Describe expertise & resources needed

Relevant expertise, resources & track record

Three relevant references or achievements

Participation in matchmaking event

If you selected other in the previous question, please specify by naming call and providing hyperlink.

Faculty of Bioscience engineering / Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Machine learning methods for climate resilient (regenerative) agriculture and optimal natural resources management (soil, land and water)

Research groups in other regions to develop and subsequently test machine learning methods for climate resilient (regenerative) agricultural applications.

For my expertise, see:
https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/nl/person/00001760
http://lirias.kuleuven.be/cv?Username=U0001760 (publication list)

For Research Infrastructure, see:
https://ees.kuleuven.be/en/bwb

Gobin, A., Kersebaum, K.C., Eitzinger, J., Trnka, M., Hlavinka, P., Takac, J., Kroes, J., Ventrella, D., Dalla Marta, A., Deelstra, J., Lalic, B., Nejedlik, P., Orlandini, S., Peltonen-Sainio, P., Rajala, A., Saue, T., Saylan, L., Stricevic, R., Vucetic, V., Zoumides, C. (2017). Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions. WATER, 9 (2), Art.No. ARTN 93. doi: 10.3390/w9020093
Gobin, A. (2018). Weather related risks in Belgian arable agriculture. AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, 159, 225-236. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2017.06.009
Kahiluoto, H., Kaseva, J., Balek, J., Olesen, J.E., Ruiz-Ramos, M., Gobin, A., Kersebaum, K.C., Takac, J., Ruget, F., Ferrise, R., Bezak, P., Capellades, G., Dibari, C., Makinen, H., Nendel, C., Ventrella, D., Rodriguez, A., Bindi, M., Trnka, M. (2019). Decline in climate resilience of European wheat. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 116 (1), 123-128. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1804387115
Vannoppen, A., Gobin, A., Kotova, L., Top, S., De Cruz, L., Vīksna, A., Aniskevich, S., Bobylev, L., Buntemeyer, L., Caluwaerts, S., De Troch, R., Gnatiuk, N., Hamdi, R., Reca Remedio, A., Sakalli, A., Van De Vyver, H., Van Schaeybroeck, B., Termonia, P. (2020). Wheat Yield Estimation from NDVI and Regional Climate Models in Latvia. Remote Sensing, 12 (14), Art.No. 2206. doi: 10.3390/rs12142206

Demmy.Verbeke@kuleuven.be

Open Scholarship at the dawn of modernity. Practices at late medieval and early modern universities / intellectual centers that mirror the current drive for Open Scholarship e.g. public lessons by professors and use of printing press to disseminate academic work.

late mediaeval / early modern intellectual history; university history (I would do the Leuven part, CELSA partner(s) would do the part of their university/country)

trained as neolatinist, postdoc background in early modern intellectual history, currently associate professor of open scholarship - in other words: expert in current Open Scholarship trends, previous experience in studying 16thC intellectual history

publications about Leuven university in 16th C, e.g. ‘Maarten van Dorp (1485-1525) and the teaching of logic at the University of Leuven’ (2013) (available at CORE)
publications about Open Science, e.g. editor (with Laura Mesotten) of proceedings Open Science Day of KU Leuven: https://kuleuvenopenscienceday.pubpub.org/
member of KU Leuven Open Science Task Force, coordinator of working group on the future of scholarly publishing

Faculty of physical education and sports

The merit of the project lies in description and research on the main features of healthy life style leading to sustainable heath. There are three main pillars of sustainable health that can be influenced by our behavior: (1) nutrition, (2) exercise, and (3) a positive attitude towards life. In the project, we want to focus on research on the influence of the nature of eating, the level of exercise and the subjective attitude to life on the presence of important biochemical markers in the blood that induce the emergence of chronic inflammation. Each human body is unique, therefore we assume that for each individual, the method of nutrition and the level of movement will need to be optimized for the ideal setting of sustainable health. Biochemical markers indicating chronic inflammation will be useful for this optimization. It is therefore an individualization of subjective indicators on the basis of objective indicators.

We are looking for a partner from the field of biochemistry, physiology or analytical chemistry who would help us to ensure the analysis of selected biomarkers in biological material (plasma or serum).

We are a sport-biochemistry lab and we are currently focusing on two projects: (1) the study of cocktail interactions between food supplements and also the biochemical signature of adequate movement. In this context, we are equipped with a mass spectrometer with an ion trap, which we use to study cocktail interactions, an ELISA reader, which allows us to determine various biomarkers using kits in saliva, serum and urine; we also have a blood analyzer and a urine analyzer. We also use InBody analysis to determine approximate body composition (BodPod), Oxymeter to determine the oxygen saturation of peripheral tissues, etc. We focus on morphofunctional, metabolic and kinesiological determinants of movement and movement activities and deal with the objectification of the organism's response to movement and movement load. We develop and verify a spectrum of methods of functional and biochemical laboratory diagnostics. We are dedicated to research and consulting in the field of sports and clinical nutrition, the influence of specific physical activities on the profile of important biochemical markers.

10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.04.096, 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129328, 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115201

Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Main project goal would be to design and synthesize proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and autophagy-targeting chimeras (AUTACs) for the targeted degradation of proteins that are known to be involved in malignant diseases with a particular focus on the B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) family of proteins. Targeting BCL-2 is a validated strategy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies that depend on this pro-survival protein. This is demonstrated by venetoclax, a first-in-class BCL-2 inhibitor, which is approved for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia.
Given the very few examples of successful PROTACs that target BCL-2 family of proteins (despite significant efforts by research groups to achieve BCL-2 depletion), the idea is to:
a) utilize target binders other than navitoclax during PROTAC development
b) hijack the autophagy pathway for the degradation of BCL-2 family of proteins.

The expertise we are looking for and that would contribute to successful realization of joint project are related to the studies of deregulated protein ubiquitination and protein stability in malignancies, biological evaluation of protein modulators in a variety of cellular settings, evaluating mode of cell death (apoptosis, necrosis, necroptosis,…). More precisely, to evaluate heterobifunctional degraders for their ability to induce degradation (determination of time- and concentration-dependent activity and Dmax) of target proteins in cancer cell lines, expertise in western blotting (or equivalent techniques) is desired. Possibly, availability of in vivo facility to perform initial ADMET studies is desired.

Our research group has extensive experience in synthetic organic chemistry, whereby the synthesis is be performed in modern well-equipped laboratories for organic synthesis using classical/modern synthetic and separation methods (microwave-assisted organic synthesis, synthesis on solid support, HPLC). In recent years, we gathered extensive good know-how in PROTAC development and synthesis with concurrent optimization of their physico-chemical characteristics. In addition, knowledge in the preparation of a library of E3-ligase-ligand-linker conjugates, which are an essential part of PROTACs, is available. The chemical routes for the preparation of CRBN-, VHL-, IAP-, and KEAP1-ligands are therefore well established and the same applies to the selection of the proper attachment points for the linking moiety.
Steinebach, C.; Sosič, I.; Krönke, J.; Gütschow, M. et al. A MedChem toolbox for cereblon-directed PROTACs. Med. Chem. Commun. 2019, 10, 1037.
Steinebach, C.; Voell, S. A.; Phuong, V. L.; Bricelj, A.; Sosič, I.; Schnakenburg, G.; Gütschow, M. A facile synthesis of ligands for the von Hippel-Lindau E3 ligase. Synthesis 2020, 52, 2521-2527.
Šterman, A.; Sosič, I.; Časar, Z. Primary trifluoroborate-iminiums enable facile access to chiral α-aminoboronic acids via Ru-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation and simple hydrolysis of trifluoroborate moiety. Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 2946-2953.

