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Computer Science Students Won the First Prize in the Innovation Competition

The team “Pannonian Crew” from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, consisting of Aleksandar Rončević, Mihailo Milenković, Petar Kapriš and Vladimir Krsmanović, all Computer Science students, won the first place in the national competition for the best technological innovation in the category of student innovations. They developed the innovation “Lara” – a system for automatic accident detection and rescue of sailors, which consists of hardware and software systems.

Last week, in the ceremonial hall of the Rectorate of the University of Belgrade, the competition finals were held in the category of Innovative Ideas, a subcategory of high school and student teams.

From the moment of the initial application, there were two qualification rounds in which business models as well as technical feasibility of innovations were analyzed. These talented young people, third-year students of Computer Science, even as high school students had contacts with associations such as Maker, through which they studied outside the classroom and expanded their horizons and ambitions. Although they study programming, they have very broad interests, from music and philosophy to electronics and economics. Vladimir Krsmanović had already been in contact with the shipbuilding industry and there he encountered the problem of overboard falls into the water from ships (Man-Overboard), which motivated him to work on this innovation.

Although the team “Pannonian Crew” gathered only for this competition, they individually have had competition experiences and brought success from other competitions such as national competitions in mathematics and programming, Google HashCode, Competition for the Best Technological Innovation in the high school category, etc.

This victory gave them additional confidence that there was real potential in their idea and that it was recognized, which paved the way for a much broader dimension of the innovation creation process. The plan of these young researchers is to continue developing the idea and to test it on real ships soon.

Achievements

Three New Curricula Developed in the Fields of Reproductive Biology/ Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Regenerative Medicine

Erasmus+ Project “Curricula Development in the Fields of Reproductive Biology/ Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Regenerative Medicine in Serbia”, Ref. No. 586181‐EPP‐1‐2017‐1‐RS‐EPPKA2‐CBHE‐JP ART-REM led by the University of Novi Sad, with the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine as the participants, was successfully completed in June 2021 and received the highest grades on behalf of EACEA.

MAS in Reproductive Biology were enhanced and new study programmes were created at the University of Belgrade, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – Academic Specialization in Animal Reproductive Biotechnology and the University of Kragujevac, the Faculty of Medicine – MAS in Regenerative Medicine. LLL courses were also created for the veterinarians and reproductive biologists – embryologists.

All three universities procured modern equipment, and a signed agreement between the three universities enabled teaching staff exchange within the above-mentioned study programmes.

Achievements

European Commission Innovation Radar recognized the Faculty of Sciences as an innovator

The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Novi Sad (UNSPMF) has been recognized as an innovator due to a recently completed project funded by the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 called I-BiDaaS.

The main researcher and project coordinator at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad (UNSPMF) is  Prof. Dušan Jakovetić  of the Department of Mathematics and Informatics.

European Commission Innovation Radar, after analyzing the project results of the I-BiDaaS Project, has reached a conclusion that UNSPMF, together with the partner BARCELONA SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER, is the key innovator in developing the innovation categorized as:

Innovation Title: ADMM Machine Learning Algorithms;

Market Maturity of the Innovation: Market Ready;

Market Creation Potential of the innovation: Addresses needs of existing markets.

Achievements

Our Head of the International Affairs Office as Humphrey Alumna Promotes Internationalization of Higher Education in Europe

Humphrey alumna Gordana Vlahović has been building upon her capstone project from her Humphrey Fellowship by working on initiatives to promote comprehensive internationalization in higher education. Ms. Vlahović was a 2018-2019 Fellow at Penn State University. Upon her return from her Humphrey Fellowship, she resumed her role as our Head of the International Affairs Office.

One project she is working on is called EXtremeClimTwin, in which she enhances the skills and competencies of research managers and administrators researching climate change and temperature extremes. She was recently interviewed on Serbian national television, during which she discussed the European Union Horizon 2020-funded research project, the critical role of the higher education administration in the process of internationalization, and raised awareness of the general lack of experts in this field.


Achievements, International Relations

Researchers from the Faculty of Science are among the most cited scientists in the world in 2019

The recently published list of the first 2% of the most cited scientists in the world according to the citations in 2019, which is the result of the latest research at Stanford University, USA, published in late 2020, includes 63 scientists from the Republic of Serbia, with nine from the University of Novi Sad, and four from our Faculty: Prof. Dr Neda Mimica-Dukić, Prof. Dr Dušan Jakovetić, Prof. Dr Stevan Pilipović and Prof. Dr Biljana Abramović.

These rankings of scientists from the University of Novi Sad represent a great success and an important recognition for their scientific research work so far, as well as a confirmation of the relevance of their research topics and their recognition on the international scientific scene.

Achievements,

New Erasmus+ project approved: Development of education in relation to the influence of ongoing climate change to hunting tourism (HUNTOUR)

According to the decision of the Agency for Mobility and EU Programs of the Czech Republic, the project HUNTOUR – Development of education in relation to the influence of ongoing climate change to hunting tourism was selected for funding (Erasmus+ Key Activity 2: Strategic Partnerships (KА203)).

