Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies (Modest)
Project number
598549-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Duration
36 months (2018-2021)
Grant
983,975 €
Applicant (Coordinator)
Latvijas Universitāte – Latvia
Local
Coordinators Yerevan State University (YSU)
National Polytechnic University of Armenia (NPUA)
Armenian State Pedagogic University after Kh. Abovyan (ASPU)
EU partners
Brunel University London – UK
Helsingin Yliopisto – Finland
Uniwersytet Jagiellonski – Poland
Partner
countries
Armenia
Yerevan State University (YSU)
National Polytecnic University of Armenia (NPUA)
Armenian State Pedagogic University after Kh. Abovyan (ASPU)
Belarus
Belarusian National Technical University
Polotsk State University
Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno
Russia
Federal State Educational Budget Institution of Higher Vocational Training
Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography
Kazan National Research Technological University
Moscow Institute of Physics And Technology (State University)
Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University
Project Summary
MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Science in Partner Countries. Wider project objective is “To enhance cooperation capacities of Higher educational institutions of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA)” and specific objectives are:
Improve quality and employability of doctoral graduates of PC HEI’s by modernizing doctoral education towards interdisiplinarity, internationalisation, enhancing mobility, using new teaching methodologies in line with Salzburg Principles, BFGU recommendations.
Facilitate successful adherence with Bologna reforms and its instruments by organization of special training sessions for academic and administrative staff of HEI’s in PCs.
Improve up-skills of research and educational staff by retraining them on new teaching methods and create modern learning and research environment based on student centred approach, competence-based program development.
Improve structure and internal capacities of services of doctoral education and research by setting up Doctoral Training Centers in PC HEI’s; ensure their sustainability and cooperation with EU partners by establishing a professional network using modern ICT tools.
To meet these objectives, the project will make use of the analysis of best EU practices and of the needs of PC to develop training materials and organize intensive retraining of HEI’s staff. Structure and content of DTCs will be worked out, including set of regulatory documents, instructions for DTC creation, programs and materials for DTCs and interdisciplinary Summer schools for doctoral students. To ensure sustainability, a web-platform and Virtual Network environment will be developed using participatory approaches and ICT methodologies. Synergy with other European initiatives will be sought via participation of consortium members in EU networks and organizations (Coimbra Group, EURASHE, etc).
Websites: https://www.modest.lu.lv, https://www.emodest.eu/
The Erasmus+ MODEST project training “Organization and Management of Doctoral Training and Research Methodology”, 27-28 May 2020 (ZOOM)
During 27-28 May 2020, the Erasmus+ MODEST project training “Organization and Management of Doctoral Training and Research Methodology” took place as the virtual (Zoom) event hosted by the University of Helsinki (UHEL)/ Brunel University London (BUL) team. This event, originally planned as the physical training at the Hyytiälä Forestry Research Station (Finland) was reorganized by UHEL in the virtual domain because the corona-virus situation. In total, more than 160 participants registered, about 130 different persons attended during the first and second days of the training (with the largest number – 83 – during the 1st session). These included international participants - professors, researchers, teachers, PhD students as well as heads, managers, staff of different organizations - from 14 MODEST partners Universities as well as from other 15 interested Universities/ Institutions.
The MODEST training was organized in 5 sessions and included a series of oral presentations including discussions (as time allowed). At start, these covered the Latvian, Polish, UK and
Finnish experiences in technology enhanced learning, organization and assessment of PhD students scientific activities, effective supervision of PhD and MSc students remotely, organization and
administration of doctoral education, respectively. During the 2nd session, each Armenian, Belarus and Russian partner of the MODEST project shared needs of doctoral students and partner countries to establish Doctoral Training Centers (DTCs) & got take-home-work-assignments to develop drafts on organization and management of DTCs. The 4th session focused on reporting for current
status/ progress on developments of the MODEST courses (in total 14) including their descriptions. These courses are arranged into 3 main strands (A – Research, B – Teaching and Learning, C- Collaboration and Communication). During the 3rd and 5th sessions, the UHEL team members also shared UHEL’s experience in the Finnish and Nordic Centers of Excellence, international projects with PhD students’ involvement into training networks, university educational courses at the Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station: advanced approach, teachers’ and students’ perspectives and points of view, gaining transferable skills, studying and researching interactions between forest and atmosphere; and aspects of art-science collaboration in education.