Steinebach, C.; Ng, Y. L. D.; Sosič, I. et al. Systematic exploration of different E3 ubiquitin ligases : an approach towards potent and selective CDK6. Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 3474-3486.

Sosič, I.; Bricelj, A.; Steinebach, C. E3 ligase ligand chemistries: from building blocks to protein degraders. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 3487.

Bricelj, A.; Ng, Y. L. D.; Ferber, D.; Kuchra, R.; Muller, S.; Monschke, M.; Wagner, K. G.; Krönke, J.; Sosič, I.; Gütschow, M.; Steinebach, C. Influence of linker attachment points on the stability and neosubstrate degradation of cereblon ligands. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2021, 12, 1733-1738.

Faculty of Social Sciences

Research Project Title: Political Leadership in the time of crisis

The main research goal: The main research goal is to monitor how real political leadership develops, especially in critical situations, and how it reflects the opinions and satisfaction of the population.

Project short description: International project focusing on analyzing the connection between political leadership, public trust in the general context of the crisis of contemporary democracies
Current team: Anna Shavit, Marcela Konrádová – Charles University, Jennifer Lees Marhsment – The University of Auckland, New Zealand
The plan is to build an international team consisting of experts from the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Israel, and possibly other European countries.

The research offers an empirical assessment of crisis management and a "perspective of the political leadership in the country." Unfolding trust during the pandemic is a well-debated topic among PR scholars and investigating leadership styles during the different waves is relevant. Our primary interest is how the Czech government communicated the measures in the so-called first and second wave of the pandemic in the Czech Republic (from autumn 2020 to spring 2021).
The goal was to analyze public trust in political leaders in the Czech Republic during the first and the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We focused on the government representatives, opposition, as well as other stakeholders. We are looking for collaborators in this area.

Current team: Anna Shavit, Marcela Konrádová – Charles University, Jennifer Lees Marhsment – The University of Auckland, New Zealand
The plan is to build an international team consisting of experts from the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Israel, and possibly other European countries.

Existing data sets. Knowledge and expertise

Shavit, A. et al. (2022). Between Euroscepticism and Euro-optimism in Newer EU Member States. In: Novelli, E., Johansson, B., Wring, D. (eds) The 2019 European Electoral Campaign. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98993-4_17

Shavit A., Konrádová M. (2021) Government Communication in Kafka COVID Time. In: Harris P., Bitonti A., Fleisher C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_172-1

JIRÁK, Jan - SHAVIT, Anna. The Role of Political Advertising in the Czech Republic. In: HOLTZ-BACHA, Christina - JUST, Marion R.. Routledge Handbook of Political Advertising. 1 vyd. Oxford: Routledge, 2017, Routledge International Handbooks, s. 113-122. ISBN 978-1-138-90830-7.

Faculty of Applied Linguistics

CELSA, Other calls (please specify below)

There is no consensus among scholars whether metaphors in a foreign language cause additional cognitive effort and are processed longer than non-metaphorical expressions. One approach is that native speakers process figurative meaning directly, whereas non-native speakers consider the literal meaning first. The second approach is based on the fact that there is a universal pattern of metaphor comprehension. And in the case of high imagery and emotions evoked by metaphors, they are processed automatically by foreign language learners without a need to access their literal meaning. The planned research aims to explore whether English literary metaphors are cognitively challenging and aesthetically appreciated by non-native speakers. Pilot studies showed the correlation between comprehension and appreciation.

I'm looking for partners to collaborate with on this, especially someone from literary studies who would be scientifically concerned with metaphors and their processing, but also people from so-called empirical aesthetics to be able to expand parts of the research on the aesthetic values of metaphors in L2

Available infrastructure - eye tracking lab (eye tracker SMI RED500). Experience in eye tracking research

1) european grant in the Horizon 2020 programme, EJD, ITN, received amount: 2,6 mln euro. An international consortium of academic and non-academic partners training international interdisciplinary young researcher and conducting research projects
2) Ministry of Science and Higher Education Award for international cooperation that improves the quality of research and young researchers training.
3) "Tłumaczenie a vista. Rozważania teoretyczne i badania eyetrackingowe"
The first single-author monograph in Poland about eye tracking research in translation studies. One of the few in the world about sight translation. And other eye tracking publications (also in English).

CELSA, Other calls (please specify below)

We are experts in graph theoretical analysis (and definitley NOT the network science analysis) of human connectome, with more than 20 journal publications in this topic https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org/?page_id=83. We are looking for neuroscientists, neurologists having an understaning of mathematical methods (versus unfounded network science methods) in this area.

Neuroscientists and brain scientists with undestandidng and interests in connectome analysis.

https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org

https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org/?page_id=83

https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org

CELSA, Other calls (please specify below)

We are interested in developing novel protein-protein interaction modifying molecules and tools, as described here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200335182A1/en?inventor=grolmusz&oq=grolmusz&page=1 and here: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020212895A1/en?inventor=grolmusz&oq=grolmusz&sort=new

Partners with tools for verifying novel RAS-GAP modifying molecules or other applications.

See the patent applications cited.

https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org

https://grolmusz.pitgroup.org

Faculty of Bioscience engineering / Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Extreme weather impacts on crop production and climate resilient cropping systems

Expertise in data mining, bio-meteorology, remote sensing indicators, crop modelling, climate impacts, generalised extreme value distributions

https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/nl/person/00001760

https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AGRFORMET.2021.108565; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101642; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142206

Faculty of Bioscience Engineering / Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Monitoring climate resilient and resources efficient agricultural land management and cropping systems

Expertise in machine learning, remote sensing, data mining and statistics, agriculture, soil and water resources management

https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/nl/person/00001760

https://doi.org/10.3390/w9020093; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101642; https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2021.149906

Ruth.Cardinaels@kuleuven.be

Evaluation of mucoadhesion on macroscopic and colloidal level. We have already written up a research proposal about the mucoadhesion of poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) and polyaspartamide (PASPAm) derivatives. We want to use these derivatives in mucoadhesive drug formulations. Budapest University of Technology and Economics will focus on the synthesis of the materials whereas KU Leuven will focus on the characterization of the rheology and muco-adhesion using home-developed setups, for instance looking at the effect of hydrodynamic stresses on the muco-adhesion.

