European Parliament member from Renew Europe Group Ivars Ījabs and his parliamentary assistant Pēteris Viņķelis visited Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia on September 29.
The aim of the visit was to see the Institute, which is No 1 by the amount of EC funding in Latvia and discuss ways Mr Ījabs as an EU parliamentarian could get involved to help overcome the bottle necks in Horizon project writing and attracting the funding. As the H2020 research and innovation program comes to an end, there are new challenges to address in the next, 9th framework program Horizon Europe for years 2021-2027.
ISSP UL as one of the leading research and innovation institutions in Latvia is looking for opportunities to offer its expertise in Horizon Europe missions. There are 5 mission areas set - Adaptation to climate change and including societal transformation; Cancer; Climate-neutral and smart cities; Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters and also Soil health and food. One of the key horizontal principles of Horizon Europe is the Open Science Principle, which aims to promote the widespread use of findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data.
During the visit, ISSP UL participation in National Research Program (VPP), particularly COVID mitigation measures projects - “Towards new therapeutic and prophylactic treatments against Covid-19 and coronaviruses” implemented together with Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Riga Technical University and also University of Latvia as well as “Integration of reliable technologies for protection against Covid-19 in healthcare and high risk areas” implemented together with Riga Technical University, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, University of Latvia, Institute of Electronics and Computer Science, Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga Stradiņš University, Latvian State Instiute of Wood Chemistry were discussed with the focus on institute’s contribution in them.
Ivars Ījabs is a Member of the European Parliament, elected in 2019. Before entering politics, he was a widely known political scientist, publicist, associated professor at the University of Latvia and a researcher at the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute of the University of Latvia.
Pēteris Viņķelis is graduated psychologist with 11 years of experience in the Latvian diplomatic service, 16 - in political and public work, 8 - in the European Parliament. Expert in international politics.