At the end of each day of the training, the participants were interviewed anonymously through online questionnaires (by grading usefulness of each presentation delivered, evaluating most/ least important
aspects of the sessions, and suggesting possible improvements) to get a feedback on the training.
Materials of the training (slides and video-recordings of oral presentations) will be available at:
https://www.emodest.eu/index.php/meetings/11-training-on-organization-and-management-of-doctoral-training-and-research-methodology
The take-home-work-assignments (for each MODEST Armenian, Belarus and Russian University/ partner) were given on developing organization and management of DTCs taking into account own needs
and those (if applicable) shared by other participants. During summer 2020, further elaboration will be done through horizontal communication/ exchange of the MODEST colleagues from different
Universities involved into the DTCs development.
On July 16, 2020 the second MODEST (Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies) meeting of doctoral students' network took place. Discussions highlighted topic of the stress management.
Attendees discussed what stress is in general and what its types are, what is the effect of stress on the body, thinking, emotions, actions. Seminar helped to deepen under-standing of the causes of stress, improve their stress management skills, so that there are more skills to overcome stress more successfully in different situations. Interesting fact was that mostly stress is associated with negative feelings, however different re-searches show, that among events, when people people have one of the highest level of stress, are also different positive events such as marriage, graduation and other meaningfull events.
Despite of summer vacation season in the seminar participated more than twenty students from seven universities from Latvia, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Armenia.
This event was organized by MODEST project manager University of Latvia (grand holder) and Kazan National Research Technological University (Kazan, Russia) and it was lead by Roman Kupriyanov, Associate Professor, PhD in Psychology (Kazan National Research Technological University).
The Erasmus+ MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Science in European countries and Armenia, Belarus, and Russia. A wider project objective is to enhance cooperation capacities of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA).
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3079340982184445
«Erasmus+ MODEST» (8-15 December 2020)
On 8 & 15 December 2020 (starting 14:00 pm of Helsinki time) the
Erasmus+ MODERNIZATION OF DOCTORAL EDUCATION IN SCIENCE AND
IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHING METHODOLOGIES MODEST project (pls
see Project website https://www.emodest.eu as well as brief info
below re MODEST project) partners will present status/ progress on
development of PhD courses for Strands --- C "Communication and
Cooperation" and A "Research".
Zoom link is: https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/476604639
Feedbacks and comments on presented courses from participants of the
virtual event, and especially from PhD students, are especially
welcome for further improvements of the courses (see listed below).
If you are interested, please, self-register:
for Strand C at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a41JLupJZSl8Xf8rf5c47Wt9GhNzPOoY/edit
for Strand A at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uuSgpU5tFD8GsEQyXluSOqD8IOrXs0al/edit
and feel free to share with colleagues whom might be interested to attend.
Agenda to be available
for Strand-C at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VIYr9zyLii4A4U8L099izMx9dOicMqZu/edit
for strand-A at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZsHZxZJmK3GSq3iTjpK4FpU--LLWq93x/edit
List of courses for Strand-C:
C1 - Commercialization of research, managerial skills etc.
C2 - Personal development
C3 - Complexity
C4 - Sustainable Development and Global Challenges of 21st century
List of courses for Strand-A:
A1 - Research methodology and research design
A2 - Project writing, project management, and funding sources
A3 - Presentation skills, writing scientific papers etc.
A4 - Research ethics, Intellectual property rights and personal data protection
A5 - 3I - interdisciplinarity, interculturality, internationalization in research
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3476829989102207
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3483712338413972
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3493636390754900
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3493636390754900
MODEST zoom event on PhD courses development for Strand-C “Communication and Cooperation”
MODEST zoom event on PhD courses development for Strand-A “Research”
MODEST zoom event on PhD courses development for Strand-B “Teaching and Learning”
MODEST project team has actively started 2021 year by organizing several webinars for doctoral students.
First of all in order to have good preparation for establishment of Doctoral training centres and to start practical activities, MODEST team will have 2 webinars, where we will take a look on following topics:
- reasons for establishment of Doctoral Training Centers;
- problems in the training of PhD students have been improved through the creation of a DTC;
- how are PhD training programs developing and evolving at the DTC: who makes the decision and how the program is approved, the assessment of the effectiveness of the program (modules), interaction with internal and external partners, ensuring multidisciplinarity, etc.
- what are the requirements for the knowledge and skills of candidates who want to study at the DTC?
