Ambassador of the Czech Republic and vice-rector of Masaryk University visited the University of Tartu

On 2 October, the UT Vice Rector for Research Mari Moora and Professor of Cell Biology Toivo Maimets met with the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Zdeněk Beránek, the Vice-Rector for Research and Doctoral Studies of Masaryk University Šárka Pospíšilová and Professor Michael Doubek.

The meeting focused on successful collaboration, the sharing of experiences, and strategic directions for future research funding. The importance of state support within the Horizon Europe programme’s Teaming for Excellence measure was also discussed, along with the question of whether there is a need to establish a separate and independent institution. The aim of the Teaming for Excellence support scheme is to create new centres of excellence in widening countries, including Estonia, in collaboration with Europe’s leading research institutions.

Further discussions explored how universities can support academic staff in applying for European Research Council (ERC) grants. One example highlighted was Masaryk University’s initiative to create return grants, designed to help researchers prepare ERC grant proposals and improve their competitiveness.

Guests from Masaryk University were in Tartu on 2–3 October for an international research integrity seminar organised by Alliance4Life and the Centre for Ethics. The seminar focused on developing an effective e-learning in research integrity and was held as part of the Horizon Europe project Alliance4Life_BRIDGE, in which a group of experts from 11 member states work on research integrity.