First TORCH presential meeting held in Budapest
The first ever presential meeting of the CHARM-EU Alliances’ TORCH project was held at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) between the 20th and 22nd of June. Representatives of the current and future partner universities reflected on the work done so far and discussed future strategies as well as concrete next steps.
The TORCH project was launched in February 2021 as a research and innovation collaboration of the CHARM-EU Alliance with the aim of developing a research and innovation strategy for the association of five research universities. In addition to the representatives of the partner universities involved in the project (the University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, the University of Montpellier and Eötvös Loránd University), representatives of the Alliances’ new partners (Åbo Akademi University, Würzburg University and Hochschule Ruhr West) also took part in the meetings.
The program began on 20 June with a meeting of Vice-Rectors on Monday afternoon with Prof. Jordi Garcia Fernández, Vice-Rector for Research (UB), Prof. Raúl Ramos, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation Policy (UB), Prof. Reko Leino, Vice-Rector for Research (Åbo Akademi) and Prof. Imre Hamar, ELTE’s Vice-Rector for International Affairs, who then greeted the guests arriving from the partner universities.
During the meetings held on the 21st and 22nd of June, work package leaders and representatives Nina Shiel (TCD), Albert Diaz-Guilera (UB), Inese Rozensteine (UM), Balázs Aczél (ELTE) and Marjanneke Vijge (UU) presented the main results which were discussed in terms of dissemination and future strategies. A main topic of the meetings was the coordination of the work package on Common Policies and Strategies and the work package on Action Plans and Pilots. The participants reviewed the challenges of the next one and a half years: during this period, the Alliance will be responsible for laying down long-term research action plans and piloting activities related to the project.
The colleagues working on the project also took part in a joint sightseeing tour on Monday, while to close the meetings held on Tuesday; they visited the ELTE Botanical Garden, which celebrates its 250th anniversary.
TORCH is the research arm of CHARM-EU whose mission is to provide a flexible and useful channel for the transfer of scientific knowledge from University to society and to involve societal partners in order to enable civil engagement, promote citizen science and establish a positive dialogue with stakeholders. If you wish to find out more about the project, please click on the following link: https://www.charm-eu.eu/torch.
