06 November 2026 
Cheryl Pick, Strategic Projects Manager
Across Europe, universities face a range of challenges that shape how their campuses operate. Changing study and work patterns are reshaping space utilisation in research and teaching facilities; digital infrastructure that supports hybrid working raises new cybersecurity concerns; and legal obligations, along with the consequences of climate change, are placing pressure on energy efficiency, all against a backdrop of tightening funding. Despite facing these shared issues, universities across Europe lack a formal structure for exchanging knowledge and instead rely on informal connections. As a result, there is a missed opportunity to learn systematically from one another's practices and to work together toward shared solutions.
A cross-European network focused on campus real estate and facilities management is needed to address these shared challenges and draw on the collective knowledge of universities across Europe. An institutionalised and formalised network would ensure that universities do not reinvent the wheel and instead adopt or work together towards the most effective approaches to campus real estate and facilities management.
To build this network, the Campus NL research project in TU Delft, together with Cardiff University, University of Helsinki, and Tampere University, is preparing a European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) grant application to capture shared learning and insights across European campuses. As a first case study, the extreme heatwaves that swept the continent in late May 2026, driven by a super El Niño, illustrate a shared challenge: one capable of halting campus operations and reshaping the relationship between universities and their surrounding communities, as campus facilities became cool hubs for the wider public, and vice versa. This can serve as a stepping stone toward addressing other crisis-related challenges facing universities more broadly. The network aims to gather sectoral data, share knowledge and expertise, and develop new insights together regarding these challenges.
We are looking for partners to join our COST grant application! If you or your network/working group are interested in participating, please register using the link below. We would also greatly appreciate it if you could share this invitation with your network of universities.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Mlb1bMgtq7izzUReD361ga0j4fF4WL7QKmUKBMe_GdQ