We are looking for a partner with expertise in biomedical or biological aspects for instance: toxicity testing, drug release tests, in-vivo tests of muco-adhesion, drug formulation aspects, …

We are with two researchers (Ruth Cardinaels, KU Leuven and Benjamin Gyarmati, Budapest University of Technology and Economics). The research of Ruth Cardinaels involves the study of multiphasic soft matter systems by means of rheological, rheo-optical and rheo-dielectric techniques thereby focusing on in-situ time-resolved characterizations during processing. Thereto, dedicated experimental setups such as flow cells, processing equipment and customized rheometers are designed and developed. She is co-author of 80+ scientific journal papers with an H-index of 28 (Google Scholar). Ruth contributed invited publications in the Emerging Investigators and Early Career issues of Soft Matter and Rheologica Acta in 2019. She received the Distinguished Young Rheologist Award in 2015 (70k€), an ERC Starting Grant in 2020 (1.5 M€) and is currently the President of the Belgian Group of Rheology. The main interests of Benjamin Gyarmati are physical chemistry, materials science and characterization techniques with a particular focus on cross-linked polymers, hydrogels and their application in drug delivery. He is the co-author of 50+ scientific papers with a total number of independent citations of 600+ (H-index: 15). He works as an Editor of Periodica Polytechnica Chemical Engineering, the WoS-indexed scientific journal of the University. He was guest editor of European Polymer Journal for two special issues and scientific secretary of Bio-based Polymers and Composites (BiPoCo) Conference two times.

- FWO project “Smart biomaterials towards minimally invasive breast reconstruction” collaboration between UGent, VUB and KU Leuven: development of hydrogel materials for breast reconstruction and their rheological characterization
- Antonov Y, Moldenaers P, Cardinaels R, Binding of lambda carrageenan to bovine serum albumin and non-equilibrium effects of complexation, Food Hydrocolloids (2022)
- Pedersoli L, Zhang S, Briatico-Vangosa F, Petrini P, Cardinaels R, den Toonder J, Penedo Pacheco D, Engineered modular microphysiological models of the human airway clearance phenomena, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 3898 (2021)

lukasz.tomczyk@uj.edu.pl

The project addresses issues related to the development of research tools to measure the scale and mechanisms relating to the phenomena of electronic aggression and cyberbullying among teachers. The project fits in with issues related to media pedagogy and fills a gap relating to risk phenomena mediated by the Internet in the school environment.
The project goes beyond previous research, which has only focused on the phenomenon of cyberbullying among students. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly common for teachers to be targeted on the Internet by pupils or other social groups. This topic is not only underdeveloped enough to understand the extent of the various forms of cyberbullying that teachers face, but also the ways in which such problems can be addressed in the school environment.

Support is needed in the area:
- project conceptualisation
- preparation of a common theoretical framework related to cyberbullying and cyber-aggression directed at teachers
- carrying out joint comparative research
- preparation of a programme to protect teachers from cyberbullying and electronic aggression.

Łukasz Tomczyk, PhDr (adult education) Charles University in Prague – Czech Republic, PhD (media education, social pedagogy) Pedagogical University of Cracow, computer science engineer. Author of 7 monographs and 180 scientific articles, editor of 13 collective monographs. Researcher in few international projects. Lecturer at several universities (Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Croatia, Brasil, Republic of Dominica). His research interest concern media education, information society and lifelong learning. Reviewer textbooks in the Ministry of National Education. Scholarship holder of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (young scientists). A member of the research network: EU KIDS Online and COST Action CA16207 European Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet. Associate Editor in „Education and Information Technologies” journal (Springer). He is currently (2021-2022) conducting research at the Italian University of Macerata on the digital competences of future pedagogical staff (funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange). He was also the head of a research group at the Pedagogical University of Krakow.

Tomczyk, Ł., Jáuregui, V. C., de La Higuera Amato, C. A., Muñoz, D., Arteaga, M., Oyelere, S. S., … Porta, M. (2020). Are teachers techno-optimists or techno-pessimists? A pilot comparative among teachers in Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Poland, Turkey, and Uruguay. Education and Information Technologies, 26(3), 2715–2741. doi:10.1007/s10639-020-10380-4 IF=2.91
Tomczyk, Ł. (2020). Skills in the area of digital safety as a key component of digital literacy among teachers. Education and Information Technologies, 25(1), 471–486. doi:10.1007/s10639-019-09980-6 IF=2.91
Tomczyk, Ł. (2019). What Do Teachers Know About Digital Safety? Computers in the Schools, 36(3), 167–187. doi:10.1080/07380569.2019.1642728 SJR=0.382

Faculty of Computer and Information Science

Integrative analysis of rhythmic data: from urban environment to disruption of biological rhythms

- public health experts,
- analysis of time-series data,
- noncommunicable diseases,
- machine learning.

I am an associate professor of computer science. My research is focused on the establishment and application of computational models and approaches for the analysis of biological systems in the context of systems biology and systems medicine applications. Recently, my research has encompassed the reconstruction and analysis of context-specific genome-scale metabolic models, and Boolean models of gene regulatory networks. Within the research group, we are working on different computational pipelines to automatise the reconstruction, analysis, and interpretation of such models. I am the author and the maintainer of the CosinorPy Python library (https://github.com/mmoskon/CosinorPy) devoted to analysis of rhythmic datasets, which presents a relatively large focus of my recent work. I have also been working on the analysis and interpretation of complex datasets using different machine learning models. For the last ten years, I have been working on the computational analysis and design of synthetic biological systems, especially in the context of their information processing capabilities. I have been working on the optimisation of synthetic circuits using different heuristical optimisation approaches. These have been applied especially in the context of the estimation of unknown kinetic parameter values and the evaluation of feasible parameter spaces for which the selected topology reflects the expected response. Our group has also been focused on alternative approaches for solving the parameter estimation problem, e.g., using fuzzy logic models.

VEROVŠEK, Špela, JUVANČIČ, Matevž, PETROVČIČ, Simon, ZUPANČIČ, Tadeja, SVETINA, Matija, JANEŽ, Miha, PUŠNIK, Žiga, VELIKAJNE, Nina, MOŠKON, Miha. An integrative approach to neighbourhood sustainability assessments using publicly available traffic data. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. July 2022, vol. 95, 101805. DOI: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2022.101805.

REŽEN, Tadeja, MARTINS, Alexandre, MRAZ, Miha, ZIMIC, Nikolaj, ROZMAN, Damjana, MOŠKON, Miha. Integration of omics data to generate and analyse COVID-19 specific genome-scale metabolic models. Computers in Biology and Medicine. June 2022, vol. 145, 105428. DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105428.

VELIKAJNE, Nina, MOŠKON, Miha. RhythmCount: a Python package to analyse the rhythmicity in count data. Journal of Computational Science. September 2022, vol. 63, 101758. DOI: 10.1016/j.jocs.2022.101758.

annabel.sels@kuleuven.be

FEB Faculty of Economics and Business

The project is a multilevel analysis of the impact of informal and formal institutional differences between home and host countries on the completion of mergers and acquisitions by Asian companies in the EU27 and the US. We focus on the period between the announcement of the initial bid and the resolution when the decision of either completion or abandonment is reached.

We would like to minimize loss of data and respect complexity of the phenomenon by linking more firm level data of the acquiring firms. Capturing the different and evolving geopolitical institutional barriers/ regulations vis-à-vis M&As for EU27 countries would be an interesting complementary analysis as well.
A comparison with the determinants of completion between US states and EU member countries would be interesting.

We carried out the multi-level (firm, deal, industry, country level) modelling, have a data collection of Asian M&As 2000-2019. We want to focus on differences between developed and developing Asian countries and investigate the role of technology transfer.

We focused on value creation by M&As by Asian firms before.