- management of the DTC and interaction with academic and industrial partners.
- networking and information sharing between the Doctoral Training Centers.
Webinars will take place on the following times:
- UK Experience in DTC establishment, Irina Grigorieva, Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester: 25.01. at 16.00 LV time
- If you are interested in these topics, please sign yourself on the list here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hxzpwEaK6fCFIHy5asiWo42rw-Ck2iyX/view?usp=sharing
- EIT Digital Helsinki Doctoral Training Center, Timo Sorsa, Co-location Centre Manager, EIT Digital: 04.02 at 10:00 o'clock LV time;
If you are interested in these topics, please sign yourself on the list here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14q76Ul59_TbqF504oIeHCsJH6y1s-GXO/view?usp=sharing
Besides that on the 26st of January 2021, 14:00 pm of Helsinki time will be held the MODEST virtual zoom-event which will present the best lectures of developed PhD courses within the MODEST project for the Strand-B “Teaching and Learning”:
Annual meeting of the project MODEST looks back at 2020 and looks forward to 2021
On 11th of February, 2020, team of the project MODEST organized annual meeting. During meeting there were an overview of all project activities of 2020 presented and also next steps for the 2021 highlighted.
Despite of COVID19, this year has been very busy for all the team and have been done several activities, for instance, developed analytic report on the existing European regulatory and strategic documents in the field of doctoral education - Doctoral studies in Finland, Latvia, Poland, and the United Kingdom and overview of the Doctoral Education in Russia, Belarus and Armenia. Team has established PhD students network and has been started first activities. Besides that there were organized 8 webinars related to several actual topics for PhD students, for instance stress management, work based learning, organization of doctoral training centers and others.
Significant work was development of training courses, adapted to universities needs, for instance, Research methodology and research design, Project writing, project management, and funding sources and Commercialization of research, managerial skills etc.
Team of the project MODEST team has started also an essential collaboration with ARMDOCT project, as both projects aim to improve quality and organization of PhD studies.
As the project MODEST manager Inga Šķendere highlights: ‘In 2021 project team will focus on development of Doctoral training centers, piloting developed courses and networking among students. Besides that, despite of travelling restrictions, will be organized Summer schools in the most appropriate way taking into account PhD students learning needs. Besides existing situation, project team is very optimistic and looking forward to next activities, as the highest motivation is very high importance of project activities in modernization of doctoral studies environment.’
Erasmus+ project MODEST aims at modernization of doctoral education in Science in European countries and Armenia, Belarus, and Russia. A wider project objective is "To enhance cooperation capacities of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA)".
More information is available on the project website: https://www.emodest.eu/ .
https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/
On March 18, 2021, the online webinar of the project MODEST (Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies) "Research Methodology: From Hypothesis Setting to Publication" will take place.
This webinar will cover topics such as research hypothesis and literature work in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, research planning, day-to-day research activities, and processing of research results. Also during the webinar, various convenient data processing and visualization methods will be discussed; The final part of the webinar will be dedicated to the publication of research results and various tips will be provided for the preparation of a successful publication.
The webinar will start at 12.00 (LV time) and will last about an hour, venue: zoom platform.
We invite you to join the webinar by filling out the registration form below:
MODEST March 18 webinar registration: https://forms.gle/ACfi5PnmfjPgQC6y5.
After registration, information with access data will be sent to the specified e-mail.
The Erasmus+ MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Sci-ence in European countries and Armenia, Belarus, and Russia. A wider project objec-tive is to enhance cooperation capacities of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA).
On April 8th, 2021 MODEST project (Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies) will organize webinar about training course "Commercialization of Research"
Governments and academic institutions have embraced the importance of commercializing research through the late twentieth century. One of the key drivers for economic growth nowadays is knowledge, and it involves high investment in education and training.
Within MODEST project has been developed training course "Commercialization of Research", which will be presented on April 08, 2021, at 15.30 RT. The course will present programs and experience of the same name course piloting at KNITU and MIIGAiK universities for graduate students. The speakers are the authors of the course: Dr.Dilbar Sultanova (KNRTU, Russia), Dr. Andrey Materukhin (MIIGAIK, Russia) and Tatiana Kalganova (BUL, UK).
