UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA NUESTRA SENORA DE LA ASUNCION

Their core work

Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is a private Catholic university in Paraguay that contributes social science and human-centered perspectives to European research consortia. Their H2020 work spans social participation for wellbeing and AI-driven diversity in social networks, positioning them as a non-EU voice on how digital systems interact with diverse human communities. They bring a Latin American academic lens to questions of ethics, inclusion, and social interaction in technology — a perspective that FET and MSCA projects actively seek for global diversity. Their practical contribution to consortia appears to be contextual research and social analysis rather than technical development.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (DREAM, 2016-2019) was grounded in applied social research — improving wellbeing through social participation, with no technical AI dimension evident. By 2019 their focus shifted sharply toward algorithmic and data-driven questions: WeNet brought in artificial intelligence, diversity, and ethics as the defining themes. The trajectory points from social science toward the ethics and social implications of AI systems — a transition that mirrors a broader academic shift from studying social problems to studying how digital tools shape them.

They are moving toward the intersection of AI ethics and social diversity, which suggests future collaboration value in responsible AI, inclusive design, and human-computer interaction research where a non-EU Latin American academic perspective adds required breadth.

How they like to work

UC consistently joins as a partner or third party — they have never coordinated an H2020 project. They participate in large, internationally diverse consortia (20 partners across 16 countries in just two projects), suggesting they are sought as geographic and cultural diversity contributors rather than technical leads. Working with them means engaging a university that is comfortable in large multi-partner environments and brings a South American academic standpoint that European-only consortia cannot replicate internally.

Despite only two projects, UC has built connections with 20 unique partners spanning 16 countries — an unusually broad network for their size, reflecting the large FET and MSCA consortia they joined. Their reach is genuinely intercontinental, bridging Paraguay with European research institutions.

What sets them apart

UC is one of very few Latin American universities with direct H2020 participation, which is their clearest differentiator: consortia that need third-country diversity or a non-European social science perspective can meet that requirement through them. For projects focused on AI ethics, digital inclusion, or global social interaction, a Paraguayan Catholic university brings cultural and institutional context that no European partner can substitute. Their value is not in scale or technical output but in legitimate geographic and cultural representation in research that claims global relevance.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WeNet
  A FET Research and Innovation Action on diversity-aware AI social networks, this is UC's highest-funded and most technically ambitious project, placing them inside a frontier AI consortium addressing how algorithmic systems can handle human diversity and ethical constraints.
• DREAM
  An MSCA-RISE mobility project on social participation and wellbeing, notable for bringing UC into a European network as a research partner, establishing their first H2020 footprint as a non-EU institution.