Helping Georgia join the ERA
The Georgian government and the EU both want closer relations, including research cooperation. To that end, the EU is supporting integration of the Georgian Technical University (GTU) into the ERA. Funded by the EU, the SENS-ERA project fostered the integration goal via two years of joint capacity-building activities between GTU and four partner EU organisations. The activities included training and joint research. The study themes involved semiconductor sensor technologies — including materials for optical sensors, and semiconductor radiation elements — and sensor applications in environmental monitoring. The consortium started in late 2011. Achievements included promising results with isotope B10-doped sensors having potential as radiation sensors for a variety of applications. Other work on erbium-doped Bragg reflectors and gratings was published in a peer-reviewed journal. The group held several project-specific workshops and sessions within conferences, from which certain papers will be published in an international journal. Project partner Cranfield University prepared lectures about advanced materials and other project subjects. Another partner, TEIPIR, prepared e-learning training modules on the physics and technology of radiation sensors and sensor networks. Intelligensia provided training courses, concerning the Seventh Framework Programme's (FP7) Marie Curie schemes and Horizon 2020 programmes, relevant to sensor research. At a 2013 conference, the project evaluation report was provided to Georgian members of parliament, academics and other interested parties. A strategy report was also prepared for approval of the University Council. Both of the project's proposals for FP7 projects involving GTU (NANOMAT-EPC and SECURER2I) were successful, and those projects commenced in late 2013. GTU and TEIPIR together successfully applied to host a NATO-sponsored conference, held in March 2014. The SENS-ERA project resulted in closer research ties between the GTU and the ERA. The collaboration also yielded productive research in semiconductor sensor technology.
Keywords
Training programmes, capacity-building, joint research, semiconductor, sensor technologies, optical sensors, semiconductor radiation elements, environmental monitoring
