Description
The bilateral cooperation between Brno University of Technology and Norwegian University of Science and Technology will be based on training of young researchers and post-doc fellows for a new scientific team and centres supported by mutual exchange internships to strengthen further collaboration at the level of new international projects (within the EU as well as non-EU). Both project partners will be involved in the education of bachelor, master as well as PhD students in the field of biomaterials, biologically and photocatalytically active surfaces, and characterisation of their morphology and hierarchical structure. The cooperation will also result in the development of new teaching tools on novel materials and innovation of technologies. The activities within this project will be supported by partners' experiences from research, management and social aspects related to the project, such as young women in science, women returning after maternity leave, and gender balance.
Summary of project results
The team members found previously the strong interest in the collaboration due to the common project proposal submitted in Czech-Norwegian Research Programme (CZ09) related to water pollution. Therefore both Czech and Norway partners wanted to strengthen the bilateral collaboration via education of young researchers involved in our international research team and students at whole tertiary level. The main objective was to share the knowledge of both research team members in the field of nanomaterials and nanostructured surfaces with enhanced functional properties and next characterization of their hierarchal and morphological structure. This objective was practically implemented through preparation of novel teaching materials, which were actively presented to for students at NTNU as well as BUT via intensive courses and at Summer school, in addition with the support of experts from industrial sector, who presented the actual trends in above mentioned research field. Several project outputs were delivered, namely new educational materials in the form of interactive lectures which are freely available at the project web site, co-supervising of PhD thesis, Erasmus Plus agreement and Memorandum of Understanding and several research outcomes (paper in impacted journal, contribution at national and international conferences with acknowledgement to the project.)
Summary of bilateral results
The overall objective of the project is to develop bilateral cooperation between the Czech Republic (CEITEC) and Norway (NTNU) at several levels including (a) increasing professional and personal skills and competencies of education sector staff due to gaining experience abroad, (b) preparation of intensive courses for bachelor, master and PhD students, (c) preparation of new teaching methodologies and materials (including presentation for e-learning), (d) production of joint scientific publications (in highly impacted journals and conference proceedings with acknowledgment to Norway Grants), (e) organizing international summer school, (f) joint supervision of PhD thesis, and (g) development plans, where environmental and sustainability issues are integrated. In particular, the mobility placement is expected as follows: 2 outgoing junior researchers, 1 outgoing senior researcher, 2 outgoing PhD students, 2 incoming senior researchers and 2 incoming students of master study programme. Each student or education sector staff will stay for a period of 2 weeks, while following or giving previously prepared short courses in the field of advanced nanomaterials for catalysis and bioapplications, respectively. Overall placement of 9 persons could bring a significant benefit to both organizations from educational point of view. We propose to prepare consecutively 2 intensive programmes, which will be supported by our own experiences from the current and previous research. The result of such courses will be new teaching materials in the form of presentations available for e-learning as well. International summer school planned for 5 days is another smart form of education of young researchers and it will be also an excellent event to promote Norway grants. The lectures will review current trends and knowledge in the fields of advanced nanomaterials for catalysis and bioapplications in general and in the main application area, i.e. development of highly efficient photocatalysts for decomposition of persistent organic pollutant in water. Furthermore state-of-the-art techniques, as well as a demonstration tour in the laboratory facilities for developing and characterizing nanoscale materials will also be included. Co-guidance of PhD students at CEITEC-BUT and NTNU will be another appropriate form of sustainable and long-term collaboration.