Travel Grants 2019 – 2020

Institutions: University of Leeds and Universidad de Buenos Aires

Visit dates: 26/10/19 – 2/11/19 (visit to Argentina)

Visit subject focus

The objective of this visit it to identify interested parties from Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET in order to promote cancer research collaborations with University of Leeds and create a student exchange framework to maintain and strengthen the institutional relationship between the HEIs. The collaboration will contribute to investigate population specific cancer characteristics and vulnerabilities, while promoting the career development of PhD students and research staff through exchange visits, to increase their employability and competitiveness in cancer research.

Institutions: INQUINOA (CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman) and University of Nottingham

Visit dates: 2nd November to 9th November 2019 (visit to UK)

Visit subject focus

This visit will develop a collaborative project focused on development of a sustainable bio-economy. Specifically, the project will carry out research into sustainable chemical purifications, using biomass residues as cost-effective raw materials.

The development of a sustainable bio-economy is a priority area in the 2030 strategic government plan in Argentina. The northern region of the country has enormous potential for the development of the bio-economy, with a strong sugarcane and citrus agro-industry sector recently promoting the generation of biofuels and bioproducts from biomass waste.

In the short term, we aim to develop the research collaboration and exchange of researchers and knowledge through workshops and study visits. Long-term, we will plan student exchange schemes to transfer knowledge between institutions.

Institutions: Goldsmiths, University of London and Universidad Nacional de Quilmes

Visit dates: 16/11/19 – 22/11/19 (visit to Argentina)

Visit description

The visit involves knowledge transfer activities to address problems related to media policy making and regulation in the digital ecosystem in Argentina and in the UK, in the context of digital convergence and the emergence of global players of the digital ecosystem. 

The aim of the collaboration is to mutually strengthen the R+D agenda by developing an inter-institutional agreement as a framework for developing a joint research project and satellite activities between the Masters and Research programme in Cultural Industries, both in Universidad de Quilmes and Goldsmith Leverhulme Media Research Centre.

Institutions: Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora and University of East London

Visit dates: 22/11/19 – 12/12/19 (visit to UK)

Visit description

The objective of this visit is to create academic links between the HEIs, in particular through the following avenues:

• Creation of a memorandum of understanding between the HEIs to improve the quality of transnational education and academic competencies. 
• Collaboration schemes to strengthen research and development, in particular in English Language Teaching (ELT) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP);
• Enhancement of the curricula of the Language Laboratory (UNLZ) through knowledge exchange and mentoring thus improving the university’s ELT offers;
• Design of distance education programmes for Argentinian teachers to increase their employability and competitiveness;
• Evaluation of the feasibility of incorporating the Master’s degree in ELT provided by UEL into the academic offer of the UNLZ;
• Outline of a scheme of international scholarships for students from Argentina to study in UEL, and vice versa

Institutions: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica – Instituto Balseiro and University of Birmingham

Visit dates: 30/09/19 – 7/12/19

Visit description

This collaboration is focused on robotics applied to the nuclear industry. This constitutes a very young field with few groups working in this area globally. Planned collaboration includes R&D in common areas of interest (such as teleoperation for manipulator-type robots in nuclear environments, the use of industrial KUKA manipulators and other robotic platforms for maintenance in nuclear facilities) and institutional cooperation, in the form of possible joint supervision of PhD and Masters students.

Institutions: Durham University and INGEOSUR – Universidad Nacional del Sur

Visit dates: 8/12/19 – 18/12/19 (visit to UK)

Visit description

The subject area of this collaboration is Earth Sciences, with specific focus on strategic metals enriched in the earth’s surface due to geological processes in Argentina. The planned visit focusses on development of a five-year-plus research project involving the PIs and at least three PhD research students. The project will seek to deliver the following three principal goals:

• Improved geological understanding of strategic mineral formation in Argentina
• Critical information to enhance mining industry exploration in Argentina
• Argentine students will be trained in state-of-the-art scientific methodologies

Institutions: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and Department of Philosophy & Department of Politics, University of York

Visit dates: 31/1/20 – 29/02/20 (visit to UK)

Subject focus

This collaboration centers on theories of distributive justice, studying the outcome and factors that affect the distribution of social goods. This field is at the intersection of law, economics, politics, and public policy.

