The latest series of doctoral events I attended was the workshop and conferences: “Context for Humanity – Bionics as a Solution for Sustainable Living,” coordinated by Prof. Dr. Arch. Rosa Cervera, University of Alcala de Henares, Spain – in Bucharest (May 27-28, UAUIM) and Tulcea (May 29-31, Vernacular Center), organized by UAUIM through the Doctoral School of Architecture and the Faculty of Interior Design, together with the Tulcea City Hall and the Context for Humanity Association (Tulcea).

During the conferences, I gave the following presentations in English: “Linking Bionic Architectural Interfaces with Ecosystem Services,” a summary of the report no. 3 and chapter III of the dissertation – Biomimetic and bionic ecosystem interfaces, at the Bucharest conference “Bionics, a Solution for Sustainable Living” and “Methods of Ecosystemic Research in Architectural, Landscape and Urban Design.”.

I also drafted the event poster and applicant poster layout and was part of the organizing team.

The purpose of the workshop was to identify ideas for micro-actions regarding urban ecological actions. The group\’s proposal I was part of involved incorporating spaces for composting systems and waste recycling/separation into building designs for tenants\’ associations or communities, and organizing graphic dissemination events and contests to spread this idea.

DANUBIUS-RI, The International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems, is one of the largest pan-European research projects with a Romanian component as of 2019 and refers to a CDI infrastructure for interdisciplinary studies of sea-river systems, designed to support “research that addresses conflicts between societal requirements, environmental changes, and environmental protection in river systems around the world.

The infrastructure is estimated to be operational by 2022, being included in the ESFRI 2016 Planning, with its headquarters in Murighiol, and selected as a flagship project for the European Strategy for the Danube. At the European Union level, the preparation phase of the project was funded through Horizon 2020 (grant no. 739562/2016).

My personal contribution, within the team of architects, focused on the architectural interfaces of the built components (Data Center) through the proposal to ecosystematize these interfaces (ecological interfaces), as a direct application of doctoral research. DANUBIUS is still in a design phase at the time of thesis completion.

It is important to note that although this type of CDI infrastructure is not directly linked to the field of architecture, architecture and design of architectural elements cannot fail to be part of research infrastructure and, through adapted language choices, can offer theoretical and practical support, as well as a competitive advantage.

On March 11, 2018, I participated in another thematic working group meeting, organized by the Better initiative (Florin Enache), with architects, engineers, urban planners, and other specialists at #reConstruim 2018, within ConstructExpo, on day number 4 – Green & Smart (moderated by architect Sergiu Petrea, one of the most recognized promoters of ecological architecture in Romania). I was part of the NZEB group coordinated by architect Radu Andone and presented our team\’s pitch.

Premises of creating a sustainable development center from the experience of internships performed at ROSTeu Brussels, are appropriate for the development of the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, commissioning a research centre on sustainable anthropogenic ecosystems, taking into account the European attention to nature-based solutions, natural capital and ecosystem services, including from the Point of Financing (high number of projects funded by FP7 and Horizon 2020 for these topics, compared to previous programmes) and climate change worsening, in the context of over-glomeration of urban environments and urban built fund.

Creating such a centre would favour the education of a nucleus of specialists (master\’s and PhDs, postdoctoral, teachers and researchers) at UAUIM, which could apply in partnership with other universities, research-development-innovation centres and national, European or international organisations, attracting funding and cultivating complementary skills to those who already have teachers and current graduates.

At the same time, the retention of specialists at UAUIM or in Romania would positively impact the quality of the academic offer. Participation in modern funding instruments such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions or COST Actions, organising Climathon workshops locally, perhaps even similar to Biomimicry Design Challenges or TEDx, would complement current, one-off involvement in Erasmus+ projects.

The proposal also appears feasible in the context of theoretical, academic and even practical experience through a number of former Doctoral School doctoral students, open to participate in the development of a pedagogical nucleus on sustainability and resilience of the architectural and/or urban building fund, as well as and of multidisciplinary groups that are constantly testing, in recent years, practically, passive homes or NZEB type for Solar Decathlon competitions (Prispa, EFDN, OVER4 etc.).