De Beule, F., Sels, A. 2016. Do innovative emerging market cross border acquirers create more value? Evidence from India.International Business Review. Vol 25 (2): 604-617.
Kostova, T. et al. 2020. The construct institutional distance through the lens of different institutional perspectives: Review, analysis, and recommendations. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(4): 467-497
- following the literature on antecedents and consequences of mergers and acquisitions from an international business and finance perspective

eve.seuntjens@kuleuven.be

Our lab is interested in the evolution and development of neural systems in diverse species. We use molecular genetic and histology techniques to study vertebrate (mouse, fish) as well as invertebrate (octopus) brain development. We would like to expand our analyses and incorporate more invertebrate species, in particular lophotrochozoa.

We would like to find partners that have a similar interest but complementary species, especially lophotrochozoa. These partners should have access to the species, and genomic tools should be available (genome/transcriptome).

We have tools and long-standing track record in gene function analysis, including high-end imaging, genome editing, gene expression analysis from single cell to 3D animal. Expertise in field of developmental biology.

*Development of (1) the first stand-alone artificial sea water tank system to breed embryonic Octopus vulgaris egg clutches in laboratory conditions, and (2) providing an updated staging scale.
Deryckere, A., et al (2020). A practical staging atlas to study embryonic development of Octopus vulgaris under controlled laboratory conditions. Bmc Developmental Biology, 20 (7). doi: 10.1186/s12861-020-00212-6
*Identifying the area of neurogenesis, neurogenic transcription factor code and migration properties of embryonic neurons in embryonic Octopus vulgaris.
Deryckere, A., et al. (2021) Identification of neural progenitor cells and their progeny reveals long distance migration in the developing octopus brain. Elife, 10, Art.No. e69161. doi: 10.7554/eLife.69161 (IF 8.14)
*Developing the first single-cell RNA sequencing dataset on Octopus vulgaris paralarval brain revealing a massive cell type diversity.
Styfhals R., et al. Cell type diversity in a developing octopus brain. bioRxiv 2022.01.24.477459; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.24.477459; Nature Comm, in revision.

Institute of Applied Psychology/Faculty of Management and Social Communication

analyses of existing longitudinal panel data about narcissism and relationship outcomes

statisticians and social psychologists (preferably both simultaneously)

expertise in personality psychology; publications in this field: https://scholar.google.pl/citations?user=XyABbJ8AAAAJ&hl=en

Czarna, A.Z., Śmieja, M., Wider, M., Dufner, M., Sedikides, C. (2022). Narcissism and partner-enhancement at different relationship stages. Journal of Research in Personality. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2022.104212
Czarna, A.Z., Leifeld, P., Śmieja, M., Dufner, M., Salovey, P. (2016). Do narcissism and emotional intelligence win us friends? Modeling dynamics of peer popularity using inferential network analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 1588-1599. doi: 10.1177/0146167216666265.
Czarna, A. Z., Dufner, M., Clifton, A.D. (2014). The Effects of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism on liking-based and disliking-based centrality in social networks. Journal of Research in Personality, 50, 42–45. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.02.004
some grants: http://www.annaczarna.pl/?page_id=14&lang=en

groniewsky@energia.bme.hu

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Mechanical Engineering/Department of Energy Engineering

Small power plants (Organic Rankine Cycles) that operate at a low-temperature range in an environmentally friendly manner use working fluids other than water for operation. An informed selection of working fluid can improve the efficiency of these technologies, reduce their investment, operating costs, and environmental impact. This research aims to design environmentally friendly molecules, taking into account the aspects of different disciplines, or select from known materials.
Properties of the hypothetical working fluids are estimated based on computer-aided molecular design, the molecules are created exclusively from functional groups that can be guaranteed to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

Expertise on calculating environmental impact (global warming potential, ozone depletion potential etc.) of different molecules based on group contribution method is required.

relevant thermodynamic properties on group contribution method is calculated, cycle properties are calculated (software and high performance server are available)

G. Györke, U. K. Deiters, A. Groniewsky, I. Lassu, and A. R. Imre, “Novel classification of pure working fluids for Organic Rankine Cycle,” Energy, vol. 145, pp. 288–300, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.12.135.
A. R. Imre, R. Kustán, and A. Groniewsky, “Thermodynamic selection of the optimal working fluid for organic Rankine cycles,” Energies, vol. 12, no. 10, 2019, doi: 10.3390/en12102028.
Groniewsky, A.; Györke, G.; Imre, A.R. Description of wet-to-dry transition in model ORC working fluids. Appl. Therm. Eng. 2017, 125, 963–971.

cserjesi.renata@ppk.elte.hu

To investigate emotional processing and emotional flexbility in autism and anorexia nervosa.

Looking for centers or hospitals with people suffering from autism and anorexia nervosa.

Neuropsychological evaluations with tests and behavioural tasks, eeg, emotional processing and flexibility tasks, psychophysiological methods.

Developed the emotional flexibility task, tested with people with autism, expertise in anorexia nervosa

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Dept. of Sociology and Communication

CELSA, Other calls (please specify below)

Creating network for and analysing Artist Residency Programs at Technological/Science Universities

I am looking for partners who are running, ran in the past or planning to run in the near future artist residency programs (or similar Art+Science programmes) at technology/science universities/facutlies/departments. I am the project leader of the first Resident Artis Program at a Hungarian technology/science higher education institution. The program aims to build bridges between art, technology/science and the general audience. As artist residency programs are ubiquitous across Europe, I suggest a collaboration and reserach on the nature, significance and best practices of such programs.

I have a background in the humanities, I lead a major writers's association in Hungary in the past, have participated in several international cultural collaborations and have experience in teaching abroad and in an American higher education institutions based in Hungary as well. I started to work at Budapest University of Technology two years ago, and suggested the establishment of the artis-in-residence program which was launched at the beginning of this year. The program involves 9 reserchers and two artists for the time being and supported by the Communication Office of the university as well as student volunteers. It is financed by the Hungarian National Bank. The University is determined to broaden the program and make it international.

Project leader of the Artist-in-Resident Program, Budapest University of Technology, 2022-
Chair of the Hungarian Society of Writers, Critics, and Literary Translators, 2015-2018
Multi-subjectivity in Péter Forgács's adaptation of Péter Nádas's Own Death, In: MNEMOSYNE O LA COSTRUZIONE DEL SENSO 2018 : 11 pp. 99-110. , 12 p. (2018)

RNA-based therapeutics have enormous potential in medicine as the new therapeutic approach with high specificity, high potency and low toxicity. The aim of the project will be to evaluate the potential of selected circRNAs as RNA-based drug targets or RNA-based therapeutics in the preclinical system in the context of liver diseases, cancer or metabolic, such as MAFLD, NASH or HCC. We will have NGS transcriptome data about circRNA expression in HCC tumors, from which we will have select lead circRNAs using systems biology tools. The lead circRNAs will be tested in preclinical models for their potential as RNA-based therapeutics within this project. This would be a preclinical project at the TRL2-4 stages.

We are looking for expertise in advanced preclinical models such as 3D cultures, primary human cells, organoids and animal models. We are also looking for expertise in RNA-based therapeutics such as the delivery systems, composition, challenges in development, etc.

