Here you find further information about CASEE projects and summer schools organized within the CASEE network.
Summer School 2011: International Summer School “Eurointegration: Theory and Practice” at Sumy National Agrarian University
July, 25-31th, 2011, Sumy National Agrarian University welcomed the participants of the International Summer School “Eurointegration: Theory and Practice”.
Among the participants were: Sumy NAU students, representatives of Agrarian University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and of Warsaw Life Sciences University – SGGW, Poland. The project was co-financed by the Fund for Incentives of CASEE, the "ICA Regional Network for Central and South Eastern Europe”. The project coordinator is Oksana Zamora, PhD, senior teacher at the Foreign Economics Management and Eurointegration chair, international project coordinator of Sumy NAU. There were also two trainers engaged: Non-formal Education and European Integration Expert, Youth Peace Ambassador of Council of Europe in Ukraine, project manager of Sumy NGO “Center for European Initiatives” Julia Sakunova; and associate professor at the Foreign Economics Management and Eurointegration chair Tatyana Khvorost, PhD.
The distinctive feature of the event was an interesting combination of European interactive training technologies, national and cultural communication and theoretical informationl sessions on the Eurointegration topic. The leaders of the Bulgarian and Polish groups – Krasimir Aleksandrov and Agata Malak-Rawlikowska – provided exclusive lectures on the issues of EU membership experience of their native countries.
This summer school was a unique event on international level for Sumy NAU, where foreign students from the partner universities of Bulgaria and Poland participated. It allowed students to obtain theoretical knowledge in Eurointegration, to share youth life experiences with their colleagues from European countries which had recently entered EU. In addition they received practical skills in a number of useful spheres: teamwork, leadership, project design, intercultural communication, interactive training technologies implementation. The peak of the summer school programme was a role game elaborated by Julia Sakunova dedicated to the topic of opening new opportunities for the EU youth.
Students considered this event to be very valuable and useful. They discovered a wide range of possibilities to practice their English, to get new friends and contacts from abroad, to share experiences through social activities, to obtain theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the spheres which they’ll meet in their professional path. But the main achievement of the summer school is that students, as they mentioned, were strongly inspired to develop their own activities in future.
Project: Mechanization and Energy use in selected arable farms in Central and South Eastern Europe
Farming – from beef, pig, poultry or dairy and crops – needs different external farm facilities (farm machinery, fertilizer, etc.). The main purpose of the project is to
analyse some representative arable farms according mechanization, technical energy input, labour input and crop yields. The analyses of energy on farm level
(input/output-ratio) in combination the labour input allows the development optimisation strategies. Soil tillage in arable farms is a great energy consumer. The
soil tillage systems are analysed according fossil energy and labour requirement. The strategies for improving fuel and energy efficiency are developed on farm level
with integration of biobased fuel (e.g. canola or sunflower oil, FAME). The objective of the project is to identify energy balance for arable farms in participating countries. The LCA, regarding energy and environmental impact, first of all CO2 emission will be analyzed. This will enable identification of possible improvements, reduction of energy inputs and mitigation of GHG.
Project timeline: 2012 - 2015
CASEE Members involved:
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU-Vienna (Austria)
- USAMV - University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ClujNapoca
(Rumania) - The Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra (Slovakia)
- University of Novi Sad (Serbia)
Project: European Studies Week
Main purpose of the project:
- the development of academic staff mobility within the CASEE network; methodical and practical experience exchange of tutors and post-graduate students;
- the enhancement of students’ knowledge quality about the EU, its values,
- standards, policies and country-members;
- the promotion of cooperation within the CASEE network as well as for the intercultural understanding development through practical experience of interpersonal cooperation during the European Studies Week.
Project timeline: September 2012
CASEE Members involved:
- Agricultural University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland
- Szent István University, Gödöllő (Hungary)
Summer School "Climate change and natural resource management" 2012
Frequent droughts and floods all around the world, but also in Danube region, highlighted the need for the water resources to be better managed. Therefore, the course program was developed to provide students at the MA and PhD level with the knowledge and skills necessary for managing natural environment within the context of climate change. The modules of the course are organized in the way to provide an insight into environmental implications of climate change, methods for research the soil – water – plant continuum, including also understanding of the role of climate change on natural resource management, particularly water and soil environments, as well as nutrient and pollutant flows and developing effective survey methodologies of land assessment. Students are expected to develop a good understanding of the sustainability of the natural resource management, from the aspects of both agriculture and environmental protection. “CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT”.
