HrvatskiAn award ceremony was held on Friday, October 19th, 2018, at the University of Rijeka Rectorate, where the winners of the ”Initial Grants for Young Researchers for 2017 and 2018” were awarded the Certificates of Confirmation. The event was also a great opportunity for the young researchers to talk to Prof. Snježana Prijić-Samaržija, Ph.D., University of Rijeka Rector, Prof. Alen Ružić, M.D., Ph.D., Vice Rector for Science, and Prof. Saša Zelenika, Ph.D., Rector’s Assistant for International Cooperation and Strategic Partnership.
This is the second time the initial grants are awarded; they were awarded for the first time in 2016. Initial grants are funds of the Ministry of Science and Education, allocated by the University of Rijeka, and are awarded as an incentive for research activities for scientists at the beginning of their research career. Funds in the amount of more than 1 million HRK were allocated to 49 young scientists and their research projects.
Madam Rector addressed the attendees: ”Our fundamental motivation for this meeting was to talk to you and exchange ideas. Today we need to look at the big picture and understand that the project culture is something that the institutions cannot function without. Scientific work only is not enough; it is simply necessary for you to have knowledge about projects management. We need to develop a project culture because what the budget allows us is not enough. When it comes to the withdrawal of EU funds, Croatia belongs to the group of the so-called underperformers, and the European Commission offers three possible reason why that is the case: language barrier, lack of motivation and lack of competence (not scientific, but project competence). (…) In average, the Croatian scientist publishes less than one scientific article per year, which is truly not enough. Today, society wants more and more from the scientists: it wants science, and that is why the development and innovation are added. Skepticism will never take us anywhere. We must accept all these new demands and criticisms of society to justify our existence.”
It can be concluded that the majority of young scientists advocate that project activities, professional work, and work on the popularization of science become formally scored. It would also be of great benefit if the UNIRI Rectorate organized meetings at UNIRI constituents.
Initial grant award also got Assistant Professor Ervin Kamenar, Ph.D., Head of the Laboratory for Precise Engineering and Micro- and Nanoscience Technology and Assistant Professor Aleš Omerzu, Ph.D., Head of the Laboratory for transport measurement, both from the Center for Micro- and Nanoscience and Technology.
Text and pictures partially taken from link: UniRi