Transnational project meeting in Perugia

On March 24, 2023 representatives of the consortium partners gathered for a transnational project meeting in Perugia, Italy. The event was hosted by Psiquadro Societa Cooperativa. Paritipants monitored the project progress in their countries. UniverCity coordiantors from Sofia Univesity shared materials and information on reporting and indicators, as well as on the plans for the final team meeting and multiplier conference in Bulgaria. Presentations in peson and through multimedia on behalf of Community research promoters gave an excellent insight into the problems of various communities in the partner countries as well as into the egagement of academia to seach for and find solutuions. Some of the best practices that inspired discussion were focused on the creation of supportive environment and socialization of museums for citizens with disabilities (Italy), the use of scientifci methods for environmental moniotring (Romania, Italy), the delivery of specialized srevices for the community of internarional students (Bulgaria).

Transnational Project Meeting in Brasov

The University Consortium gathered together for the first transnational project meeting in Brasov, Romania, held on Oct. 20.2022. Each partner presented the progress in their country, focusing on the CRA grants, awarded during the first competition, launched in 2021, sharing difficulties and best practices. Team members had a thorough look at the organization of project archive, compilation of the statistics for participation and at other tasks related to project management. An important point in the program was the discussion on further cooperation and sources of sustainability. Joint courses and publications on the community research approach were among the possible directions of the the future cooperation.

The Bulgarian delegation also had the chance to attend the Multiplier event, organized by the LBUS in the previous days, delivering brief presentation on the importance of the community-based approaches to bring EU closer to the people.

UniverCity – 1st Multiplier Event in Sofia

The first multiplier event, presenting the results of the work under Intellectual outputs 1 and 2 was held in Sofia on Oct. 22/2021. UniverCIty team from Sofia UniverCity met students and entrepreneurs within the broader frame of the initiative “Be Europe” to share the Community Research Awards project approach as a tool for empowering academics to get closer to the real needs of their local communities. Prof. Albena Vutsova and Dr Nikolay Yanev gave a detailed overview of the opportunities, conditions for participation and application documens, necessary to submit a successful application for the first CRA call at Sofia University. They used the opportunity to advocate the bottom-up approach to program management among representatives of policy-making bodies, also present at the event. You can listen to some of the key messages from the event in its video archive (in Bulgarian):

Second Steering Commitee Meeting

The Second online meeting of UniverCity project Steering Committee was conducted on May 10/2021. Representatives of all partners from Romania, Italy and Bulgaria attended and discussed project progress as well as short and long-term tasks for the teams. The agenda was centered around the forthcoming Training of Trainers (ToT). As a focal point of the Intellectual output 1 the ToT is scheduled between June 29 and July 1/2021. Lecturers from University of Plymouth will deliver a course, organized in three modules. Their expertise and the practical discussions will provide a solid preparation for the next step - Rolling out the community research awards (Intellectual Output 2). The next meeting of the SC will follow the conclusion of the training to wrap up results and discuss the following activities.

UniverCity Steering Commitee - 1st Meeting

The first meeting of the project Steering Committee (SC) was held on Feb. 12/2021. The on-line working session was attended by representatives of Sofia University (Bulgaria), Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania), PSIQUADRO Societa Cooperativa (Italy), Research and Training Point Foundation (Bulgaria) and the associated partner – British Council – branch Bulgaria. The project decision-makers discussed the progress in the implementation of the activities. The group reviewed the further steps including the tasks related to administration and publicity as well as the organization of the first stages of the intellectual products. SC members agreed to proceed with the process of selecting the local stakeholders for the CRA competitions. In relation to project management they launched the nomination of experts for the project internal quality assurance. In conclusion the Steering Committee outlined the tasks and the deadlines for March and April 2021.

Partnership Agreements Signed

In December 2020 UniverCity Partners signed their partnership agreements with the coordinator Sofia University. The documents regulate the roles, obligations, rights, as well as the financial relations between the parties for the implementation of the project tasks. In line with the commitments, the parties reaffirmed their desire to achieve the goals of the project through joint activities and responsibility. In this regard, they planned the next steps in the implementation of the project, namely the formation of a Steering committee, Quality assurance mechanism as well as Preparation of training groups that will be responsible for the implementation of the CRA competitions.

Project UniverCity Kick-off Meeting

On November 3/2020 project partners launched the implementation of project UniverCity at the kick-off meeting. The event was organized remotely by the leading partner Sofia UniverCity "St. Kliment Ohridski" (Bulgaria). The guest partners included: PSIQUADRO (Italy), Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania), Research & Training Point Foundation (Bulgaria). The coordinator presented the upcoming tasks, related to the organization of the Community Research Awards (CRA). This is a small-grant scheme, pioneered by Plymouth University, which is going to be multiplied by the project consortium with the aim to encourage grass-root cooperation between academia and local communities.