Twinning projects are aimed at strengthening organisations’ research excellence and capacity, improving research management capabilities, and building sustainable cooperation networks with leading international institutions by adopting internationally recognised best practices, experience and skills.
“The Twinning competition clearly demonstrates that the ideas developed by UL researchers are both of interest to leading foreign universities and research centres and competitive at the European level. The international research project support system established at UL is delivering results and will enable us to strengthen scientific excellence and international cooperation in new fields at a much faster pace. Such projects will lay the foundation for new partnerships, innovations, and the attraction and development of talent,” emphasises UL Vice-Rector for Science, Associate Professor Guntars Kitenbergs.
Projects led by UL researchers will strengthen the University’s research excellence, international visibility, competitiveness and long-term cooperation with partners in the fields of biomedical research, quantum technologies and sustainable digital finance. Meanwhile, projects implemented by ISSP UL will expand the institute’s contribution to the development of advanced materials and future technologies by creating new solutions for smart sensors, flexible electronics and energy-efficient devices.
In the “MX-BRIDGE” project, scientists from the UL Faculty of Science and Technology, in cooperation with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS), Trinity College Dublin, the University of Padova in Italy and Université libre de Bruxelles, as well as partners from Canada, the United States and Poland, will help transform the UL into an internationally recognised regional hub for MXene-based biomedical research. MXenes are a family of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides and nitrides with unique electrical, chemical and surface properties that could potentially be used in medical diagnostics, therapy and the development of biomaterials. The project will enable UL to independently fabricate, study and develop these materials in cooperation with world-class partners.
In the “QSTwin” project, researchers from the UL FST, in cooperation with the Paris Centre for Quantum Technologies under CNRS in France, the Quantum Software Lab at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and the quantum algorithms start-up Phasecraft in the United Kingdom, will strengthen UL’s research in quantum algorithms and quantum software by expanding its scope and capacity. The project will introduce new research directions, including near-term quantum computing, quantum machine learning and quantum communication, while building a critical mass of researchers and laying the foundation for a larger quantum technologies centre. This will further position UL as one of the leading contributors to the Baltic quantum technologies ecosystem.
Scientists from the UL School of Finance and Technology Business, in cooperation with leading European research institutions – the University of Zurich, Technische Universität München and the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia – will, in the “TwinSDF” project, strengthen UL’s research excellence and international capacity in the field of sustainable digital finance, where financial technologies, artificial intelligence, data and sustainability goals converge. During the project, an experimental digital environment will be developed for creating and testing new research methods and analytical solutions. At the same time, this will develop researchers’ competences and international cooperation, strengthening UL’s position as a research centre in the Baltic region in the field of sustainable digital finance and enabling more informed decision-making in the financial sector, both at the policymaking and corporate governance levels.
Researchers from ISSP UL will implement two projects. In cooperation with the National Metrology Institute of Italy and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Spain, they will implement the “iNEMESIS” project, which will focus on neuromorphic materials and device systems inspired by the operating principles of the human brain. In the future, these systems could enable a wide range of sensors not only to detect information, but also to store and process it locally, reducing energy consumption and accelerating system response times.
Meanwhile, in cooperation with Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium and the RISE institute in Sweden (RISE – Research Institutes of Sweden), in the “STACK-UP” project the researchers will develop printed and flexible electronics technologies, from the development of functional materials and inks to multilayer device prototypes. A self-powered environmental and ultraviolet (UV) radiation sensor will help to better monitor the impact of UV radiation, while an indoor environmental monitoring platform will monitor air quality, temperature and humidity.
Twinning is an instrument of the “Horizon Europe” programme for widening participation and spreading excellence. Its objective is to strengthen research excellence and institutional capacity in widening countries. Of the 1,905 projects submitted from across Europe, 179 have received funding. The total amount of EU funding awarded to Latvia for the seven funded projects is EUR 5.21 million.
 researchers have achieved significant success in the prestigious Horizon Europe Twinning research project competition: of the seven projects coordinated by Latvian scientific institutions that have been approved, five will be led by UL. Researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) of the University and the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (ISSP UL), will each coordinate two projects, while one project will be led by researchers from the University’s School of Finance and Technology Business. In another project, UL will participate as a partner, cooperating with other European scientific institutions under the leadership of the National Research and Innovation Institute (NIRI).){kind=link}