officer for the Universities of Applied Sciences in Baden-Württemberg (HAW BW e.V.) in Stuttgart, supporting digital transformation across learning, research, administration, and infrastructure for 24 institutions. He has an academic background in Mathematics, Psychology, and Computer Science, having studied at the Free University of Berlin, Université de Liège, the University of Freiburg, and the University of Konstanz, where he earned his PhD in Mathematics as part of the DFG Priority Programme on Computer Algebra Systems.