Invitation for Researchers to apply for a Study Visit to the Turku University of Applied Sciences

NCP_WIDERA.NET, an EU-funded project of the network of National Contact Points for Widening Participation and Strengthening of the European Research Area – WIDERA of Horizon Europe (Project no. 101055286), foresees three-day study visits to leading research-based organisations from Spain, Germany, Italy and Finland addressed to promising Researchers from Widening countries**.

The rationale of Study Visits

The main aim of Study Visits is to provide promising Researchers with diverse professional experience (less and more experienced) from Widening countries the opportunity to access excellent practices and networks, by visiting leading research-based organisations with a view of taking valuable lessons learnt “home” to their host institutions for better support of their communities.

Research management can take many shapes: research policy advisers, research managers, financial support staff, data stewards, research infrastructure operators, knowledge transfer officers, business developers, knowledge brokers, innovation managers, according to WIDERA WP 2021-2022, page 75.

Member states: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia

Associated countries to Horizon Europe: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo 2, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Ukraine, Faroe Islands

Outermost regions of Portugal and Spain, and France.

Study Visit to the Turku University of Applied Sciences

NCP_WIDERRA.NET has the pleasure of inviting Researchers to apply for a Study Visit as follows:

Host organization: Turku University of Applied Sciences | Faculty of Engineering and Business and Health and Wellbeing

Location: Turku, Finland

Date: 25-27 September 2024

Deadline for applications: 15 July 2024 [see below for the deadline extension announcement]

No of participants: 20

Desired experience for researchers (see the application form below):

  • Experience in international research projects

  • Having a vision for added value from international cooperation

  • Work experience in a compatible area to the interests of Turku University of Applied Sciences (to match at least 1-3 of the areas below)

IMPORTANT: Deadline extension for applicants from Cyprus, Kosovo, Romania, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia

Application deadline for our upcoming study visit has been extended only for applicants from Cyprus, Kosovo, Romania, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Moldova, Croatia, Serbia. This extension is part of our continuous efforts to accommodate the needs and circumstances of all our prospective participants.

New deadline: Tuesday 23 July 2024, 17:00 Brussels time

Application Submission: It is important to note that applicants should submit their applications through designated persons in their respective countries (see below in the How to apply section).

Areas of interest

  • Monitoring of marine mammals and underwater sound scape

  • High resolution coastal water quality and greenhouse gas emission monitoring
  • Urban water monitoring (IoT) and stromwater modelling
  • Building sustainable, resilient cities with nature-based solutions
  • Urban water quality management with emphasise on harmful substances
  • Experimental combustion engine research facilities of TUASiversity of Bremen.

  • Grid integration of batteries, District Batteries, Community integrated PV systems/solutions
  • Hydrogen and other e-fuels – safety and usage
  • Energy use of on-road and maritime transport

  • Industrial metaverse, digital twins, Industry 5.0, advanced remote controlled UIs, user experience, next gen collaborative learning environments
  • Vision-language models for medical text processing, summarization, and decision making
  • Generative models for molecular structure generation and drug discovery
  • Multimodal representation learning for predictive analysis and causal inference (graph neural networks, Bayesian Models, etc.)
  • Cross-Modal retrieval and alignment for multimodal physiological data integration
  • Radiology/Histology/Pathology AI
    • Image Understanding, Synthesis, Segmentation, Quality Enhancement, Reasoning
    • Automated anomaly detection and medical report generation using LLMs (image to text)
    • Zero- or Few-Short machine learning for disease diagnosis and treatment planning
    • Diffusion and GAN Models for Photo-Realistic Image Synthesis, Image Quality Enhancement, Super-Resolution Imaging

  • Mental Health

  • Sustainable value creation, renewal of business models, SMEs, diversity in entrepreneurship
  • Social Inclusion
  • Inclusive and shared leadership in public and private sector
  • Customer Behaviour

Information about Turku University of Applied Sciences

Turku University of Applied Sciences (Turku UAS) is one of the leading actors in the field of applied research in Finland with a community of over 12000 experts. Graduates are practice-oriented professionals equipped with top competencies needed for working life. Studies and work at Turku UAS are working life oriented, combining theoretical studies with professional skills in close collaboration with industry, public services, and community. Turku UAS is a regional developer with more than 200 projects running yearly in 30 research groups and three faculties Arts Academy, School of Engineering and Business, and the School of Health and Well-Being. At Turku UAS, the international perspective is integrated into all activities – teaching, Research, Development, and Innovation, as well as working life cooperation.

