Christmas letter from the BUP Director

The year 2021 and the 30th anniversary of the BUP is drawing to a close, as we approach the end of this year. What a year it has been at the BUP! With a new Strategy for 2021-2025 and the Action Plan 2021 fulfilled - and even with more tasks conducted than we promised - we can look back at 2021 and be proud of what have been achieved. This year has been an extraordinary year, with several new projects and platforms being under development which are about to be implemented.

We are happy to announce that a new university has joined the Baltic University Programme. Moscow State University of Technology and Management is one of Russias leading universities in the food industry, with 65 years of experience.

The BUP secretariat in Uppsala, is very happy to announce that Pskov State University in Russia has become the newest member of our organisation. The university, which is situated in one of Russia’s oldest cities, is one of 33 regional flagship universities in Russia.

The announcement of the winners of the BUP PhD thesis award, has been published in the BUP Weekly. There, we proudly presented the winners of the BUP PhD thesis award, defended during 2020. 

The BUP Newsletter #65 is now published. It contains reports, interviews and plans ahead. Enjoy!

The BUP is pleased to announce the membership of a new participating university- Volga State University of Water Transport. The university has its flagship campus in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, which is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. Additional branches of the university can be found in Astrakhan, Ufa and Rybinsk, amongst others. 

The BUP is pleased to announce the development of a platform into Quality Assurance (QA) at our participating universities. The BUP is looking to come into contact with those responsible for QA at our participating universities.

One of the new initiatives in the BUP is to develop a Supervisor Collegium for master- and PhD students at BUP Participating Universities. The BUP is now looking for colleagues to contribute with their skills and knowledge to supervise students from Participating Universities all over the region.

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Baltic Sea Region Research (IFZO) has opened the call to award four research fellowships. They are looking for scholars at doctoral and postdoctoral level who are looking to support research about transformations in the Baltic Sea region and would benefit from a period of residence in Greifswald. 

The BUP will hold a workshop with the title “Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Curriculum” during the annual forum of “The EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region”. The workshop is an effort to meet the need for educating students and civil society due to the increase in climate change, it’s risks and solutions. We will present how the BUP works with this issue and are looking forward to hear your view.

Kaliningrad State Technical University invites colleagues to take part in the second international conference "Ecosystems Without Borders - 2021". The conference is designed to establish interaction and expand cooperation between researchers and to exchange scientific and technical achievements. For BUP colleagues we have a special offer.

A collaboration between different university teachers in the region, has resulted in a new course on Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region. It is now open for registration. Pontus Ambros, one of the course initiators and Project Administrator for the BUP, explains why the course was put together: “We need to respond to the urgent climate crisis, and the first step is to ensure we are educated and will be able to respond, adapt and mitigate.”

BUP Participating University WSB University in Poznań and Faculty of Geographic and Geological Science of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, are pleased to invite you to 4th international Scientific Conference “Contemporary challenges in tourism and recreation”. The Baltic University Programme is happy to be an honorary patronage for the conference. We will therefore be happy to share updates further along the process.

The Baltic University Programme need help to realize some of our ideas, and we are therefore hiring for two new positions. Please submit your application by 7 July 2021. Come join us!

Are you a young researcher at the beginning of your academic career with a focus on sustainable energy? Haw Hamburg invites young researchers with an interest in sustainable energy to "School for young scientists". It will be held online in September 2021 and is open to young researchers from the Baltic Sea Region. Participating is free of charge.

We have the pleasure to welcome a new Participating University to the BUP: Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping. The central office of the university is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. It specialises in the education and training of shipping industry personnel.

The BUP has a new Participating University: Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). It is situated in Karlskrona, and has a distinctive focus on the digitalisation of society and sustainability. BTH’s task is to contribute to a more sustainable societal development through higher education, research and innovation. 

The BUP Student Parliament elected a new student representative to the BUP International Board. The Student Representative is Shima Vahedi from Kaunas University of Technology. She started her mandate period as Deputy Student Representative upon the election.

We are looking to gather an anthology, which has the objective to make room for cross- and interdisciplinary dialogues among researchers oriented to marine issues. The volume focuses on the production, interaction, and circulation of knowledge regarding open sea, archipelago and coastal areas. In this project we see research integration as the means of synthesizing different knowledge from various disciplinary and stakeholders’ viewpoints to examine the issues facing these seas in the Northern hemisphere. In addition to results or case studies produced through such dialogues, the ways disciplines have worked to integrate knowledge and methodologies are specifically of interest.

