Once accepted by UIF, you become a UIF candidate. But what does that mean? When will you be an official Fellow? This is the story of becoming a Fellow.
Start of Your UIF Journey
Once nominated by UIF Twente, your UIF journey will begin by filling out the official application with UIF Stanford, e.g. you would need to write small reflections on teamwork and the changes you would like to see at the UT campus. Once you finished all the paperwork, it is time to start the training.
Stanford d.school will provide the six-week online training, starting after the summer break. Each week, together with the other UIF Twente candidates, you will do assignments related to design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For these assignments, you will use the facilities at the UT campus, like DesignLab. Throughout the training, you will reflect on the possible changes you can apply at the UT and establish a project on that change.
With your fellow candidates, you will work on a project and try to make an impact at the UT. To establish your project landscape and the relevant actors within, talking with relevant stakeholders is a must.
The importance of stakeholders is further highlighted near the end of your training by organizing and hosting a stakeholder meeting. You will invite and set-up an exciting and informative event for your stakeholders. An impression of the stakeholder meeting held by the fall cohort of 2020 can be found here. This stakeholder meeting will also be the moment you will become an official Fellow, by being pinned with the official UIF pin.
From Candidate to Official Fellow
After the pinning ceremony at the stakeholder meeting, you are an official Fellow, congrats! You will integrate with the other Twente Fellows and work together on your and their projects. Weekly general meetings are on the agenda, where new ideas will be brought forward after updating the group on your project's progress. When Fellows have new ideas, they make a project out of it. Every once in a while, a bonding activity is organized to create a better bond between all of us.
Questions?
In case you have any questions, then you can contact us via contact@universityinnovationfellows.nl or reach out to one of our active Fellows. We're happy to help!