Project funding will get joint projects off to a flying start
Seven joint projects were granted funding in 2018 in Uppsala University’s Verification for Collaboration initiative. The projects cover various sectors and areas of research. The funding is intended to contribute to sustainable collaboration between Uppsala University and the rest of society.
Verification for Collaboration (VFS in Swedish) is an aspect of Uppsala University’s work to stimulate good and sustainable collaboration. VFS provides researchers and non-academic organisations an opportunity to jointly apply for funding to initiate joint projects with the potential to develop into long-term relationships. The funding augments the support otherwise provided for the purpose by UU Innovation, such as advice, matchmaking and contract support.
“Researchers in all fields can apply for VFS funding to test an idea in collaboration with a company or other organisation. VFS funding is particularly good when the parties have identified a question in which they have a shared interest, but are having difficulty making progress with, for various reasons. The funding helps boost the project over the threshold,” says Cecilia Nilsson, collaboration manager at UU Innovation and head of VFS.
The external parties may be private companies or public or non-profit organisations, but not other universities. A mutual interest and benefit from the collaboration are important. This year, seven joint projects were granted VFS funding of up to SEK 300,000 per project. The projects vary widely across research and operational areas.
“The projects that have received grants have successfully shown clear mutual benefit, which is the core of VFS,” says Nilsson.
Other assessment criteria for VFS applications address the clarity of the problem statement, realistic goals, project feasibility and the potential for continued collaboration.
Prepare your application for 2019
VFS is open for applications for funding throughout 2019. The deadline for applications is 20 February and 9 August, respectively. Applications are then assessed by reviewers appointed by the University’s three disciplinary domains. The Uppsala University Advisory Board for External Collaboration will consider applications for recommendation to the Vice-Chancellor, who makes the grant decision. Cecilia Nilsson hastens to remind applicants that UU Innovation is available as a sounding board throughout the process, from planning the application up to the point the joint project has begun:
“Start by contacting a collaboration manager at UU Innovation to check whether your project meets the criteria. We also give advice and support to help make the application as good as possible.”
VFS projects granted funding in 2018:
Transport optimisation with numerous advantages
Improvement of optimisation modules in transport management systems for vehicle fleets can lead to smarter routes, lower fuel consumption and a better environment. This will also give the Uppsala-based company B&M Systemutveckling greater capacity to meet its customers’ needs for advanced solutions, now and in the future. For Pierre Flener, professor within the Applied Optimisation Research Arena at the Department of Information Technology, the collaboration with B&M will be able to provide real data and practical examples of optimisation that can be used for teaching and experimental input for research.
The right rapid diagnostics will support healthcare in India
The use of antibiotics is higher in India than in any other country. Use increased by 103 percent between 2000 and 2015. Using C-reactive protein (CRP) as a biomarker to assess whether an infection is bacterial or viral is standard healthcare protocol in high welfare countries, in order to rapidly determine whether or not treatment with antibiotics is necessary. The aim of the joint project between researchers at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and the FIND organisation is to ensure safe and reliable use of rapid diagnostics tools, like CRP, to improve the treatment of acute paediatric conditions and combat antibiotic resistance in India and other countries. Because variations in CRP levels can occur due to malnutrition and multiple conditions, the project will focus on determining the normal levels of CRP for children up to five years of age in deprived areas.
Closer study of wear of chainsaw teeth in the hunt for an environmentally friendly coating technique
Tribology covers the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear. Specifically, the focus of the joint project between the company Husqvarna and tribology researchers at the Department of Engineering Sciences is on wear of chainsaw teeth. In order to create the conditions for development towards environmentally friendly chains for chainsaws requires more detailed knowledge about wear mechanisms and an efficient wear-testing method. Finding another coating technique as an alternative to the currently used hard chrome plating is desirable because the process is toxic. Through studies in a sweep electron microscope, the researchers will be able to contribute to greater understanding of how saw teeth wear, and the effects of materials and coatings and why those effects occur. A test method that reproduces the mechanisms that dominate in the field will also be developed and tested. The joint project gives the researchers an opportunity to delve deeper into a new area of tribological research and to contribute to more sustainable solutions.
Upstart innovations in a conservative industry - A case study of NCC Construction
How can the building industry accelerate innovation and revitalisation? Researchers at the department of Industrial Engineering and Management within the Department of Engineering Sciences will begin looking for answers to that question in a pre-study in collaboration with the construction company NCC. Even as the building industry has a need to step up the pace of innovation, the revitalisation that actually happens is at risk of being overlooked due to the prevailing image of the industry as conservative. This impedes industry capacity to attract new, young colleagues. The pre-study is aimed at identifying central innovations that have emerged and been adopted by NCC and showing the obstacles to and drivers of effective implementation within NCC, but also the building industry from a wider perspective. The project is expected to lead to an application for a larger research collaboration between the University and NCC in the area of innovation management and use of new technology.
Targeted initiative with mentor mums for more equitable children’s health in Sweden
Children’s health in Sweden is good overall, but not equal. Children in socio-economically deprived areas are generally in poorer health. The Church of Sweden is currently evaluating possibilities of initiating a project with mentor mums in deprived areas of major Swedish cities. Personal mentorship is expected to help improve support to parents in establishing good health-related conditions for their children. Greater knowledge about how the indicators for children’s health are distributed at the city district level in Sweden, and how this correlates with indicators for social integration, is needed in order to target the initiatives to the geographical areas where they are needed most. Such a statistical platform will be developed in collaboration with researchers at the Department of Women's and Children's Health, which will also publish the results in a scientific article. The basic data that the study will generate will also provide an opportunity to evaluate how children’s health changes over time and the effects of initiatives like the one involving mentor mums on social integration and health equality.
Live testing of nitrogen removal using bioreactor technique
Nitrogen leaching from crushed rock is very common in the building and quarrying industries. Explosives are the primary source of nitrogen, which binds to the rock material when it is blasted and can leach when it rains, for example. The nitrogen-enriched water must be cleaned before it is discharged so that it does not end up in a nearby lake or watercourse and promote eutrophication. Skanska, a construction company, has three bioreactors for water treatment near the Slagsta Marina in the municipality of Botkyrka. The bioreactor technique has been tested on a pilot scale, but has not been used in operations. The joint project between Roger Herbert, researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, and Skanska Industrial Solutions, is aimed at studying and optimising the treatment process under real operating conditions. The project will lead to a more effective water treatment process and thus lower discharges of nitrogen pollutants to the aquatic environment. The project will also contribute to further development of the technique and better understanding of how the treatment process responds to factors such as temperature, water flow and nutrient supply.
Development of AI method for more reliable diagnoses of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer-related death in men and one of the most difficult forms of cancer to assess. Currently established diagnostic methods in the form of manual assessment of tissue samples and Gleason scoring are time consuming and have shown wide variation among pathologists. The joint project between Cecilia Lindskog Bergström at the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology and a private company, ContextVision, is aimed at laying the groundwork for the development of an automated image analysis method that can help pathologists determine a faster and more precise diagnosis. Identifying a credible molecular marker for Gleason scoring is the key, and has not been done before. To find out which proteins are linked to Gleason scoring, the project will use data from the Human Protein Atlas and a dyeing method developed jointly in an earlier pre-study.
Sara Gredemark