The Higher School of Administration in Bielsko-Biala (Wyzsza Szkola Administracji w Bielsku-Bialej) is a higher education institution in Poland, founded in 1997. It was founded to meet the educational needs specific to the region. Today, the institution educate its students in administration and pedagogy and in 20 fields of postgraduate studies. The curriculum is adjusted to the actual needs of the labour market, meets the requirements for professional qualifications expected by employers and provides the student with the opportunity to choose their own scientific interest and career development path. Practice (workshops and work in groups) is a favoured  educational method. International cooperation and relations has become a top a priority.

Founded in 1993 as an innovative institution of higher education, Alfred Nobel University is today a private educational institution in Dnipro, Ukraine. It is committed to enhance innovative technologies in teaching. The university motto is ”Education for life, education through life”. Its mission is to create real academic and scientific values regarding contemporary economic and social development, European and global integration of Ukraine, provide students with knowledge and skills to ensure their mobility and competitiveness in the labor market in Ukraine and abroad. The university put a lot of effort in its quality systems and holds several international accreditations. One of its main events is the annual International Nobel Congress.

The Belarusian State University invites colleagues to participate in the 21st International Scientific Conference "Sakharov Readings 2021: Environmental Problems of the XXI Century". The purpose of the Conference is to unite the efforts of leading scientists and practitioners, university professors, graduate students, undergraduates and students from different countries to assess the impact of technological progress on the environment and human as well as to develop measures to reduce the negative human impact on nature

We have the pleasure of welcoming a new participating university amongst our colleagues: Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport in Poland.

We have the pleasure of welcoming a new Participating University into the Programme: University of Gdansk in Poland.

We have the pleasure of welcoming a new Participating University: Rzeszów University of Technology in Poland.

Training of PhD students is one of the essential steps in fostering the cause of sustainable development. We are happy to announce the start of our “ESSSR Cooperative Doctoral Programme on Sustainable Development Research”! 

EIT Food Innovator Fellowship is a programme aiming to enhance the human intellectual capital of the Food Sector and to prepare a new generation of “researchpreneurs”. Nurturing entrepreneurial talents is a key driver to boost competitiveness and long value creation of the Food Ecosystem.

Understanding environmental change: Creating integrated knowledge of the Seas of Norden and Arctic. Editors are: Savitri Jetoo, Silja Laine, Otto Latva, Jaana Kouri and Anna Törnroos-Remes.

The University of Turku has opened the call for applications to the Pentti Malaska Futures Award on 5 March 2021. They are looking for research-based, visionary, and boundary-crossing solutions supporting the building of a more sustainable global future.

Internationalisation is one of the key priorities for many universities. Recently, integrated internationalisation is in focus discussing how to include relevant international dimension in courses and degree programmes and education in general. The importance of bringing internationalisation to the home became evident when mobility was limited by the Covid-19 restrictions. Within the project “Digital at Home”, The Baltic University Programme invite colleagues to participate in two webinars which will introduce and discuss possibilities to make digital education more international.

The Baltic University Programme (BUP) PhD Award for best thesis, supports high quality research promoting sustainable development in a Baltic Sea region context. The award is established in two research areas; Natural Sciences, Technology and Engineering, as well as Social Sciences and Humanities.

Are you a young researcher at the beginning of your academic career with a focus on sustainable energy or are you doing your PhD on this topic? Are you located at a higher education institution in the Baltic Sea region? Do you have a solid scientific expertise/ background but would like to enhance your teaching skills because you have to fulfil a teaching obligation? If all of this applies to you, we would be pleased to welcome you to our 3-day networking and teaching seminar for young scientists on the theme of sustainable energy.

The Baltic University Programme (BUP) support students in their first career steps. By welcoming students from the BUP participating Universities to apply for an internship at the Coordinating Secretariat, located at Uppsala University, Sweden. Today, 89 universities in the Baltic Sea Region participate in the Programme.

During the spring 2021, the BUP National Centres and the BUP Coordinating Secretariat will hold national online meetings together with the respective countries Participating Universities. Many of the contact persons at the Participating Universities are new and would benefit from information about the Programme.

We are now looking for students and PhD students at BUP participating Universities that would like to work extra on the side of their studies, digitalizing lectures and developing interactive online courses.