This report presents a selection of good practices from the 22 Pilot II European University Alliance projects (alliances SwafS projects hereafter) funded under the Horizon 2020 IBA-SwafS-Support-2-2020 call. The report builds on a previous Progress of University Alliance Projects report on the 17 Pilot I alliances SwafS projects funded under the Horizon 2020 IBA[1]SwafS-Support-1-2020 call. Unlike the Pilot I report, which provided a consolidated analysis on the challenges and intermediate progress of the Pilot I projects, this report only presents various good practices from the Pilot II projects.

Potential good practices were first identified for each Pilot II alliance SwafS project, based on descriptions of activities in the intermediate policy briefs, periodic reports, deliverables, and reviewer assessments. One good practice was then selected from each alliance SwafS project based on the criteria that the good practice should be (1) administratively and technically feasible, (2) effective and successful, and (3) replicable and adaptable. The report offers a total of 22 good practices of R&I activities across the Pilot II alliances SwafS projects.

The 22 good practices are evenly divided across the 7 areas of institutional change or ‘transformational modules’ proposed by the European Commission to enact institutional change in R&I in Europe via the newly-formed University Alliances: (1) Developing a Common R&I Agenda (2) Strengthening Human Capital (3) Sharing Resources and Infrastructures (4) Cooperating with Non-academic Actors (5) Mainstreaming Open Science (6) Engaging Citizens and Society (7) Exploring Joint University Structures.

Each good practice is accompanied by relevant information about the alliance as well as a title, description, and links to key websites and files related to the good practice. The descriptions are not intended to be extensive but serve to summarise the good practices. The report does not present all good practices from the alliances, but only showcases interesting examples of transformational changes across the Pilot II alliances SwafS projects. The report closes with conclusions on the good practices and recommendations for the European University Alliances on their R&I dimension. (from executive summary of the study)