One of the European Union goals is to invest in research and innovation as it is Europe’s future. KTU together with partners from Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom initiated a project KEEN that aims to help Lithuania become a future European leader in innovation and to support entrepreneurial capacity building at KTU. The project is funded by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020”.

José Geraldo de Andrade Neto from Brazil is the first-year student of medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. He has already started his 2nd semester in a very optimistic mood because his course-mates are always ready to help with not very easy, but as he puts it – absolutely interesting, studies. He feels happy being a part of a large academic community: “I chose Vilnius University because of its significant reputation abroad and because it is open to students from all over the world.”

„For me, science is a play and enjoyment. I love it and hopefully, I will play with science until my last day“, – such hopes were expressed by the professor Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize laureate, who is one of the International Life sciences conference The COINS 2020 attendees. What makes the professor joy now – is work with young researchers on the new ubiquitin system in the field of medicine, brain diseases and cancer.

Feb. 18th, 2020, MRU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Prof. Regina Valutytė met with Indonesia's Ambassador accredited to the Republic of Lithuania Muhammad Ibnu Said who headed a delegation from Airlangga University's Faculty of Law. lt included Dean Nurul Barizah, PhD, Law Faculty Vice-Dean Sri Winarsi and Vice-Dean for Science, Publications & Cooperation Radian Salman.

Education
Education ministers adopted a Resolution on education and training in the European Semester: ensuring informed debates on reforms and investments. The resolution calls for appropriate involvement of education ministers in the European semester process when education and training related issues are being discussed. The resolution is also the contribution from the EYCS (Education) Council to the process. Moreover, it reflects Member States’ commitment to further improve the quality of education and training, as well as highlights the need to ensure informed debates on reforms and investment in education and training.

The European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) – international organisation that places the challenge-based approach as a core for its pedagogics, research and innovation. The main idea at ECIU university is to get the outside world in the curriculum. To do so, one of its members, Linköping University, hosted the first European Society Quest Event on February 12-13.

On February 13, Ian B. Spielman, a prominent physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Vilnius University (VU).

the Commission unveils its ideas and actions for a digital transformation that works for all, reflecting the best of Europe: open, fair, diverse, democratic and confident. It presents a European society powered by digital solutions that put people first, opens up new opportunities for businesses, and boosts the development of trustworthy technology to foster an open and democratic society and a vibrant and sustainable economy. Digital is a key enabler to fighting climate change and achieving the green transition. The European data strategy and the policy options to ensure the human-centric development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presented today are the first steps towards achieving these goals.

The group of scientists from Trinity College Dublin created a biological sensor that detects and traps water pollutants in the same way Venus flytraps catch insects. The news was published not only in prestigious science magazines: the exciting story on the invention was released in The Times, Daily Mail and other publications. One of the members of the research team is KTU Applied Chemistry graduate Karolis Norvaiša.

Fresh from the Silicon Valley, where they completed the 16-week-long internship at NASA Ames Research Centre, Deividas Čelkys and Tomas Narbutas from Kaunas University of Technology Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design are sharing their insights.