Researchers from Łódź, Warsaw and Wrocław, in cooperation with foreign research teams, will perform their projects with Weave-UNISONO funding of nearly 2.9 million zlotys. They will study philosophical theory of the will, new therapeutic strategies for aggressive lymphomas and field emission electron sources.
Dr hab. Monika Michałowska from the Medical University of Łódź, in cooperation with Dr Edit Lukács from the University of Vienna, will look into the theory of the will investigated by Robert of Halifax, philosopher and theologian at the the University of Oxford in 14th century. The robust development of logic and physics at the University of Oxford in the 1330s is known to have paved the way for a novel approach to theories of motion and the will. The researchers will study voluntarism in the work of Robert of Halifax at the University of Vienna in the early fifteenth century.
Prof. Michałowska’s project will be funded under 2024 Weave-UNISONO. 2023 Weave-UNISONO will include two new research teams from Poland.
The Polish research team headed by Dr Małgorzata Bobrowicz from the Mossakowski Medical Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences and the German research team headed by Prof. Carsten Watzl from the Technical University of Dortmund will carry out the project “Identification of strategies to improve the efficacy of NK cells in targeting aggressive B-cell lymphomas.” The aim of the project is to investigate the mechanisms leading to the ineffectiveness of cellular immunology in DLBCL cells, the most common type of lymphoma. Typical cancer treatment (RTX) leads to a cure in about 50% of patients. In the remaining patients, mechanisms of resistance develop. Currently, the most promising therapeutic option for this group of patients is cellular immunotherapy. However, it must be improved and this is what the researchers are planning to do in the project. The knowledge gathered during the project will allow researchers to propose new effective strategies in patients with DLBCL resistant.
Dr inż. Michał Krysztof from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology will head a team of Polish researchers who will pursue the project “Integrated field emission electron source analysis.” Their research will be carried out in trilateral cooperation with research teams from Czechia and Germany headed by Dr inż. Alexander Knápka from the Czech institute Ústav přístrojové techniky AV ČR and Prof. Rupert Schreiner from Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule of Regensburg. Their project will focus on developing innovative experimental methods and measurement procedures aimed at detecting electrons from field emission emitter arrays and single electron sources. The goal of the project is to understand how the different emission sites on the cathode surface interact with each other and with the residual gas when operating in vacuum. The project explores the possibility of using electron beams in the development of many fields of science and technology.
Proposals were evaluated by the partner agencies under Weave-UNISONO, i.e. projects submitted by Dr Bobrowicz and Dr Krysztof were evaluated by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and Prof. Michałowska’s project was evaluated by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The results of the trilateral project performed by research teams from Poland, Czechia and Germany were approved by the National Science Centre and the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) within the framework of their Weave cooperation.
Weave-UNISONO and Lead Agency Procedure
Weave-UNISONO is a result of multilateral cooperation between the research-funding agencies associated in Science Europe and aims at simplifying the submission and selection procedures in all academic disciplines, involving researchers from two or three European countries.
The winning applicants are selected pursuant to the Lead Agency Procedure according to which one partner institution performs a complete merit-based evaluation of proposals, the results of which are subsequently approved by the other partners.
Under the Weave Programme, partner research teams apply for parallel funding to the Lead Agency and their respective institutions participating in the Programme. Joint research projects must include a coherent research program with the added value of the international cooperation.
Weave-UNISONO is carried out on an ongoing basis. Research teams intending to cooperate with partners from Austria, Czechia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium-Flanders are urged to read the call text and apply for funding.