The project leader is the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences), and other partners on the project are University of Novi Sad (Faculty of Sciences), University of Helsinki (Ruralia Institute) and National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (Hungary). The leader of the project on behalf of the University of Novi Sad is Milosava Matejević, PhD, and other team members are Vladimir Marković, PhD, Zoran Ristić, PhD, Milutin Kovačević, PhD, Igor Ponjiger and Biljana Basarin, PhD (Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management).

The main goal of this project is to support the development of hunting tourism in European countries through the creation of a transnational joint education program for key competencies and skills in implementing adequate and responsible hunting tourism in a sustainable way that is crucial not only for improving the quality of this type of tourism, but also for the protection of wildlife and its habitats.

The expected outcomes of the project are: a scientific publication that would include an analysis of the current situation in selected countries in terms of economic, environmental and social aspects of hunting tourism; open digital education; evaluation of the countries’ potential for the development of hunting tourism; the multiplier effect of measuring the economic impact of hunting tourism on the economy; best practice studies – case studies related to hunting tourism; creating a transnational joint education program for key competencies and skills in implementing adequate and responsible hunting tourism.

The project started in September 2020 and will last for 3 years.

Achievements

The Faculty of Sciences won the first coordinating project in the EU Horizon 2020 Program

In the next three years, the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad will implement a significant scientific research project worth about 900,000 Euros, related to the study of hydro-meteorological extremes, floods and droughts.

Due to its complexity, the study of hydro-meteorological extremes is of utmost importance for South East Europe. It has been estimated that as a result of climate change, the hydrological cycle is changing, which could lead to an increased risk of floods – says the head of EXtremeClimTwin project Biljana Basarin, PhD from the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management (Chair of Physical Geography). – We remember that several devastating floods in Central Europe during the last 20 years were caused by extreme rainfall. The complexity of the relationship between atmospheric conditions, extreme precipitation and floods, together with the observed growing trends, indicate the necessity to improve science and build research capacity in this field and in Serbia.

Losses caused by extreme climatic and hydrological events reached 453 billion Euros, 12 billion euros per year on average, 79,200 Euros per square kilometer or 811 Euros per capita.

The Faculty of Sciences recognized this need and, with the project proposal, successfully applied for a call from the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation called Horizon 2020 (H2020-WIDESPREAD-2020-5 Twinning). The project proposal was evaluated with a maximum of 15 points as the best from Serbia. The project will be implemented under the title “Twinning for the advancement of data-driven multidisciplinary research into hydro-climatic extremes to support risk assessment and decision making” (ExtremeClimTwin), and provides the Faculty of Science and partners with almost 900,000 Euros for research capacity building in areas of detection and description of extreme hydro-climatic events.

The partners of the Faculty of Sciences in this project are three outstanding research institutions from the EU: Climate Risk Analysis from Germany, Loughborough University from Great Britain and the Center for International Climate Research from Norway. EU partners will transfer knowledge and research skills by providing training for the research team members at the Faculty of Sciences. Networking with EU partners will be realized at all levels, and such exchange of knowledge is certainly for the benefit of all participants in the project, the wider scientific community and certainly, due to the urgency of the problem, many stakeholders from the non-academic sector. The project is also important for nurturing the potential of young researchers at the Faculty of Sciences and strategically connecting the Faculty with international research institutions through sustainable partnerships and the transfer of knowledge, results and scientific methodologies.

The project starts on November 1, 2020 and will last for 36 months.

Achievements

New Erasmus + project approved: InAMath – An interdisciplinary approach to mathematical education

According to the Decision of the Agency for EU Mobility Programs of the Republic of Croatia, the financing of the project InAMath – An interdisciplinary approach to mathematical education (Erasmus + Key Activity 2: Strategic Partnerships (KA201)) was approved. The project brought together distinguished educational institutions from the region, from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The project owner is the University of Rijeka (HR), and the University of Novi Sad, i.e. the Faculty of Sciences, is one of the partners in the project. In addition to the University of Novi Sad, the project partners are the Center of Technical Culture Rijeka (HR), Elementary School Nikola Tesla from Rijeka (HR), Elementary School of the Hero Janez Hribar (SLO), University of Primorska (SLO) and University of Mostar (BIH).

The aim of this project is to design educational content that will increase interdisciplinarity in the mathematics education from 1st  to 4th grade of primary school and which will be available to all interested users. Project activities include the design and implementation of educational content with primary school students using interdisciplinary methods, the development of teaching materials that will be available to class teachers and subject teachers, as well as teacher education for the preparation and implementation of such activities. The task of the University of Novi Sad is to contribute to the mentioned project activities, and especially to make the connection between mathematics and chemistry and geography more attractive for primary school students.

The project started in September 2020 and will last for three years.

Achievements, ,

GRASP – a new project in the field of artificial intelligence

The GRASP project in the field of artificial intelligence, dealt by researchers from the Faculty of Sciences, Novi Sad meets very high and precise criteria of the Science Fund, which finances projects with clear and sustainable goals, a concept and systematic and well-designed methodology.