Project timeline: June 2012
CASEE Members involved:
- University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
- Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Summer School "Intercultural Learning with focus on Sustainable Agriculture, Food Production and Food Protection in the Danube Region" 2013
The Summer School "Intercultural Learning" (SSIL) given the students the possibility to improve their knowledge and grow their skill-set about inter-cultural and social aspects, anthropic landscape and natural resources - related to sustainability in agriculture, food production and food technology in the Danube region. The project has combined theoretical aspects and field trips in order to broaden horizons and provide life changing experiences in the context of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube region, global changes, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity conservation, new technological and eco-nomic ability to adapt. The location, the Banat region — a region which is inherently intercultural and diverse in itself — provided an excellent foundation to introduce intercultural topics and their implications on sustainable agriculture, food production and food technology in the Danube region.
Project timeline: September 2013
CASEE Members involved:
- Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timisoara
- BOKU, Vienna
- UNIZG, Croatia
- CULS, Czech Republic
- Corvinus University, Hungary,
- UNS, Serbia
- SUA, Slovakia
- WULS, Poland
Project: The Soil Resources in the Danube Region: Threats and Opportunities for Sustainable Soil Use
This project aims at bringing together soil scientists from CASEE partner universities and some other organisations in the region to collect soil data from all over the Danube region that are relevant to describe the current status of soils and soil quality, land use practices and associated threats and impacts to the soil resources of the Danube catchment. The transnational team will evaluate methodologies and options for harmonization, available data and, based on this information, describe the status of soil quality and identify the major drivers of soil degradation in the years to come.
Project timeline: April 2013-September 2014
CASEE Members involved:
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
- University of Zagreb
- Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague
- University of Belgrad
Summer School Delta 2014: International Summer School "Plant and Fish Biodiversity in the Danube Delta"
Within the frame of the CASEE network, the International Summer School “Plant and Fish Biodiversity in Danube Delta” was organized by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca (USAMV Cluj-Napoca) from 5.-17.07.2014.
Students from BOKU, USAMV Cluj-Napoca, the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS) and Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara (USAMVB) are participating this event.
After the welcome and the introduction by the Vice Rector of USAMV Cluj-Napoca Andrei D. Mihalca, the students were introduced to different topics by experts in the field (fish diversity: Daniel Cocan (USAMV), fish migration: Andreas Zitek (BOKU), grassland biodiversity: Corina Cătană (USAMV),biodiversity concepts, patterns and measurement:
Radu Constantinescu (USAMV),forests: Florian Borlea (USAMV), invertebrates: Vladimír Vrabec (CULS), birdlife: Attila Sándor (USAMV).
During the field trip to the St. George arm of the Danube Delta, the students have the possibility to directly experience the rich biodiversity, and to better understand the theoretical principles behind the analysis and interpretation of biodiversity patterns, also taking into account the needs of local communities depending on the productivity and health of the Danube Delta ecosystem.
Different scenarios of the potential development of the Danube Delta are discussed including possibilities to support the populations of the endangered sturgeon species of the Danube, e.g. by building fish passes at the Iron Gates I and II. Finally potential future joint activities within the CASEE network of universities are explored, and will strengthen the existing good relations between BOKU and the other CASEE partners. Since many years, successful collaboration exists especially between USAMV Cluj-Napoca and BOKU.