We have expertise in circRNA overexpression and knockdown (transient and stable) in cell lines, their labelling, pull-down, RT-qPCR etc (please see references 1 and 2). We have a fully equipped cell laboratory and can perform cell-based functional analyses of circRNAs. We have expertise in targeted metabolomics using LC/MS/MS and transcriptomics using NGS sequencing (long-read and short-read sequencers) (manuscript in preparation). In close cooperation with computer scientists, we use system biology tools, such as genome-scale metabolic models, in studies of liver disease (please see reference 3) and COVID-19 (Režen T et al. 2022, Comput Biol Med, doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105428).

1. Razpotnik R, Vidmar , Fonović M, Rozman D, Režen T. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0062682 Binds to YBX1 and Promotes Oncogenesis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cancers 2022, just accepted, will be published in September 2022.
2. Razpotnik R, Nassib P, Kunej T, Rozman D, Režen T. Identification of Novel RNA Binding Proteins Influencing Circular RNA Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jul 12;22(14):7477. doi: 10.3390/ijms22147477.
3. Blagotinšek Cokan K, Urlep Ž, Moškon M, Mraz M, Kong XY, Eskild W, Rozman D, Juvan P, Režen T. Common Transcriptional Program of Liver Fibrosis in Mouse Genetic Models and Humans. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 15;22(2):832. doi: 10.3390/ijms22020832.

dobolyi.arpad@ttk.elte.hu

Department of Physiology and Neurobiology

W Social interactions are based on different types of inputs, which meet in higher order cortical brain areas. However, social responses can take place in the absence of cortical processing, too. A recently discovered example was maternal behavioural responses, which are controlled in rodents in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, a discovery, which resulted in major international interest. As maternal behaviour is a special form of social interactions, we hypothesized that similar thalamo-limbic pathways as those mediating maternal responses may also be involved in adult-adult social responses. Therefore, we are interested in research on the control of social behaviours including maternal behaviours.We also would like to participate in projects related to neurological and psychological diseases such, as depression, autism spectrum disorder or Alzheimer's disease.

extracellular microelectrophysiological investigations on surviving brain preparations recording of evoked potentials or spontaneous activity
imaging techniques (recording of intrinsic optical signals)
intracellular recording techniques
tissue and cell cultivation (primary neuronal cell cultures, cell lines etc.)
trasfection technics
pharmacological studies (cell viability measurement)
basic DNA, RNA and protein technics(genotyping, RT-PCR, Western blot etc.)
immunocyto- and immunohistochemistry
microscopical technics (light-, fluorescent- and confocal microscopy; live cell imaging; time-lapse videomicroscopy); morphometric measurements

Surgical examination of rodents, cannulation, cerebrospinal fluid and blood collection
Stereotoxic operations, brain lesions, pathway transection
Chemogenetics, viral injections
Behavioral tests of emotional changes and maternal motivation of animals
Automatic video analysis
Continuous monitoring of behavior with Intellicage
Neuronal pathway tracing using transgenic mice and viral techniques
Laser microdissection, RT-PCR, real-time fluorescent PCR
Bioinformatics of systems biological data
RNA amplification for DNA microarray and sequencing
In vitro electrophysiology, patch-clamp technique
Molecular Biology Techniques
In situ hybridization histochemistry, autoradiography
Immunostaining and fluorescence microscopy
Western blot techniques

1. Dóra F, Renner É, Keller D, Palkovits M, Dobolyi Á. (2022) Transcriptome Profiling of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in suicide victims. Int J Mol Sci. 23:2518. doi: 10.3390/ijms23137067.
2. Keller D, Tsuda MC, Usdin TB, Dobolyi A. (2022) Behavioural actions of tuberoinfundibular peptide 39 (parathyroid hormone 2). J Neuroendocrinol. e13130. doi: 10.1111/jne.13130.
3. Dimén D, Puska G, Szendi V, Sipos E, Zelena D, Dobolyi A (2021) Sex-specific parenting and depression evoked by preoptic inhibitory neurons. iScience. 24:103090. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103090.

alessandro.testa@fsv.cuni.cz

Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociological Studies

Any idea in the fields of heritage studies, religion and ritual, post-socialism, national and European identities, and other current issues in the anthropology of Europe. I am open to collaboration on a new, original project on any of those topics.

It would be great to get in touch with a colleague at Leuven and perhaps other universities to think about a joint-project in any of the fields/topics above-mentioned.

I am a recognised scholar in the social and historical anthropology of Europe, with a broad range of expertise, which is briefly described, along with a list of readable publications, at this link: https://cuni.academia.edu/AlessandroTesta

I only mention three of my most recent publications:

1) 1) Alessandro Testa, Tobias Köllner (eds.), Politics of Religion: Authority, Creativity, Conflicts, LIT, Berlin, Wien, Zürich, 2021

2) Alessandro Testa, “The Anthropology of Cultural Heritage in Europe: A Brief Genealogy from the Desk (1970-2020) and Empirical Observations from the Field (2010-2020)”. In Traditiones (ISSN 0352-0447), n. 50 (1), 2021, pp. 15-28

3) Alessandro Testa, Edition, Cyril Isnart (eds.), Re-enchantment, Ritualization, Heritage-making: Processes Reconfiguring Tradition in Europe. Monographic issue of Ethnologia Europaea (ISSN 0425-4597), n. 50 (1), 2020

Research Center for Computational Social Science (RC2S2)

Potential research team of the collaborating partner:
KU Leuven, Faculty of Arts, Research Group Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics

This research group is active in linguistics, but they are also developing methods that already have successful applications in social research, e.g. semantic analysis based on vector space models, as in the research on “Modelling meaning granularity of nouns with vector space models”.

Reason of choice: The subject of collaboration could be, for example, international comparative analysis using the tools they have developed to investigate the change in the meaning of socially relevant terms in Hungarian and Belgian corpora. For our part, we have, for example, the last 20 years of Hungarian online press corpus or contemporary (3 years back) Hungarian internet texts (online media, social media, etc.). In the former case, longer-term socio-economic changes could be detected (e.g. in the context of hate speech, antisemitism, changes in memory politics). At the same time, the latter contemporary corpus would provide an opportunity to study the linguistic mappings of the social impact of the COVID pandemic or the global climate crisis.

The Research Center for Computational Social Science (rc2s2.elte.hu/en) uses data mining and text mining methods to analyse textual data available on the internet or digitalised offline texts. We also utilise network analysis and develop data visualisation solutions. Our research topics are diverse; we deal with the political public sphere, online hate speech, and the online representation of corruption. We analyse online forums with the main focus on depression. We examine testimony transcripts of previously deported Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivors.

The data revolution that has taken place in recent decades and the digital data generated by our everyday activities have become a socially relevant source of information. Responding to this, the quantitative social research methodology uses new methods of computer science and artificial intelligence research. This new research area is called computational social science in scholarly literature. Subfields of Computational Social Science are data science (machine learning, text analytics), network analysis and data visualisation. The digital revolution not only brought new data sources but also changed society. As sociologists, we aim to get to know this new type of society. We are convinced that the computational trend is inescapable. The aim of the RC2S2 research group is to discover the social knowledge of this area, develop and adopt new methods, and explore the epistemological consequences of this computational turn.