This project seeks to build a network of researchers in York and Córdoba with a background in normative political philosophy and a shared interest in social democracy, distributive justice, and human rights. In the long term, the visit will stimulate joint research and publications, as well as seeking appropriate candidates for a joint Masters program. Meaningful dialogue between the two institutions will be fostered – particularly through short research visits for PhD-fellows and undergraduate students, as well as the pursuit of making Córdoba a Human Rights City.

Institutions: Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and University of Southampton

Visit dates: 7/02/19 – 29/02/19

Visit description

The visit will be focused on academic and institutional exchange activities between the Departments of Politics and International Relations in both institutions. More specifically, capitalizing on the history of collaboration and partnership between both institutions, the participants will organize a workshop during the visit focused on Regional Governance and Social Policy. The event will be followed by grant drafting sessions, which will consolidate knowledge exchange and future collaboration. In addition, FLACSO will meet with the International Office and Head of the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences at Southampton to explore inter-institutional collaborations for master’s and PhD programmes.

Institutions: Universidad de Buenos Aires and University of Nottingham

Visit dates: 1/02/19 – 7/02/19

Visit description

This visit will focus on developing research collaboration in theoretical econometrics and development economics.

The visit will also formalize channels to develop student exchange links between the institutions, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in these disciplines. This includes working to establish a Nottingham-UBA PhD scholarship to allow UBA students to study for their PhD at Nottingham, or to complete periods of study in Nottingham during their PhD programme.

Institutions: Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos and Brunel University

Visit date: 28/10/19 – 30/11/19

Visit description

Evidence-based medicine applied to motor rehabilitation requires measuring the functional abilities of patients at different stages of their treatment as an aid for clinical decision making. Specialized equipment included in gait laboratories is used for this purpose. However, the cost of this equipment can make it prohibitive for local clinical use. Home and host researchers aim to work jointly on the development of affordable health technology for local healthcare facilities. This visit will aim to set a collaboration plan in motion towards development of an affordable clinical assessment system, combining the experience and resources of the researcher groups.

Universidad Nacional de Rosario and Brunel University

Visit date: 8/2/19 – 29/02/19 (visit to Argentina)

Visit description

This visit consists in exploring new or “future food chains”, improving or moving away from current practices (including intensive agriculture, overly packaged products) and with the potential to reduce climate change impact, empower social actors and increase economic and social wellbeing. Urban Agriculture (UA) offers an interesting opportunity to include communities and new technologies while developing strong and sustainable supply chains. This collaboration will carry out exploratory research to understand the feasibility of this concept, taking Rosario as a pilot.

The specific objectives of this visit are:

• To carry out exploratory research on sustainability aspects of UA as part of future food supply chains through the analysis of key food products and their supply chains.
• To explore the potential benefits that clean energies and circular economy strategies would provide to a) increase energy and water security, b) reduce costs; and c) reduce greenhouse gas emissions of food production in UA;
• To understand the potential and feasible contribution of UA to regional and national food supply chains to achieve sustainable food production and consumption (SDG12), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), climate action (SDG13), zero hunger (SDG2), among others.

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and Manchester Metropolitan University

Visit date: 18/01/19 – 18/02/19 (visit to the UK)

Visit description

This visit will focus on generating plant somatic hybrids to improve understanding of cytoplasmic male sterility and some aspects of medical genetics (in relation to mitochondrial diseases). Planned activities include optimizing fusions of Solanaceae cells, selection of trans-mitochondrial lines and their regeneration. The work started at Manchester Metropolitan will be continued at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo through continuous collaboration between the HEIs and results shared through joint publications. The visit will also explore possibilities for developing mobility programmes / scholarships for students or faculty members.