Call for Participation

The call is closed. Thank you for your submissions!

The call for participation for the University:Future Festival 2026 Under Pressure runs from 1 December to 16 February 2026. We are looking for talks, workshops, discussions, micro-training sessions, labs and other formats. The focus is always on (digital) innovations in academic education and beyond. We invite all interested parties to participate..

The University:Future Festival programme thrives on your submissions. Help shape the festival with your ideas! What we are looking for: Everything from visionary and surprising insights to concrete, instructive problem descriptions to exciting solutions and approaches.

Please note: The Call for Participation is intended for all contributions that fit into a specific programme schedule. Please also take a look at our other calls.

Click here for the Call for Participation form

The motto: Under Pressure

Under Pressure describes the reality facing universities today: financial pressure, technological transformation, social division and demographic change are just some of the challenges they face. We do not ignore these problems, but place them at the centre of the discussion in order to seek solutions together.

Because pressure can also be fuel: it shapes, accelerates and brings about new things. Pressure tests which ideas and structures are sustainable and which need to be rethought. Pressure situations reveal what makes universities resilient – and we want to make that visible at U:FF.

Tracks

The University:Future Festival programme is divided into seven tracks. The tracks reflect the topics that are important to our communities. They are based on the results of a community survey, experiences from past events and strategic decisions. You will find a detailed description of all the tracks of the University:Future Festival 2026 here.

About the Call

Who we are looking for – target groups of the call

Anyone can participate in the Call for Participation for the University:Future Festival 2025 – because higher education concerns us all. We are very interested in incorporating innovative ideas and examples of good practice from around the world into the festival programme. In particular, we are addressing:

University staff: The main target group of the festival are people who work at universities – as teachers, educators, managers or administrative staff. This naturally also includes employees of support services such as IT, data protection or legal departments. Representatives of private educational institutions are just as welcome to participate as people from public universities.

Students: Amplifying the voice of students is a particular concern of U:FF. We invite student organisations and individuals to present their ideas, perspectives, opinions and demands at the festival.

Civil society: Perspectives on academic education are relevant from many sectors of society. We are looking for people from all areas who have something to say about the future of (digital) higher education.

Companies: EdTechs and other companies offer innovative solutions, have educational needs for their employees, and are important cooperation partners for universities in higher education and continuing education. They offer innovative solutions to many challenges. Please note that pure product pitches cannot be part of the programme.

Formats: What we are looking for

You can submit a range of formats as part of the Call for Participation for the University:Future Festival 2026. Please note that only digital formats will be offered on the last day of the event.

Format	Description	Duration	Location
Inputs	Input on a topic by one or more people. The focus should be on applicable knowledge. The form can vary, but the most common form is a presentation (approx. 20 minutes) followed by a discussion. A maximum of two people should provide input; a larger number should be justified in terms of content.	30 minutes	Digital, individual submissions are invited to presence stages
Lightning Talks	Short inputs by a maximum of two people.	5 minutes	Digital
Discussions	A dynamic and diverse discussion by several people. The planned co-discussants must be named in the submission. Each panellist should be scheduled to speak for at least 10 minutes on average, i.e. for a 30-minute discussion: max. three panellists, for 60 minutes four to five.	30 or 60 minutes	Digital, individual submissions are invited to presence stages
Workshops	Interactive formats with a limited number of participants (maximum of 50 people as standard). Active work with the participants is a prerequisite.	60 ore 120 minutes	Digital, individual workshops are invited to take place in presence
Trainings	Short learning units. There is no limit to the number of participants. Active work with participants is optional and depends on the learning objective.	60 or 120 minutes	Digital, individual training courses purely in presence
Labs	The ‘Lab’ is a participatory format: session leaders bring an idea, a problem or a prototype and develop it further together with the audience. A Lab is always interactive and ends with a concrete result (e.g. an artefact or a short paper). When submitting a proposal, therefore, the aim, the mode of participant involvement and the desired output should be specified.	90 or 120 minutes	On site or digitally

Places: Where you can present

The University:Future Festival is a hybrid digital-first event with five stages planned in Germany and Austria. In other words, our format is unusual.

We therefore ask you to let us know where you can and want to present from:

The standard format is a presentation from a digital space.
It is possible that we may invite you to present on one of our physical stages. In this case, you will present on site and be streamed to the digital platform. We therefore ask you to indicate your willingness to travel.

Please note: If we invite you to present on one of our stages, we usually limit the number of people to two for cost reasons.

Content: What we are looking for

A good submission should include the following:

Solutions, relevance, attitude, topicality, constructive criticism: we want to highlight different perspectives. We welcome a wide range of topics and perspectives.
Entertainment: we are looking for good content – and we want it to be well presented.
Reference to the motto and tracks: Establish a connection to the festival motto and the respective track in the title and description.
Diversity: A balanced gender ratio, visibility of people of colour and people who do not identify with the traditional binary understanding of gender are particularly important to us.
No sales presentations. Pure product marketing pitches and obvious advertising will not be considered.

Special clusters

Submitters may apply for a special cluster regardless of the track logic. Successful submissions will be marked accordingly in the programme overview. Applying for a special cluster is not relevant for a successful submission. It is merely a second option for orientation within the programme. The following special clusters are available:

🚨Fringe: Unexpected connections, counterintuitive theses or radical format experiments. Criteria: At least one of the following must be fulfilled: (a) unusual combinations (e.g. ‘game design meets examination law’), (b) new format, (c) counter-narrative, (d) playful experiment with a learning objective.

🔄Fail & Learn: Failed projects from which dos and don’ts can be derived.

🌍Global Perspectives: Ideas, perspectives and insights from abroad that are valuable for the DACH region. Criterion: The transfer concept is clearly explained.

📚Student Voices: Contributions from students. Criterion: Contributions must be submitted primarily by students.

🌱Ecological Sustainability: Contributions with an ecological approach. Criterion: Contributions must place a special focus on the topic of sustainability.

Process of the call

The call for participation for the University:Future Festival 2026 runs until 16 February 2026. After the submission deadline, your proposal will be reviewed by a track jury. The track juries are made up of experts in the respective field, students and representatives from the Higher Education Forum on Digitalisation, the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching and stage partners. We ensure that your submission is read and evaluated by at least five people, and usually more.

In a second stage, the heads of the track juries meet and decide on the programme. You will receive a decision from the jury by mid-April 2026 at the latest.

In the event of a negative decision, we will provide you with a reason.