Our ongoing projects with published results: https://rc2s2.elte.hu/en/project.

Renáta Németh, Fanni Máté, Eszter Katona, Márton Rakovics, Domonkos Sik. 2022.
Bio, psycho, or social: supervised machine learning to classify discursive framing of depression in online health communities. QUALITY AND QUANTITY: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODOOGY. DOI: 10.1007/s11135-021-01299-0

Ildikó Barna, Árpád Knap. 2022. Analysis of the Thematic Structure and Discursive Framing in Articles about Trianon and the Holocaust in the Online Hungarian Press Using LDA Topic Modelling. NATIONALITIES PAPERS. DOI:10.1017/nps.2021.67.

Renáta Németh Renáta, Domonkos Sik, Fanni Máté.2020. Machine Learning of Concepts Hard Even for Humans: The Case of Online Depression Forums. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUALITATIVE METHODS. DOI: 10.1177/1609406920949338

philippe.vandensteen@kuleuven.be

Rega Institute, Dept of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation

Severe malaria causes >600000 deaths each year. Despite the extremely rapid killing of the malaria parasites with the current excellent artemisinin combination therapies, >10% of patients with severe or complicated malaria do not recover and die. This suggests that disease resolution in these patients may be impaired, but the resolution mechanisms are currently unknown. Similarly, disease resolution mechanisms in many other parasitological diseases remain poorly characterized, despite the critical importance for successful recovery. Therefore, we propose to investigate disease resolution mechanisms in severe malaria and other parasitological diseases, aiming at finding new ways to promote disease resolution. This includes investigations of the mechanisms leading to termination of (pathological) inflammation and to the initiation of tissue repair and restoration of homeostasis.

Expertise in disease resolution, analysis of specialized proresolving mediators and endothelial repair.
Expertise in parasitological diseases (other than malaria) in which disease resolution mechanisms may be important for recovery.

Our Immunoparasitology group has extensive expertise in mouse models of malaria complications. For instance, we developed an in-house model for malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome, a highly lethal complication of malaria. More recently, we started investigations on malaria-associated acute kidney injury and metabolic disturbances. Thereby, we study host immunopathological mechanisms and parasite virulence factors (e.g. parasite sequestration, hemozoin,…), using knockout mice and knockout parasites. By applying antimalarial drugs in these models, we also study disease resolution mechanisms (Pollenus et al, Front. Immunol. 2021, 11:628643).

Furthermore, we have access to clinical samples from severe malaria, through an excellent collaboration with the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (Prof. Lawrence Ayong), and have built expertise in performing research in Africa through a first clinical study.

From a technological perspective, we have extensive expertise in immunological characterization of inflammation, e.g. multicolor flow cytometry (5-laser Fortessa) for phenotypical analysis of leukocytes and other cells, analysis of cytokines and chemokines (ELISA, qPCR, multiplex) and expertise in immunohistochemistry. We also employ state-of-the-art technologies through the use of the central core facilities at KU Leuven, including RNA-Seq (single cell or bulk) and metabolomics. We have full access to the high-end animal house of the Rega Institute (SPF and SOPF, BSL1, 2 and 3) and have excellent possibilities to measure lung function parameters in live mice.

Furthermore, we also have in vitro cultures of Plasmodium falciparum (BSL2+), assays for antimalarial drug screening and for in vitro studies of interactions between malaria-infected erythrocytes and human leukocytes (neutrophils, PBMCs,…) or other cells.

Van den Steen, P.E., Geurts, N., Deroost, K., Van Aelst, I., Verhenne, S., Heremans, H., Van Damme, J., Opdenakker, G. Immunopathology and dexamethasone therapy in a new model for malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2010) 181, 957-968. (Impact factor 10.689)

Vandermosten, L., Pham, T.-T., Knoops, S., De Geest, C., Lays, N., Van der Molen, K., Kenyon, C.J., Verma, M., Chapman, K.E., Schuit, F., De Bosscher, K., Opdenakker, G., Van den Steen, P.E. Adrenal hormones mediate disease tolerance in malaria. Nature Communications (2018) 9: 4525. (Impact factor 12.353)

Pollenus E, Pham TT, Vandermosten L, Possemiers H, Knoops S, Opdenakker G, Van den Steen PE. CCR2 Is Dispensable for Disease Resolution but Required for the Restoration of Leukocyte Homeostasis Upon Experimental Malaria-Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Frontiers in Immunology (2021) 11:628643. (Impact factor 8.786)

Possemiers H, Pham TT, Coens M, Pollenus E, Knoops S, Noppen S, Vandermosten L, D'Haese S, Dillemans L, Prenen F, Schols D, Franke-Fayard B, Van den Steen PE. Skeleton binding protein-1-mediated parasite sequestration inhibits spontaneous resolution of malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome. PLoS Pathogens (2021) 17:e1010114. (Impact factor 7.464)

jan.vandenstock@kuleuven.be

Geriatric psychiatry is a discipline with significant diagnostic challenges, where brain imaging and behavioral symptoms are at the forefront. I want to further implement machine learning as a diagnostic tool in geriatric psychiatry, by making use of multimodal brain imaging (MRI and FDG-PET) scans, in combination with neuropsychological data on memory, executive functions, language, visuospatial processing, mood and particularly social cognition. We have a large database of both behavioral and brain imaging datasets.

I am looking for 2 things that will benefit the project:
1) The expertise on artificial intelligence tools like machine learning is missing in my group.
2) Increasing the amount of data-sets, thus other groups that are interested in and have access to large datasets of patients with geriatric neuro-psychiatric disorders preferably associated with deficits in social cognition, e.g. Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, late-life depression, late onset schizophrenia-like psychosis, etc. These may include premanifest carriers of pathogenic mutations.

I was trained as a clinical neuropsychologist and have research expertise in structural and functional brain imaging (fMRI) in healthy subjects and neurodegeneration. My research focus is on the neural basis of social cognition deficits in these disorders. I coordinate an international consortium on social cognition in frontotemporal and primary psychiatric disorders.

1) Current Potential for Clinical Optimization of Social Cognition Assessment for Frontotemporal Dementia and Primary Psychiatric Disorders.
Van den Stock J, Bertoux M, Diehl-Schmid J, Piguet O, Rankin KP, Pasquier F, Ducharme S, Pijnenburg Y, Kumfor F.
Neuropsychol Rev. 2022 Aug 13. doi: 10.1007/s11065-022-09554-3.
2) Social cognition assessment for mild neurocognitive disorders.
Van den Stock J.
Alzheimers Dement. 2022 Jul;18(7):1439-1440.
3) Brain-behaviour associations and neural representations of emotions in frontotemporal dementia.
Van den Stock J, De Winter FL, Emsell L, Kumfor F, Vandenbulcke M.
Brain. 2020 Mar 1;143(3):e17.

szalkai.zsuzsanna@gtk.bme.hu

Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences / Department of Management and Business Economics

The title of the project I am looking for partners is: Craft Innovation for a Sustainable Bioeconomy In B2B Networks. Recently we have witnessed an explosion of artisan food and drinks producers across Europe and the World. Our research group is oriented towards this concept of value creation across the network for innovation in the ‘green’ or sustainable responsibility context, exchanging information, knowledge and facilitating collaborative network efforts in supporting the process of craft production and distribution. Together with craft producers, their network of business actors such as distributors, buyers and suppliers, and policy makers (i.e., governmental bodies, politicians, and other stakeholders), we intend to develop frameworks for better collaborative networking, strategic industrial marketing for craft producers, procedures for the adoption of digital technologies, and internationalization processes for craft producers in a sustainable manner.

