We know the winners of EN_UAC China Call, organised by the JPI Urban Europe (Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe) network in cooperation with the NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China) agency. Two international research projects qualified for funding involve Polish research teams.
The JPI Urban Europe network, with which the National Science has cooperated since 2015, supports researchers working on international interdisciplinary projects that address the challenges faced by cities and urban areas. This year, the call was devoted to the issues of sustainable urban logistics in the digital era and ways to enhance mobility with climate-neutral tools.
The EN-UAC China Call was open to submissions from scientists planning to work on international projects together with partners from other participating countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden) and China.
The call attracted 40 pre-proposals at the first stage and 24 full joint proposals at the second stage, 9 and 5 of which, respectively, involved Polish researchers. Winners include two projects to be carried out in cooperation with Polish teams, with a budget of nearly 2 million zlotys awarded for that purpose by the NCN:
- E-Laas: Energy-optimal urban logistics as a service
Principal investigator (Polish team): Dr hab. inż. Emilian Szczepański (Warsaw University of Technology). The project will be conducted together with partners from China, Sweden and Spain.
The goal of the project is to develop an innovative platform to minimise energy use in the process of freight distribution from the consolidation centre to the customer, allowing energy to be saved at every stage. In addition, the teams will analyse the reinforcement of social responsibility at different levels: client, service provider, municipality.
- IMUMCN: Improved urban mobility toward climate neutrality under new working habits and transport modes
Principal investigator (Polish team): Dr hab. Aleksandra Lis-Plesińska (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań). The project will be carried out together with partners from China and the Netherlands.
The objective of the project is to provide citizens with sustainable and efficient integrated transportation solutions to enhance the efficiency of urban traffic and cut emissions. The teams will study the short-term behavioural effects and long-term implications of these challenges for urban mobility and city structure, as well as the potential of integrated Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions and market trade in individual CO2 allowances.
The winners of the EN-UAC China Call will get funding, e.g., for the research team, salaries and scholarships for students and PhD candidates, and research equipment.