Details about the summer school:
Coordinator:
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca (USAMV Cluj-Napoca)
Partners:
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Wien (BOKU)Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS)
Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timișoara (USAMVB)
http://usab-tm.ro/USAMV-BT_en.html
Webpages:
International Summer School “Plant and Fish Biodiversity in Danube Delta”
http://www.usamvcluj.ro/summerschools/index.php
The ICA Regional Network for Central and South Eastern Europe http://www.ica-europe.info/casee/
Association for European Life Science Universities: http://www.ica-europe.inf
EFNet Meeting 2015
With the meeting the cooperation within the experimental farms of Danube-Region universities was enhanced. Represantatives of experimental farms of partner universities within the CASEE network were invited to this start-up meeting. The goals were:
- personal get to know of the represantatives
- initiating a cooperation strategy of the network
- defining the next steps to do within the network
CASEE members involved:
- UNS, Serbia
- SZIU, Hungary
- UNIZG, Croatia
- University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Timisoara
Project timeline: May 2015
Project: Machinery induced compaction of agricultural soil and mitigation strategies in the Danube Region 2015-2016
The soil is a main resource in agricultural production and should be protected. Due to cultivation with farm machinery, soils are physically stressed. The main purpose of the project is to increase the awareness of farm machinery- induced soil compaction with the knowledge transfer tor to relevant stakeholders (agricultural students, farmers, farm machinery companies and farm advisory system). Besides that, selected farm machineries are analysed regarding to soil compaction risk with an Excel-based software Tool (TASC V3. 2013). The technical solutions for soil protecting traffic (increased contract area between tyre/soil, Controlled Traffic Farming - CTF, etc.) and other mitigation options are developed. The project-partners, deals with the general problem of machinery induced compaction in each participated country. Scientific publications are collected discussed in one workshop. Presentations for lectures at the Universities and for the stakeholders will be prepared. Knowledge distribution will be done via publications in agricultural magazine.
Project timeline: July 2015-July 2016
CASEE members involved:
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU-Vienna (Austria)
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic)
The Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra (Slovakia)
University of Novi Sad (Serbia)
University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Winter school: Biotechnology and Food Sciences 2016
Organizing of winter school is for students of International Joint Degree Master Programme "Sustainability in Agriculture, Food Production and Food Technology in the Danube Region" - Danube AgriFood Master. Topic of this study is understanding the intercultural and regional aspects of sustainable agriculture and food technology is crucial in finding viable pathways to long-term success in Central and Eastern European agriculture. This joint master programme will give the students the possibility to improve their knowledge and grow their skill-set regarding the intercultural and social aspects, anthropic landscape and natural resources - related to sustainability in agriculture and the food industry in the Danube region.
The main focus of the programme will be on self-development in a multicultural European region. At the end Winter School, students should be able to identify some of their own culturally-biased assumptions and behaviour, and begin to objectively address the benefits of EU multiculturalism for regional agriculture and food industry.
Project timeline: February 2015 - 2016
CASEE members involved:
- University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
- Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
- Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
- Szent Istvan University, Gödöllő, Hungary
- The Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia
- University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
- Banat University Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara, Romania
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Project: “Internationalization CASEE network by introducing innovative mobility activities and defining quality criteria (CASEE-In)"
The overall objective of the CASEE-In project is improvement of internationalization of partner universities and CASEE network with accent on innovative mobility activities and setting up of tools for internationalization process. The current project consortium, except State Agrarian University of Moldova, has previous strong relationships among the partners and this University has been included into partnership as a first step to finance mutual activities and to broaden cooperation among Danube region. The combination of special expertise and complementary strengths of each partner will be jointly integrated in all project activities which will be implemented through 5 work packages - Management, Dissemination, Mapping of internationalization, Introducing innovative mobility activities and Quality control and monitoring. The main objectives of the project are two-fold: to create a set of indicators for quality assurance in internationalization of higher education institutions and to introduce innovative student mobility by exposing master students to interdisciplinary scientific conferences, thereby increasing the employability of graduates through a higher level of intercultural and interdisciplinary competences. The project will support and strengthen the institutional capacity of the University and its recent efforts for internationalization, having an important impact at local, national and regional level by promoting the best sectorial scientific results and know-how.
Enhancement of the quality of education and research will lead to overall promotion of partners involved and consequently to broader university visibility. Sustainability of the project results is guaranteed by the fact that all outputs and outcomes of the project are built and verified in the regional environment and they serve in the continual process of institutional development as unified and levered tool for progress assessment. As partners are members of CASEE network, the results of the CASEE-ln project will be presented and proposed to other members in order to implement it at their institutions.
