Objective
The project is part of a 'Summer School trilogy' of the University of Bologna (Italy), the Technical University of Budapest (Hungary) and the University of Zurich (Switzerland). The three courses are completed in themselves but have common subjects and will be developed as follows:
- The first year attendants will be in Ravenna, on analytical methods for freshwater, sea water and marine sediments to determine the availability of polluants in the studied areas of Ravenna Harbour and the Basin of Ridracoli;
- The second year attendants will be trained in a mining region in Hungary, where heavy metals are extremely toxic, to carry out environmental impact assessment. Feasibility studies as well as environmental risk assessment;
- The third year the attendants will be trained at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Zurich and, at the Alpine Biology Centre in Switzerland, where especially microbiological-mediated processes within geochemical cycles are studied.
These EuroLab courses are intended to be interdisciplinary events in full-equipped laboratories where zoological, botanical, microbiological, geochemical, chemical and social aspects are part of the content. EuroLabs aim at a high interaction between academia and industry and, the University of Ravenna will be supported for the local organisation by a multinational company (Montecani S.p.A) towards its Environmental Research centre, leader in soil bioremediation research, which will provide young researchers with a high level of training in the laboratories of chemistry, spectroscopy, chromatography, microbiology and pilot plants. This project has a strong scientific originality because the methods and hypotheses developed and applied in the Italian course (e.g. characterisation of marine and freshwater bodies, chemical analysis) and in the Hungarian course (e.g. ecotoxicology, risk assessment, metal transport and bioavailability) can be transferred and tested under alpine conditions, in an uncontaminated and industrially non-influenced area, Priora Valley, in Swiss Alps.
ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/improving/docs/HPCF-1999-00159-1.pdf
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
ACM - Preparatory, accompanying and support measuresCoordinator
Italy