Last but not least, there are already Doctoral coordinators with relevant experience and who have already obtained research funding in close areas in previous years (preventing the risk of natural disasters, lowering the levels of urban heat islands, etc.), respectively from PhDs, there are self-organisation concerns on thematic groups, which are framed in national/ European research priorities and thus more fundable than other classical topics of architecture research.

A portion of the theoretical research resulting from the Laser Valley competition application was integrated into a thematic article submitted to “Universul Științelor ed. VIII,” a symposium organized by a consortium of local universities in Iași in October 2017, with text developed together with engineer drd. Manea Ciprian (UPB), regarding the future of architectural interfaces from shelter and protection to tools for work, production, and communication.

In the 2017 FIKEA application, we associated the TUBATECT production process with Europe\’s ecological priorities – \”efficient control of excessive noise, efficient waste management systems, nature and biodiversity protection programs and implementation of a green infrastructure\”, as well as reducing pressure on the environment in the urban area and neighboring areas, such as traffic (to the landfill), the restriction of natural ecosystems (by occupying garbage pits), industrial pollution and waste, and energy consumed (for garbage incineration, transport).

Also, through that application, we proposed 3 objectives, which denote the impact and similarity of our upcycling action with ecosystem measures / typical functions found in biological systems:

Reducing the amount of waste simply thrown into the environment, with the harmful effects of pollution of the different layers of the biosphere and the destruction of natural habitats.

• Intelligent recovery of products that are apparently at the end of their life, through reuse, recycling, grinding, returning them to the state of raw material, and, of course, upcycling.
• Waste is a resource, but when you can reuse it with simple, non-consumptive processes (of time, energy, transport, etc.), it is all the more valuable.
• Simplifying separation operations at source, by creating and expanding mechanisms and opportunities for selective collection and quality control, at different age levels, in a complex process of educating the citizen in parallel with separation. (FIKEA 2017 application, together with Asura Association).
• The grant-writing period overlapped with the research phase on ecosystem services, and thus we found synergies between them and the TUBATECT project.

The conference was followed by a workshop with the guest audience (such as representatives of public, local, regional, national, European, NGOs, private companies, etc.) and parallel sessions for debates .

My participation was motivated by interest in the subject and activities on TUBATECT, as well as for the implementation of other creative waste recovery ideas in commercializable products.

Check out the list of events I participated in during my ROSTeu 2017 internship, broken down by month and including a brief description.

• January 31: Innovation School 6 – Internalisation of RTO (EARTO) – Session presenting RTO (Research and Technology Organisation) internationalisation.
• February 2: Seminar “Turning to Nature in Disaster Risk Prevention and Climate Change Adaptation” (External Cooperation Infopoint EC) – Presentation of nature-based solutions for disaster prevention.
• February 6/10: IGLO TRAINING – Training for IGLO interns on research strategies at the European Union level.
• April 4: Presentation “Open Science” (IGLO Open) – Presentation of the concept promoted by the European Commissioner for Research, Carlos Moedas, \”Open Science\” regarding the transition to a system where articles and research results funded by the EU have free access, without fees.
• April 5: Mobility and Training for Young Researchers (DAAD) – Seminar.
• April 24: Presentation “Copernicus for Cultural Heritage” – Using the Copernicus satellite system in preserving built heritage.
• May 9-10: Training Session Open Innovation (RISE and Teknikföretagen) – Certified training on \”Open\” innovation for private companies, supported by the Swedish research and innovation organisation RISE, from concept to prototype and scaling on the market.
• May 11: Visit to REA, Research Executive Agency – Information on the functioning of the agency, responsible for evaluating research applications and granting European funding for research.
• May 12: Visit to the European Parliament – Information on the EP\’s functioning.
• May 18: Presentation “H2020 Visualisation Tool” (Vinnova) – Presentation of the visualisation tool created by the Swedish research institution regarding the access to Horizon 2020 funding by Member States, beneficiaries and topics.
• May 18: Webinar Training “The COST programme – What’s in it for your clients-NCP Academy” – Seminar regarding COST actions.
• May 23: Horizon 2020 SME Instrument – Master Class Bucharest (ROSTeu, in Bucharest) – Participation and assistance in organising the Horizon 2020 funding instrument for SMEs.
• June 15: Presentation MSCA info (UB / Faculty of Law) – Presentation on how to write applications for MSCA grants.