Successful presentation of the Alliance4Life projects

On March 28th, in the Miroslav Čačković Hall at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine (UZSM), our team presented the final results of the project "Alliance for Life Sciences: From Strategies to Actions in Central and Eastern Europe - Alliance4Life_ACTIONS" and announced the implementation of the new "Alliance4Life Bridging the Research and Innovation Gap in Life Sciences - Alliance4Life_BRIDGE" project. The meeting was opened in front of a large audience by professor Božo Krušlin, the Vice-Dean for Science, who is also the project leader of Alliance4Life_ACTIONS at the UZSM. The results of the project were presented by work packages by professor Ana Borovečki, professor Srećko Gajović, professor Nada Čikeš, Ms. Lozika Mašić, professor Filip Sedlić, and professor Tea Vukušić Rukavina.

Professor Filip Sedlić, Alliance4Life_BRIDGE project leader at the UZSM presented the Alliance4Life_BRIDGE project. Numerous opportunities and benefits for the UZSM employees were outlined. Within Work Package 4, the Mentorship Model, led by the UZSM, researchers will be able to participate as co-mentors or thesis committee members at one of the partner institutions, enabling collaboration with excellent researchers from abroad. Collaboration among scientists working on similar research topics will also be facilitated by the Virtual Research Center, where mini-conferences, seminars, and similar activities will be organized. This will provide research groups an opportunity to present their work and find partners for joint project applications. Open calls for using core facilities at partner institutions and seed fund calls for forming teams for joint project preparation will continue to encourage collaboration among researchers. UZSM employees, especially young researchers, will be able to go on short visits to partner institutions and industrial facilities.

Career development will be encouraged through the organization of online and in-person courses and skill academies for young mentors, experienced researchers, PhD students, and administrative staff. The presentation was attended by professor Ozren Polašek, the Director of the Croatian Science Foundation, a national funding agency for research, professor Hrvoje Buljan, President of the National Council for Higher Education, Science, and Technological Development, the main national advisory body for science policies, as well as members of the Committee for Science, Art, and International Cooperation of the University of Zagreb.