We are looking for expertise in the following fields: craft food and drink innovation, food science, supply chain management, sustainable bioeconomy, IT (related to food sector or social media).

We have expertise in B2B marketing with a focus on business relationships and networks. We are researchers of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group (https://www.impgroup.org/).

Hakansson, H. & Snehota, I. (ed.) (2017): No business is an island: Making sense of the interactive Business World, Emerald Publishing Limited, UK
Hakansson, H.; Ford, D.; Gadde, L.-E.; Snehota, I.; Waluszewski, A. (2009): Business in Networks. John Wiley & Sons, UK.
Corsaro, D, & Anzivino, A. (2021): Understanding value creation in digital context: An empirical investigation of B2B, Marketing Theory, , № 3, p. 317-349

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Physics

Growth and characterization of semiconductor single crystals for radiation detector and photovoltaic applications.

We search partners interested in the characterization of single crystals, preferentially semi-insulating, for optoelectronic applications. It is expected that partners deliver single crystalline samples, which will be tested in our laboratory.

We offer experimental techniques as follow:

(a) Laser-induced transient current technique at pulsed and DC bias.
(b) Galvanomagnetic measurements at temperatures 4 K – 1200 K for characterization of transport properties, thermal stability, defect properties, etc.
(c) Annealing at defined thermodynamic conditions
(d) Chemical diffusion
(e) Photo-Hall effect spectroscopy for identification of principal defect levels
(f) Thermoelectric effect spectroscopy
(g) Photoluminescence
(h) The mapping of homogeneity resistivity with COREMA setup from Semimap Co. to test the material homogeneity
(i) Pockels effect
(j) Current-voltage characteristics

Experiments are accompanied by theoretical analysis with possible definition of defect model including free carrier and point defect dynamics. Currently explored materials are Cd(Zn)Te(Se), GaAs(:Cr), perovskites, SiC, TlBr.

J. Pipek, M. Betušiak, E. Belas, R. Grill, P. Praus, A. Musiienko, J. Pekárek, U. Roy, R. James, "Charge Transport and Space-Charge Formation in Cd1−xZnxTe1−ySey Radiation Detectors", Physical Review Applied 15 (2021) 054058 (8 pages).

A. Musiienko, J. Pipek, P. Praus, M. Brynza, E. Belas, B. Dryzhakov, M.H. Du, M. Ahmadi, R. Grill, "Deciphering the effect of traps on electronic charge transport properties of methylammonium lead tribromide perovskite", Science Advances 6 (2020) 6393 (10 pages).

E. Belas, R. Grill, J. Pipek, P. Praus, J. Bok, A. Musiienko, P. Moravec, O. Tolbanov, A. Tyazhev, A. Zarubin, "Space charge formation in chromium compensated GaAs radiation detectors", Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 53 (2020) 475102 (8 pages).

Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine

The importance of H-bond in G-protein - coupled receptor activation and function

Reversible binding of ligands to G-protein coupled receptors is achieved by weak chemical bonds, like hydrogene bond. We have already determined that performing binding experiments in deuterated environment changed the affinity of agonists to bind to histamine H2 receptor, but the binding of antagonists was not affected at all. The change of affinity or its absence in case of antagonists obtained in radioligand binding experiments was in good correlation with change of affinity calculated by quantum chemical methods. We also found that deuteration decreased second messenger production. We would like to test the effect of deuteration on receptor function in isolated tissue or organism, which we do not have a possibility.

Our site can provide quantum chemical calculations and radioligand binding studies on isolated cells, or cell membranes but we cannot perform functional studies on isolated organs or whole animal studies. AS well as we are good in calculating pharmacokinetics.

KRŽAN, Mojca, KEUSCHLER, Jan, MAVRI, Janez, VIANELLO, Robert. Relevance of hydrogen bonds for the histamine H2 receptor-ligand interactions : a lesson from deuteration. Biomolecules. 2020, vol. 10, no. 2, str. 1-10, ilustr. ISSN 2218-273X.

HOK, Lucija, MAVRI, Janez, VIANELLO, Robert. The effect of deuteration on the H2
receptor histamine binding profile : a computational insight into modified hydrogen bonding interactions. Molecules. 2 Dec. 2020, vol. 25, iss. 24, str. 6017-1-6017-17, ilustr. ISSN 1420-3049.

KRŽAN, Mojca, VIANELLO, Robert, MARŠAVELSKI, Aleksandra, REPIČ, Matej, ZAKŠEK, Maja, KOTNIK, Kristina, FIJAN, Estera, MAVRI, Janez. The quantum nature of drug-receptor interactions : deuteration changes binding affinities for histamine receptor ligands. PloS one. May 2016, vol. 11, iss. 5, e0154002-1-e0154002-16. ISSN 1932-6203

hanne.deprez@kuleuven.be

Integrated STEM (iSTEM) education can improve student achievement and interest in STEM (study) careers (Honey, 2014), however teachers are not trained to design and implement interdisciplinary, student-centered STEM projects in secondary education (De Meester, 2019). The Master of Teaching in Sciences and Technology contains a mandatory course on iSTEM project design, which relies on six iSTEM principles (Thibaut, 2018): (1) integration of STEM learning content, (2) modeling, (3) problem-centered, (4) inquiry-based, (5) design-based, and (6) cooperative learning. The student-teachers are immersed in the didactic principles, in order to be prepared to implement these themselves. Observations of design teams’ meetings show that integration is not achieved and that iSTEM principles are only activated on sufficient, but not strong levels. The new project aims to investigate how integration can be fostered using specific tools and how the other iSTEM principles can be stronger activated.

The partner organization preferable has expertise in some (but not necessarily all of) the following areas: (1) designing and implementing integrated STEM projects, (2) (collaborative) concept mapping or other tools to foster cooperative interdisciplinary integration, or (3) didactic approaches to problem-centered, cooperative, inquiry- or design-based learning. An additional plus are resources, such as didactic materials to be used in teacher training or secondary education or access to target groups (secondary education or higher STEM teacher education).

In Flanders, between 2014 and 2018, a large research project called STEM@School (https://www.stematschool.be/en/) designed iSTEM learning materials, developed an iSTEM design methodology, and investigated the effectiveness of iSTEM implementation on students’ learning outcomes, and interest and motivation in STEM. Since 2019, KU Leuven’s Master of Teaching in Science and Technology includes a mandatory course on iSTEM project design and a corresponding internship, based on the iSTEM design methodology. During this course, student-teachers cooperatively design iSTEM learning units corresponding to the iSTEM key principles in multidisciplinary teams with the aid of an (open) online learning environment, called CiSTEM2, guiding them through subsequent evidence-based design phases and under the supervision and guidance of a coach. In addition, a professional development initiative , targeting in-service STEM teachers and called the cell ‘iSTEM inkleuren’ (https://istem.be/) has been established, which with the leading researcher has close contact.
KU Leuven thus brings the following resources to the table:
• A large collection of iSTEM projects, designed by educational experts and/or pre- and in-service STEM teachers,
• Online collaborative platform for iSTEM teacher training (https://cstem.cs.ucy.ac.cy/),
• Large pool of approx. 100 student-teachers that implement new iSTEM projects in their internships on a yearly basis (~n=40 secondary school classes reached annually) , and
• Close collaboration with the Flemish in-service STEM teachers professionalization organization, cell ‘iSTEM inkleuren’.

