The event was attended by representatives of Feevale University, Häme University of Applied Sciences (Hamk), Finland, and VIA University College, Denmark

The four researchers who represented Feevale University at Beyond: Alliance for Knowledge Seminar BAK2019, which took place in Finland at the end of November, returned to Brazil with positive results. The Institution's representatives who participated in the event were the coordinator of the Veterinary Medicine course and professor of the Postgraduate Program in Environmental Quality, Fernando Rosado Spilki; the coordinator of the Center for Research and Development in Clean Technologies, also professor of the Postgraduate Program in Environmental Quality, Vanusca Dalosto Jahno; Postgraduate Program Professor of Materials Technology and Industrial Processes, Carlos Leonardo Pandolfo Carone; and the professor of the Postgraduate Program in Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusion, Patricia Brandalise Scherer Bassani.

The event was aimed at professionals in the field of development and research, and was attended by representatives from Feevale, Häme University of Applied Sciences (Hamk), Finland, and VIA University College, Denmark, which are part of BAK. The theme of the activity was Society and Sustainable Technologies and proposed solutions to global problems from a transdisciplinary applied research approach.

International research partnership advances

In addition to the seminar, Spilki attended a meeting at the Lammi Biological Station, an organ of the University of Helsinki, to articulate future joint projects about water quality and health. Feevale professor and Hamk professor Harri Matila discussed the need to deploy the eModule in Water Management. In addition to meeting Finnish companies about dry-toilet implementation systems, Spilki met with institutional representatives from Beyond Research Branch: Annukka Pakarinen from Hamk and Theis Raaschou Andersen from VIA. “We analyzed the week's activities and continued planning for 2020. At the meeting, we also discussed the format and composition of the Beyond Research Unit, which will be in Hämeenlinna, the the doctorates and admission of foreign students, joint research activities, as well as the need to share data, materials and students”, he says.

Patricia presented two papers during the seminar and also participated in activities related to the Osiris project, which involves research in the area of aging. The professor also met with Anne-Maria Korhonrn, who works at Hamk's School of Professional Teacher Education and with the team responsible for training Basic Education teachers and research in the field of educational technologies. “We defined some possibilities for shared work for the first half of 2020, including initially a virtual student mobility activity; participation in postgraduate classes through web conferencing; and design of research project seeking European funding”, she explains.

For Vanusca, the return to Hamk was positive, since, besides her presentation, the professor was able to talk personally with researcher Tiina Vuorio, from Hamk Tech, as there have been samples exposed to weathering in both educational institutions for three years. “Professor Carone and I also talked to Hamk professor Markku Raimovaara about a new partnership that will enable a joint project with Tiina and the Postgraduate Program in Materials Technology and Industrial Processes,” she says.

Carone says that Raimovaara was very receptive to new collaborations, besides the possibility of partnership with Tiina in the area of Materials. “I agree with professor Vanusca because it was extremely useful to attend the seminar and exchange ideas with other researchers. It is also worth mentioning the great environmental awareness of those people. I appreciate this opportunity for scientific expansion, Spilki's partnership and attention and the companionship of professors Vanusca and Patricia, as well as Annukka's attentive reception”, he says.

Alliance between institutions

The cooperation between Feevale University and Hamk was established through an agreement signed in 2006 and, since then, it has developed a productive partnership in teaching, research and extension, with significant student and professor mobility between the two countries. The agreement with the Finnish institution and VIA has evolved into a strategic alliance. The new agreement, signed in 2016, opened the trilateral Beyond: Alliance for Knowledge (BAK) agreement, which aims to expand actions for international education, integrating research groups and internationalizing companies linked to the universities' technology parks, among other cooperation actions. This year, Feevale hosted the annual International Strategic Seminar - BAK event in October.