Project timeline: January 2016 - December 2017
CASEE members involved
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
- University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia
- Szent Istvan University, Gödöllő, Hungary
- Banat University Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara, Romania
- (State Agrarian University of Moldova)
Summer School "Ethics, Quantity and Quality Assurance in Agriculture, Food Production and Food Technology 2017
The title of the CASEE Summer School "Ethics, Quantity and Quality Assurance in Agriculture, Food Production and Food Technology" fits into the main topic and focus areas covered within the curriculum of Danube AgriFood joint master programme and the school represents its cross-disciplinary, intercultural practical part. The aim of this school is to enable the students to gain new knowledge and broaden their practical skills in order to
maintain an in-depth understanding of topics related to the aspects in disciplines they have been taught. The project aims to combine lectures, workshops and field trips in order to provide an unforgettable experience for the students. In addition, it will fulfill all the expectations in the legal and scientific context of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube region. The courses and the field trips are focusing on the Vojvodina Province, most productive agricultural area in Serbia and also well known for its rich multicultural heritage. This will ensure broadening the scope of the school with intercultural aspects and analysis of their influence in terms of Ethics, Quantity and Quality Assurance in Agriculture, Food Production and Food Technology in the Danube region.
Project timeline: July 3-16, 2017
CASEE members involved:
- University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
- University of Zagreb
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences
- Szent lstvan University, Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timisoara
Project: Determining the influence of cover crops on soybean production and environmental life cycle assessment 2017-2019
Cover crops (CC) are common in Austria and other countries where governmental subsidies support this practice, but little research is done on their influence of soybean growth. CC protecting the soil from erosion, providing habitat for soil biota, stabilizing the soil structure and secure therefore soybean yields. But a lack of practical experience on farmer side and the cost of CC seeds are increasing the financial risk and the reservations against seeding CC. Especially in European countries without governmental subsidies the use of CC is marginal, but the demand for European soybean protein is still increasing. Hence, a sustainable soybean production is demanded. We plan to investigate a variety of CC and their potential to provide macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphor and sulphur for subsequent soybeans, whether by solubilizing, fixation, accumulation or degradation. From an environmental and agricultural engineering point of view, the use of CC to increase soybean yields poses an interesting research question: Do the environmental benefits of CC outweigh their additional environmental impacts? The issue of net environmental impacts of CC before soybeans has not yet been the topic of a life cycle study.
Project timeline: 2017 - May 2019
CASEE members involved
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
- Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic
- Banat University Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara, Romania
- University of Novi Sad, Serbia
EFnet staff training: Set up and management of field trials to determine ecosystem services 2017-2019
Field trials are complex in data sampling and choosing appropriate methods is essential for research quality. These requirements ask for skilled researchers and technicians, to face these multiple challenges. From planning to publishing, highqualified staff is a keystone for successful conduced projects. The experimental farm network (EFnet) is organizing the first staff training: from trial setup to data sampling, from planning to practical conducting tips. The training is a platform to share knowledge and inventions in field experiment methodology. Special topic of the first staff training in October 2018 will be ecosystem services of cover crops and soil biota at EF-BOKU in GrossEnzersdorf,
Austria.
Project timeline: December 2017 - September 2019
CASEE members involved:
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS)
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)
- University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture (AGR)
- University of Novi Sad (UNS)
- Agricultural University of Tirana (AUT)
Summer course: Sustainable Food Production Chain 2018
The main objective is to organize the intensive summer course on sustainable food production chain for the students of the partner Universities. A topic is very important because the whole world (in that Europe) needs sustainable
development in order to solve current serious environmental problems. The famous document 'Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development' has been accepted 25 September 2015. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals have been listed, in that several strictly connected with food production chain: zero hunger, good health and well-being, responsible production and consumption climate action, life below water, life on land. We are obliged to teach students how to reach these goals. Sustainable agriculture and food production is one of the most important methods of the global improvement. Therefore we have selected such topic of the intensive summer
course within CASEE.
Project timeline: April 2018-December 2018
CASEE members involved:
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria
- Czech University of Life Sciences (CULS), Prague, Czech Republic
- University of Novi Sad (UNS), Serbia
- University of Zagreb (UNIZG), Croatia
- Szent István University (SZIU), Hungary
- Banat's University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine "King Mihai I of Romania" (USAMVBT), Romania
- Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (SUA), Slovakia