On behalf of the entire BSN network I would like to welcome you to the first edition of the BSN_Powerhouse newsletter.

 

Enjoy reading!

 

 

 

The LaunchPad is intended to test an approach supporting collaboration between the researchers, research facilities and businesses for scientific experiments and measurements in the field of photon and neutron science.

 

The main approach works in three steps:

 

1. Researchers, research facilities and businesses in Photon and Neutron Science come together to discuss their ideas and challenges in the field and work on potential collaboration projects.

 

2. Draft projects will be evaluated by experts in the field that will provide feedback. Project drafts with a greater potential will be selected by the experts for further support.

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3. Funds will be available to support further development of the selected projects and continue project team collaboration.

 

How did you adapt your original plans to the current circumstances?

We have just passed a key-milestone in LaunchPad and in the BSN Powerhouse project.The international online Symposium “Photon and Neutron Science in the Baltic Sea Region” (pictured abovr) took place on October 26-29, 2020. Due to COVID-19 we had transformed the Symposium into an online format and therefore, were excited to see how it works. The Symposium was held in two parts: it begun with a conference and continued with a hackathon, an innovative approach to encouraging research collaboration and developing project ideas.

It has been an exciting and, at times, a crazy journey from the start until the here-and-now when thinking about the original plans and adaptations made. The adapted approach is, in the end, even more innovative, open and flexible compared to the original one. Instead of face-to-face events we have events on virtual platforms; instead of using more traditional formats (e.g. discussion groups) the hackathon has taken place with innovative methods and guided goal-driven process. We now have a more
flexible bottom-up approach for supporting collaboration based on the specific needs of the project teams.

Using virtual formats is an innovative way to carry out events, but it will never fully replace the positive effect of face-to-face communication, coffee-table-conversations and dinner-with-a-glass-of-wine-discussions. It is early to tell the end results of the LaunchPad but based on current experience we can confirm – it IS possible!
 

 

 

The BSN_Powerhouse project wants researchers in the Baltic Sea Region to be better connected to each other. There lots of great scientists in the region, and they could reach even greater results if they worked together. Also, there is lots of big, important and expensive research equipment, and it would be good if more researchers would get the chance to use them.

Our task is to do a test-run of the mobility programme Baltic Science Network Mobility Programme for Research Internships (BARI). The idea of the programme is that students travel to another country in the Baltic Sea Region to work as an intern in a PhD candidate’s research project for a short time (2 weeks to 3 months). We hope that both learn a lot and have fun during the internship period!

Our main goal is to get students and young researchers in the Baltic Sea Region to know each other. During the internship period they learn new skills related to working life, research and working with foreign colleagues. All these skills are very important for any researcher. We hope that gaining new networks in the Baltic Sea Region will make the students and young researchers interested to continue cooperation in the region.

 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic hit us in the middle of recruiting students to apply for the programme. Many people still applied, which shows the huge interest in the programme!

As a first reaction we extended application deadlines and informed everyone that the mobilities can take place later than originally planned. Then we developed a completely new method of monthly application periods, where every month the PhD candidates can announce internship positions and the students can apply for them. When there’s a match of a student and a PhD candidate, they agree on when the internship takes place between themselves. Both also follow the national travel restrictions and other COVID-19 precautions, and make sure they follow their institution’s guidelines.

So far, a few internships have already taken place! We hope that the situation gets better, and that we can still help in making many new connections in the BSR. We have learned to overcome challenges, and our success story is that some internships have taken place even in these difficult times!