Research Funding: Adrian Curaj, the director of UEFISCDI, presented the opportunities for 2024 at Politehnica University Timișoara
Research Funding: Adrian Curaj, the director of UEFISCDI, presented the opportunities for 2024 at Politehnica University Timișoara
At the invitation of the management of Politehnica University Timișoara, on Friday, February 23, 2024, prof. dr. eng. Adrian Curaj, the director of UEFISCDI, presented the research funding opportunities for the current year in the UPT Senate Hall of UPT. The focus was on the Centers of Excellence that are set to receive funding, and the meeting included department directors, heads of research centers and institutes, deans, and researchers from both UPT and partner universities in the Timișoara University Alliance. Additionally, mobility projects for foreign researchers from the diaspora were introduced, targeting both experienced professionals and those at the beginning of their careers. Future competitions were also presented, with some currently open for public discussion and set to be officially launched.
Considering that research infrastructure exists in Romania but is only utilized at around 7%, prof. dr. eng. Adrian Curaj emphasized that, in the future, efforts and orientation should be directed towards human resources.
Regarding the Centers of Excellence, they pave the way for excellence in interested groups, with funding allocated to strategically impactful research areas in Romania.
"I am pleased to be in Timișoara, and I find it important that there is a special interest from the Timișoara research and innovation community. If I were to explain why I am here and why it is important, I would say that a program has been launched, the most ambitious program Romania has had from its research budget. The program is for establishing centers of excellence and represents the largest investment in critical mass and performance. We will try to select, using only international experts, approximately 20 centers that, over the course of 5 years, and hopefully an additional two years, will be capable poles for attracting both foreign and young researchers to come up with solutions to societal problems that Romania has managed to identify. From our discussions, colleagues in Timișoara seem extremely interested, and I am confident that there will be significant participation and contributions to this competition from universities and research institutes in Timișoara," stated Adrian Curaj, the director of UEFISCDI.
From Politehnica University Timișoara, prof. dr. eng. Liviu Marșavina, vice-rector responsible for research activity, added: "Today, we had the joy of having prof. dr. eng. Adrian Curaj, the director of UEFISCDI, among us, the unit that finances research in higher education. He presented the funding opportunities for this year, as several competitions have already been launched. Regarding the Centers of Excellence, we are already in the phase of establishing partnerships because this type of project requires a minimum of 4 research entities, universities, institutes, to work together and create such a center. We are in discussions with our partners, both from other technical universities in ARUST and local partners from ATU."