L. Thibaut et al., “Integrated STEM Education: A Systematic Review of Instructional Practices in Secondary Education,” Eur. J. STEM Educ., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–12, 2018, doi: 10.20897/ejsteme/85525.

J. De Meester, M. De Cock, G. Langie, and W. Dehaene, “The Process of Designing Integrated STEM Learning Materials: Case Study towards an Evidence-based Model,” Eur. J. STEM Educ., vol. 6, no. 1, p. 10, Nov. 2021, doi: 10.20897/EJSTEME/11341.

S. Spikic, H. Deprez, W. Van Passel, and J. De Meester, “Measuring and activating iSTEM key principles among stu-dent-teachers in STEM.” Submitted, Sept. 2022

Faculty of Law and Administration

Working title: Legal protection of the vulnerable adults in transnational situations - de lege lata and de lege ferenda. Research involving the collaboration of academicians nad students from chosen Central European countries, mainly lawyers but also also sociologists and medical doctors. The aim is to carry out a comparative legal analysis and discuss the current situation, to develop postulates for better protection in international situations. The importance of the subject is evidenced by the data provided during the drafting of the 2000 Convention of the Hague Conference of Private International Law (increased duration of human life, over 1.2 billion people over 60 years old, movement of people in XXI century). Natural movements of the population have led lawyers practitioners, have a greater interest in the certainty of the rules of private international law.

Mainly legal research, in particular private international law and international civil procedure. As well as comparative legal studies of substantive civil and family law. The voices of other social sciences, including sociology, and medical sciences (geriatrics), should be also taken into consideration. The 2000 Hague Convention Report noted that “the duration of human life in developed countries is steadily increasing, accompanied by an increased incidence of age-related diseases. (...) forecasts made by the Economic and Social Council, according to which the number of people aged over 60 will increase from 600 million in 2001 to 1.2 billion in 2025, the number of people aged 80 or older, currently 50 million, will rise to 137 million by 2025. Awareness of these problems has already led in some countries to a complete overhaul of the internal systems of protection of adults suffering from disorders or reduced personal abilities.

My participation would consist of my own research, including the editing and co-preparation of the final report with the assessment and postulates, as well as the involvement of colleagues and students in the research and debate (online and in person). It may in particular include the co-answering (with other CELSA experts) of the legal issues concerning the assessment of the functioning of the Hague Convention of 2000 (eg in the Netherlands). And to the question about the advisability of other countries (eg Poland) to join it in the nearest future. My experience is leading an international team that investigated the legal aspects and cross-border problems of legal parenthood (2018) and participating in the Central European Professors' Network by the Ferenc Madl Institute of Comparative Law (2021).
Centre of Private International Law could coordinate scientific contacts. The university infrastructure allows the organizing of a final seminar in Kraków summarizing the described interdisciplinary and international research. In the future, the final report may be enriched by me and published as an article in a periodical or as part of a book published on the current legal status and postulates, including joining the Hague Convention of 2000 and other current political transnational initiatives. Previously, library visits in Leuven and the Hague (Peace Palace) and 2-3 CELSA partner universities. The abovementioned issues should be assessed in online and in-person discussion (ie. half-year working seminars, library research). The broader perspective - incl. international law and other fields of science - should be presented in the discussion. The growing interest in cross-border legal issues has been recently evidenced by the discussion in the European Union (2022-23 public consultation of 'Protection of the vulnerable adults Initiative') and the United Nations (Joint statement by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities of 8.7 .2021).

2018-2019: Leader of international research and editor of the book: Fundamental legal problems of surrogate motherhood. Global perspective, ed. P. Mostowik, Institute of Justice in Warsaw (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339416084_Fundamental_legal_problems_of_surrogate_motherhood_Global_perspective)
2021: Member of research team and co-author of book: Constitutional Reasoning and Constitutional Interpretation, Central European Academic Publishing, ed. Z. Toth, pp. 401–467 (http://real.mtak.hu/134538/7/Constitutional%20Reasoning%20and%20Constitutional%20Interpretation%20-%20Full%20book.pdf)
2022: Article on recent cases concerning ordre public and international civil procedure, published in 'Journal of Private International Law, Volume 18, Issue 2, https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpil20/6/3

The goal of the project is to ensure high quality, efficient, environmentally friendly, non-invasive, harmless and sustainable conservation, restoration and preservation of cultural heritage objects. The project is divided into two parts - experimental and numerical - and several subgroups: 1 - preliminary study of the reference object; 2,3 - characterization of the thermal-moisture, mechanical, structural and chemical material parameters of the installed building materials and development of new non-destructive methods for condition assessment and material properties of structures; 4 - development and validation of new numerical models to predict the long-term mechanical behavior of structures and the mechanical behavior of composite load-bearing elements in combinations of wood-concrete, wood-steel, wood-wood and wood reinforced with GFRP strips.

We are looking for expertise to obtain reference values of physical properties of some building materials (concrete, brick), i.e. values of physico-mechanical quantities obtained in situ and needed to calibrate the non-destructive methods. Data will also serve to calibrate numerical models which will be able to determine elastomechanical and rheological properties of old structural material (concrete, brick, steel,...), of different age, up to several hundred years old, found on other old constructions. For comparison, measurements on recent building material will be performed in parallel.

We have expertise to obtain reference values of physical properties of wood, wood based composites and structural timber,i.e. values of physico-mechanical quantities obtained in laboratory conditions and in situ and needed to calibrate the non-destructive methods. We are able to make and calibrate numerical models for the determination of elastomechanical and rheological properties of old structural timber, up to several hundred years old, found on other old constructions. For comparison, the reference data of recent timber is used.

We are using several NDT acoustic techniques (vibration resonance, ultrasound timer and analysis, ultrasonic tomography, acoustic emission), moisture content determination (electrical resistance, dielectric, HSI-FT-NIR), dynamic sorption testing (DVS), permeability and water vapour diffusivity testing, static, dynamic and rheological mechanical testing,... We are able to built reliable numerical modelling on achieved laboratory test data.

STRAŽE, Aleš, NOVAK, Klemen, ČUFAR, Katarina. 2022. Quality and price of spruce logs, determined conventionally and by dendrochronological and NDE techniques. Forests, 13, 5, 1-15
STRAŽE, Aleš, FAJDIGA, Gorazd, GOSPODARIČ, Bojan. 2018. Nondestructive characterization of dry heat-treated fir (Abies Alba Mill.) timber in view of possible structural use. Forests, 9, 12, article 776
KRAJNC, Luka, KADUNC, Aleš, STRAŽE, Aleš. 2019. The use of ultrasound velocity and damping for the detection of internal structural defects in standing trees of European beech and Norway spruce. Holzforschung, 73, 9, 807-816