Julien Lebourg is pursuing is master’s degree in engineering at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC), in northern France. The Franch master’s system is quite different from the Italian one: besides attending classes, students are also required to complete a 2-years internship in a company. Lebourg chose to specialise in acoustic engineering while working for a small construction company. Thanks to its size, he has the opportunity to see many different processes and gain broad practical experience during his internship.  

Furthermore, in the French system, students are required to complete a research internship abroad in order to graduate. That is what brought Julien Lebourg from Compiègne to Bolzano. But how, among all the many possibilities, did he end up choosing the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano for his internship? 

The answer lies in two words: Sunrise Alliance. The SUNRISE Alliance (Smaller Universities Network for Regional Innovative and Sustainable Evolution) is a European consortium of nine smaller universities located in non-metropolitan regions. It is a EU-funded initiative designed to enhance regional development, promote STEAM subjects and foster international collaboration. Among the opportunities offered by the Alliance there are research collaborations and student exchanges.  

Thanks to the extensive promotion carried out by the member universities, Lebourg discovered the network and the internship opportunities it offered. Among them, he was particularly enthusiastic about joining the Smart Mini Factory Lab in Bolzano to work on a project dedicated to improving the working conditions of people with disabilities.  

The unibz laboratory is currently involved in several projects focusing on collaboration between robots and people with mental or physically disabilities, with the aim of creating more comfortable and inclusive working environments. One example of the research activities carried out at the moment is helping people with physical disabilities affecting their hands to position blocks or items during production processes. 

“I am enjoying my internship very much: I have a lot of different tasks to carry out and I am learning many new things”, says Lebourg. “We are working on different tasks involving the interaction between humans and robots in order to adapt them to people with disabilities. An example relevant to my specialisation as an acoustic engineer is the adaptation of the working environment for autistic people, who are particularly sensitive to loud environments. In this regard, we are focusing on slowing down and redirecting the movements of robots so that they are less noisy and less disturbing for people with this kind of condition”.  

The experience of Julien Lebourg shows how international cooperation initiatives such as the Sunrise Alliance can create valuable opportunities for students and researchers alike. By connecting universities across Europe, the Alliance not only promotes academic exchange, but also encourages innovative projects with a strong social impact, contributing to a more inclusive and collaborative future for research and education.