The webinar is intended for staff, teachers, and students of the MODEST project partners as well as other universities that are interested in including a similar course in their postgraduate training. Register participants here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VPT1Xt5BlJl3CS09bZgeMCH4ghbqcnkU/view?usp=sharing
The participation of graduate students in the discussion will be especially valuable
Zoom link is placed in the register form and dublicated here
Access zoom-link is:
https://zoom.us/j/92276804586?pwd=eWRmaXVXbHBWckR5N3JKUWsxdGVIUT09
Meeting ID: 922 7680 4586
Passcode: 292115
A webinar entitled "Salzburg Principles: Structural Development of the 3rd Cycle" will be held on May 20 (at 2 PM (Yerevan time)) within the framework of "Erasmus + MODEST" (Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies) project. In the webinar participants will explore the content and step-by-step path to the implementation of Salzburg principles (SPs). They will also be able to get acquainted with the practical steps taken in the framework of doctoral education to establish the Salzburg Principles in Armenia and will reveal the main problems faced by the Armenian universities on the way to the implementation of those principles. Discussion on the ways to overcome problems with SPs implementation might address general problems or highlight possible and existing solutions to them The Republic of Armenia joined the Bologna Process in 2005 in Bergen (Bergen Communiqué). Following its ratification by the Republic of Armenia (RA) National Assembly in 2005 steps have been undertaken to actively implement the Bologna lines to integrate into European Higher Education Area. As a result, the reforms in doctoral education been implemented step by step in accordance with the 10 Salzburg Principles. The webinar will be conducted by Dr. Yeranuhi Manukyan, Head of YSU Scientific Policy Department.
The webinar is intended for scientists, PhD students and administrative staff of the scientific institutes as well as other universities that are interested in Doctoral studies standards
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/96056469247?pwd=N1c0N0wwRlY1cVl2azRCblY3UkltUT09
Meeting ID: 960 5646 9247
Passcode: 572470
The Erasmus+ MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Science in European countries and Armenia, Belarus, and Russia. A wider project objective is to enhance cooperation capacities of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA).
Within MODEST project will be organized webinar about "Commercialization of Research", which will be held on May 25th, 2021, at 5 PM (LV time). In the webinar we will explore the step-by-step path to the commercialization. The important topics of the webinar will be also overview of commercialization research, best practices and also common mistakes of universities.
The speaker is Reinis Lasmanis, who used to work as Head of Science Commercialization division at the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and has significant experience in science commercialization. He has evaluated more than 100 startup and science-based business ideas of public research institutions. As a guest lecturer in Riga Technical University he is teaching course “Startup Development” for Latvian and foreign students.
The webinar is intended for scientists, PhD students and administrative staff of the scientific institutes as well as other universities that are interested in science commercialization. Register participants here https: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ff10r0uwpYbzpfbhKMVEZ8A0YhMR_hEc/view?usp=sharing
Zoom link is placed in the register form and duplicated here
Access zoom-link is:
https://zoom.us/j/94620340719?pwd=N256Q1FkUUM4OHZHVG95dTh0Y2h1dz09
Meeting ID: 946 2034 0719
Passcode: 146548
The Erasmus+ MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Sci-ence in European countries and Armenia, Belarus, and Russia. A wider project objec-tive is to enhance cooperation capacities of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA).
On June 1st-4th KNRTU hosts MODEST (Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies) Partnership Meeting under Erasmus+ Program. The event is held in the mixed format. KNRTU welcomes offline participants from National Polytechnic University of Armenia, Yerevan State University, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, and Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University. Online participation is available via Zoom conference for the Consortium members. On June 1st, the Department of Foreign Languages for Professional Communication held the opening ceremony of the first DTC (Doctoral Training Center) at KNRTU. Virtual reality headset and virtual visit to the University of Latvia were tested by the Consortium members. During the meeting, a course in Presentation Skills module (as implemented at KNRTU) and a course in Academic Writing module (as implemented at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) were presented. On June 2, the members of the consortium listened to the presentations of vice-rector of KNRTU, the representatives of another Erasmus+ Consortium (ENTER) and other participants. The presenters reported on the courses elaborated for the doctoral students. The members of the meeting also visited the Department of Physical and Colloid Chemistry, which is another site of the DTC. A Cooperation Agreement between National Polytechnic University of Armenia and KNRTU was signed. On June 3, the participants of the meeting presented their reports on the development of the DTCs in their universities and discussed further activities.
For more information: https://www.facebook.com/modestmodernization/posts/3980504892068045
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