Turku UAS has an excellent track record in attracting external financing regionally, nationally, and internationally with proven institutional support structures. Under the Corporate Services of the university operates a Project Management Unit (PMO) that supports the researchers in the project matters. PMO helps to find project funding, advises on EU matters, assists and leads the grant writing, and provides project management and project finance services.

Turku UAS coordinates or acts as a partner in over 200 RDI projects yearly. Overall Turku UAS received 7,9 million € in external funding towards projects in 2021.

Portfolio of funders:

  • Business Finland: 7 million €
  • Erasmus +: 48 million €
  • European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): 3,7 million € from the
  • Horizon Europe: 3,2 million €
  • Ministry of Education and Culture: 3,6 million €
  • European Social Fund: 2,7 million €
  • Interreg Europe: 734 000 €
  • Academy of Finland: 551 000 €

Why apply?

In this study visit, Turku UAS offers an engaging programme to the visiting researchers from Widening countries:

  • Laboratory and research infrastructure visits
  • Workshop of Scholarly writing
  • Opportunity to learn recent results from Research Groups
  • Ideation workshops and brainstorming on collaborative project ideas
  • Networking event
  • Reception at the Twon Hall

Turku UAS is looking forward to establishing new partnerships within the Widening countries. Moreover, it is interested in establishing new links in cooperation in Education and joint degrees and Erasmus + cooperation.

Eligibility and evaluation process

Country eligibility

Interested persons with affiliation to research-based organisations from the following eligible Widening countries may apply.

Eligible Widening countries: (This may be subject to change, as we will be collecting interest from widening countries)

  • Armenia
  • Albania
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus
  • Estonia
  • France (Outermost Regions)
  • Kosovo
  • Moldova
  • Romania
  • Moldova
  • Serbia
  • Spain (Outermost Regions)
  • Turkiye

Participants of the Study Visits will be eligible for reimbursement based on actual costs exclusively by their country’s NCP organisation responsible for the WIDERA programme appearing in the list below (reimbursing organisation). The reimbursing organisation will also appear in the acceptance note that successful applicants will receive.

Eligible costs: Travel and accommodation
For more details contact the reimbursing organisation from your country.

Maximum reimbursable amount: 1.000 euros per applicant

Participants will be reimbursed after the completion of their trip and following submission of a report to their country’s reimbursing organisation.

A report template can be found here and at the bottom of this page.

Evaluation criteria

Interested researchers will need to fill out an application form requesting the following information:

Applicants should have as a minimum two years of experience. The list of participants will be underpinned by gender aspects to the extent possible.

Criteria for Researchers
⚫ Select 1-3 research topics from the list that are relevant to your field of work
⚫ Indicative 1-5 publications
⚫ Grants raised at national or international level in last 2 years, if any (indicate number and funder)
⚫ Briefly describe the role you have in Research Development and Innovation projects.
⚫ What is your opinion of the added value of international cooperation?
⚫ Brief description of supervisional activity (thesis/dissertation) or leadership activity undertaken
⚫ Good command of the English language at least of B2 level or equivalent
⚫ CV – EUROPASS
⚫ Endorsement letter from your institution

  1. Remote evaluation: The reimbursing partners from each eligible country participating to the study will evaluate remotely their country’s incoming applications
  2. Consensus: The partners will discuss and reach out a consensus
  3. Consultation with host organisation
  4. Acceptance/rejection letters to participants

How to apply

Interested persons coming from the listed Widening countries may complete the application forms available at the bottom of this page and send to the relevant contact person(s) in their country:

Organisation:
Scientific and Innovation Partnership Assistance Center (SIPAC)

Contact person:

Tigran Azurmanyan: tarznip@sci.am

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2

Organisation:

