The ICN2 is one of four partners of this EU funded ‘Twinning Western Balkans’ project. Its main goals are to develop nanosensors for water pollution detection and to raise the research and management profile of the University of Tirana, thanks to the support of its twinning partners.
The scientific activities of the SUSNANO project have been officially launched at a kick-off meeting held in Tirana (Albania) on October 5, 2022, in parallel with the TNT2022-NanoBalkan Conference. Representatives of the University of Tirana (UT, Albania), and its twinning partners –i.e., the ICN2 (specifically, the Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, led by ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi), the Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic), and Intelligentsia Consultants Sàrl (Luxemburg)— met to review the objectives and timing of the project work packages and to plan the next steps. From the ICN2, Prof. Arben Merkoçi and Dr Ruslán Àlvarez, primary investigator and senior researcher in charge of the project respectively, participated in the meeting, as well as Ana Puig, Project Manager in Prof. Merkoçi’s group.
SUSNANO, short name for ‘Twinning to boost the scientific and innovation capacity of the Universiteti i Tiranes to develop sustainable nanosensors for water pollution detection’, is a three-year project funded by the European Union in the framework of the Horizon Programme with the ‘Twinning Western Balkans’ (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-02) call. This call was specifically designed to contribute to the European Community policy initiative to support Western Balkan countries, which aims to spur the long-term economic recovery of the region, support a green and digital transition, as well as foster regional integration and convergence with the European Union.
The project aims to conduct exploratory research on sustainable nanosensors and develop a portable device for quality assessment of freshwaters. The sensor, which will be based on graphene-related nanomaterials, should be capable of detecting heavy metals, pesticides, and antibiotics in water. Techniques such as inkjet, stamping and screen-printing will be used for its fabrication. The validated device will be used in field tests to provide an environmental assessment of rivers and lakes in Albania.
In addition to the scientific and technological aspects, the Twinning Programme put a strong focus on raising the research profile and boosting the development of the Western Balkan institute involved in the project (in this case, the University of Tirana), with the support and collaboration of the partners. Consequently, a number of actions are planned to achieve this result. In first place, the interchange of knowledge between experienced researchers and the enhancement of early-stage researchers’ career prospects will be pursued by means of short- to medium-term staff exchanges, training workshops, seminars, and joint PhD programmes.
Then, specific actions will be put in place to improve the skills of the UT’s Directorate of Scientific Research, Projects and Foreign Relations in proposal preparation and project management for European R&D funding programmes. Finally, a comprehensive range of dissemination, exploitation, communication and outreach activities will be organised.