The research must have a high level of scientific excellence, quality and innovation, and the project “GRASP” (Graphs in Space: Graph Embeddings for Machine Learning on Complex Data) deals with the problems of graphs, i.e. networks, in the “traditional” form of data – table, with special reference to the application of artificial intelligence techniques. Graphs, or networks, are one of the most important ways to understand the world around us. The points (nodes) of a graph can represent entities (e.g. people), while the connections (branches) between points express a relationship or interaction (e.g. acquaintance) between them. In this way, almost every phenomenon, from the level of atoms to galaxy levels, can be modelled in the form of a graph. On the other hand, one of the key operations available on graphs is their transformation into a “traditional” form of data – a table. In a table, entities are represented by rows, while columns indicate attributes that describe entities. If we go back to people, for example, the attributes that describe them can be name, surname, height, weight, etc.

The field of graph embedding deals with ways to transform graphs into tabular form, which is important because it allows the application of “traditional” tabular techniques of artificial intelligence (more precisely, machine learning) and data analysis to achieve insights that would be difficult or impossible by direct observation of networks. For example, by using well-known tabular techniques on an interaction graph of a Facebook user, we can (1) classify users into some categories of interest, (2) identify communities, (3) recommend “friends,” and (4) predict whether two users will interact in the future.

Improving graph mapping techniques in this project will enable researchers and experts from Serbia and the world to apply machine learning and data analysis techniques in areas where this was not previously possible or did not give satisfactory results, primarily in scientific research (e.g. bioinformatics, sociology, economics), but also in technology and industry (eg predictive analysis of energy, telecommunications and transport networks), education (e.g. predictive analytics based on data from e-learning systems), and society in general (e.g. improved/new services of social networking sites, or even new types of social networking that were not possible before).

The project will last for two years, with a budget of over 120 thousand Euros, and the team consists of both experienced and young researchers from the Faculty of Sciences, Novi Sad, with an emphasis on researchers at an early stage of their careers. All participants are employed at the Department of Mathematics and Informatics, the Chair of Computer Science and the Chair of Information Technology and Systems. The project leader is Miloš Radovanović, PhD and the team also includes: Mirjana Ivanović, PhD, Vladimir Kurbalija, PhD,  Miloš Savić, PhD,  Brankica Bratić, Nemanja Milošević, Dušica Knežević and Aleksandar Tomčić.

Achievements

Three Students of Gastronomy from the Faculty of Sciences won the Bronze Medal as Members of the Serbian National Team at the Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart

The students and lecturers of the Chair of Gastronomy, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Faculty of Sciences, are the members and leaders of the professional association of the Culinary Federation of Serbia (CFS), whose main objective is the development of the gastronomic profession in the country and the region. This year, for the first time, CFS sent their national junior team to take part in the Culinary Olympics of IKA 2020, one of the most important international competitions, held in Stuttgart, Germany, from February 14 to 19, 2020.

Our national team was proudly represented by 11 members up to the age of 23, consisting of hardworking, ambitious and young, dedicated chefs from various hospitality establishments in Serbia as well as gastronomy students, including 3 gastronomy students from the Faculty of Sciences:

  • Dušan Grujić;
  • Vladimir Jež and
  • Tatjana Bodvaji.

They underwent rigorous training at the Faculty of Sciences where they had trained intensively for more than 6 months together with their lecturers, mentors and colleagues. At the competition they were accompanied and supported by the teaching assistant Maja Banjac and skills teacher Goran Radivojević. In addition to the great support from their faculty, the Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Research also helped them in this endeavour.

The prestigious IKA 2020 World Culinary Competition is the largest culinary competition that gathers over 2,000 chefs from more than 59 countries, and has been visited by some 28,000 visitors. The Olympics involved:

  • 31 national senior teams,
  • 24 national junior teams,
  • 29 regional teams and
  • about 720 more individual categories

from a total of 74 countries.

Meals preparation took place every day in 14 kitchens, which served 1,200 meals, 7 catering teams prepared 840 meals, 6 junior teams presented national buffets and 8 national teams presented their chef tables, with 180 individual categories daily.

Our team competed according to the competition requirements in two disciplines:

  • National Restaurant, for which it was awarded a bronze medal and
  • IKA Buffet, for which it received a diploma with enough points to win the 4th place.

National Restaurant is a discipline where chefs prepare a menu of three courses (starter, main course, dessert) for 60 people, within an interval of 5 hours of pre-preparation and 2 hours of preparation and serving, at an à la carte restaurant.

The IKA Buffet is a discipline in which hot and cold, savoury snacks for 12 people are prepared and served, along with the prescribed meals based on rabbit meat, and dessert.

They evaluated teamwork, discipline, professionalism, precision, creativity, application of modern techniques and equipment, sanitation and safety at work, presentation of dishes and, of course, sensory characteristics of the dishes, which carried the most points. This was accompanied by the constant supervision of highly respected and professional WASC judges such as: Uwe Staiger (Germany); Adrian Bader (Switzerland); Carlo Sauber (Luxembourg); Domico Maggi (Italy); Rick Stephen (Singapore) and many others.

Achievements