National Agency for Scientific Research and innovation (NASRI)

Contact person:

Imirjon Peza: imirjon.peza@nasri.gov.al

Robert Dumi: robert.dumi@nasri.gov.al

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2

Organisation:

Ministry of Education and Science

Contact person:

Zornitsa Georgieva: z_georgieva@mon.bg

Kalin Mutavchiev: k.mutavchiev@mon.bg

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 1

Organisation:

Research Innovation Foundation (RIF)

Contact person:

Marcia Trilidou: trillidou@research.org.cy

Kalypso Sepou: kalypso@research.org.cy

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2

Organisation:

Estonian Research Council

Contact persons:

Kristin Kraav: kristin.kraav@etag.ee

Siiri Kolka: siiri.kolka@etag.ee

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2-3

Organisation:

Ministry of Higher Education and Research

Contact person:

Solène Chevalier, solene.chevalier@recherche.gouv.fr

Evelyne Tarnus: evelyne.tarnus@nexa.re

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2-3

Organisation:
Minstry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation

Contact persons:

Qamile Sinanaj Rexhaj: qamile.sinanaj@rks-gov.net

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2

Organisation:

Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding – UEFISCDI

Contact person:

Daniela Dragomir: dana.dragomir@uefiscdi.ro

Andreea Popa: andreea.popa@uefiscdi.ro

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 1

Organisation:

National Agency for Research and Development

Contact person:

Viorica Boaghi: viorica.boaghi@ancd.gov.md

Igor Chiosa: igorchiosa9@gmail.com

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 1

Organisation:

Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation

Contact person:

Zlljika Dukic: zeljka.dukic@nitra.gov.rs, Jasmina Grubin: jasmina.grubin@nitra.gov.rs

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2

 

Organisation:
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)


Contact person:

Andres Blanco: andres.blanco@csic.es
Mar Mesas: mar.mesas@csic.es

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 1

Organisation:
Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkiye (TUBITAK)


Contact person:

Derya Donertas: derya.donertas@tubitak.gov.tr

Number of candidates eligible for funding: 2-3

If you need more information, please contact the above mentioned contact person(s).

Alternatively, you may contact the Task Leader of the study visits of the NCP_WIDERA.NET project:

Organisation: PRAXI Network/Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas (Greece)

• Vassiliki Kalodimou: National Contact Point for WIDERA, e-mail: vkalodimou@praxinetwork.gr, widera@praxinetwork.gr

• Maria Mikroni: National Contact Point for WIDERA: e-mail: mikroni@praxinetwork.gr, widera@praxinetwork.gr

The partners of NCP_WIDERA.NET project are compliant with all legal procedures for the processing of personal data as defined by the Regulation EU/2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and the applicable national laws.

Please be advised that for the purposes of sound implementation of this Study Visit and based on findings from the previous activity, the selected applicants’ data on the application form as well as personal data, will need to be shared as follows:

1. With the Turku UAS: Purpose: a) gain timely and due information on the applicants’ profiles and interest, to better adjust the agenda. Moreover, there will be a preparatory, virtual meeting between the selected applicants and the Host, b) personal data such as ID or passports maybe needed for granting access to the Host’s premises. In Study Visits, there is the habit of group photo and picture taking for social media use. Concerned participants have the right to object for themselves.

2. With the National Contact Points (NCPs), members of the NCP_WIDERA.Net project who will be escorting the group. NCPs joining along to help with the delivery of the study visit, will need access to the successful applicants’ telephone numbers for better coordination.

3. Among the successful applicants: Networking needs have been observed amongst the participants to Study Visits. Therefore, NCP_WIDERA.NET will actively promote networking of participants. Concerned participants have the right to object for themselves.

We would like to inform you that you have the right to access, correct, update or even delete your personal data in accordance with the EU Regulation and applicable national laws. We also inform you that you have the right to lodge a complaint with the national data protection authority of your reimbursing partner. You have the right to withdraw your participation in the survey and consent to the processing of your personal data at any time. You may contact the Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the reimbursing organisation in your country.

Study visit application form (Researchers).docx

Participant report from study visit.docx