The Widening funding programme, part of the Horizon Europe programme, is sending substantial amounts of money to Europe. Its overall budget of almost one hundred billion euros over the upcoming years shall ensure that investments by the EU into research and innovations yield real results. The areas include climate change or sustainable development which is part of the Strategic plan of Masaryk University for 2021–2028.
Masaryk University succeeded in the very competitive Excellence Hubs call. Out of more than one hundred projects assessed only two were granted support; it is the only Czech coordinator of two of them. Masaryk University also received a grant from the TWINNING call and succeeded in the prestigious ERA Chairs call.
As for the latter, the grant shall go to the Faculty of Pharmacy (which once again became part of Masaryk University in summer of 2020 (it used to be a part of the university in 1952–1960)) for its project entitled Center of Excellence in Advanced Pharmaceutical Technologies – ExcellPharmTech. It will build on the prior ERA Chairs achievements of CEITEC and RECETOX.
Widening participation and spreading excellence
TWINNING – institutional networking: sharing of effective processes, boosting managerial and administration skill and research profile of the institution.
Excellence Hubs – linking innovation ecosystems in Widening countries and linkages between academia, business and government and the society.
ERA Chairs – hiring of an excellent expert with proven excellence and managerial skills who can put together their own research team.
„It is a tremendous success for the faculty. Thanks to the project a new excellence centre will be founded that will link a top foreign scientist with the current faculty departments. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make progress in tumour therapy and nanotechnologies. As the senior management of the faculty we cannot wait to see what the project brings,” says Vice-Dean for External Relations, Strategy and Development Jakub Treml, adding that closer cooperation shall open the opportunity for faster implementation of research outcome in practice and on the pharmaceutical market.
The Center of Excellence in Advanced Pharmaceutical Technologies led by a top foreign expert should be founded in the course of implementation of the project, i.e. from January 2023 until 2027. The main task of the team of researchers shall consist in the research of the targeted supply and transport of nucleic acids to target cells, with practical use in a variety of application, especially in cancer treatment. The centre shall also serve as the platform for the cooperation of leading experts and the dissemination of their findings among the general public.