UPWr Doctoral School receives PLN 2 million in STER funding

The UPWr Doctoral School first applied for funding from the STER programme in 2019, when it was rated very highly but did not end up receiving funding.

– We didn't receive enough points for the status of a research university. In the Excellence Initiative – Research University programme we didn't make it into the top ten, which meant that we didn't receive bonus points for NAWA funding, including the STER programme – says Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska from the Doctoral School Council of the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, adding that the content of the project submitted by the Doctoral School was very highly rated, with one review even suggesting that the presented steps were too far-reaching, but...

– We didn't appeal. Together with my colleagues from the Doctoral School Council we decided that we would improve the project and try again. And this time we are among sixteen scientific institutions awarded with funding for efforts to increase internationalisation of Doctoral Schools – says Prof. Korzeniowska, emphasising that behind the success was the joint effort of members of the Doctoral School Council, people cooperating with the school, and employees of the Department of Science and the Office of International Cooperation of the UPWr.

The PLN 2 million received is to be spent by the end of 2024. In the budget planned for three years, funds have been allocated for trips abroad in the form of short-term internships (from one to three months) and visits for students of the UPWr Doctoral School – both at educational facilities and in research centres, laboratories and clinics. The assumption is simple: the best students who go abroad shall not only build their own network of contacts, but also be ambassadors of the school where they are pursuing their doctorate and research project. This part of the budget will also be used to finance trips of supervisors, as they are responsible for inspiring the candidates with the most appealing topics of doctoral dissertations carried out as part of exceptional international interdisciplinary cooperation, including projects with external financing.

– We want to use the STER funding to attract the best candidates to our school. We have prepared intensive courses for international students interested in continuing their education at our Doctoral School, which will be conducted together with our foreign partner universities. We are also planning a series of webinars, lectures, seminars, training sessions and practical classes at UPWr laboratories, including some on-line and some open classes for those interested from Polish universities – says Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska, adding that she is running an on-line seminar this week at Miguel Hernandez University of Elche.

As Prof. Korzeniowska explains, analyses carried out by the Doctoral School show that it is difficult to compete with prestigious British, German or French universities. We have therefore chosen to target the best places for finding good candidates, reaching them with information about the Doctoral School at the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław and its academical offer, as well as the benefits of pursuing a doctorate at our university. The project lead by some of the most internationally notable scientific professors of the UPWr, (e.g. based on the number of references to their works), such as Prof. Aneta Wojdyło, Prof. Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak, Prof. Andrzej Białowiec, Prof. Krzysztof Marycz or Prof. Krzysztof Sośnica, places emphasis on cooperation and establishing contacts with universities from all over Europe. The STER programme also foresees funding of promotional activities of the Doctoral School directly targetting universities, especially in central, southern and south-eastern Europe.

– We have a list of universities with which, thanks to this funding, we plan to tighten our cooperation, but this does not mean that it is an exhaustive list. If a student of the Doctoral School or a supervisor provides proper justification for choosing an institution not covered by the list in order to conduct interesting and cutting-edge research, then they will still stand a chance of being accepted – emphasises Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska, specifying the universities on the list: Miquel Hernandez University of Elche, Iowa State University in the United States, the Technical University of Vienna and the Dresden University of Technology, the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Ghent University, Utrecht University, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, and the University of Bern in Switzerland.

– Our scientists have been cooperating with these universities for years, conducting joint projects, and are also co-supervisors of doctorates already being prepared in our Doctoral School, as well as in foreign institutions. Most of our doctoral students carry out their work under the supervision of a foreign co-supervisor. The STER programme will allow us to intensify our activities and, above all, send our doctoral students to these institutions, where they will be the best advertisement of our Doctoral School, ambassadors of themselves, us, the UPWr, Wrocław and Poland in general, which will contribute to the further development of our School – emphasises Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska.