Important achievements for University of Cyprus

Two research proposals coordinated by University of Cyprus have achieved significant distinction at the pan-European level, since they have managed to secure funding of € 720,250 for the implementation of research projects under the “Twinning” activity of the European “Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation”, which is part of the Program “Horizon 2020” for EU Research and Innovation.
 
The results of the evaluation of the proposals were announced by the European Commission on 11 April 2018 in Brussels, and University of Cyprus secured funding for two research projects from the 5 proposals submitted, with a 40% success rate. This is a great success, as a total of 483 proposals have been submitted, of which only 30 will be funded, with the success rate in this call being estimated at around 6% lower, and the success rate in funding requests from the European Research Council (ERC).
 
In particular, funding of € 329,500 was secured by the Department of Biological Sciences of University of Cyprus, led by Assistant Professor, Anna Papadopoulou for the successful proposal-project "iBioGen - Twinning for European Excellence in Island Biodiversity Genomics", and € 390,750 funding by the Electromagnetics and Novel Applications Laboratory (ENAL) of the Research Centre for Sustainable Energy (RCSE), headed by its Director, Professor Giorgos H. Georgiou, for the successful proposal-project entitled "TImPANI - Twinning in Atmospheric Plasma Science and Applications ».
 
Professor Konstantinos Christofides, Rector of University of Cyprus, was impressed by the participation of the University in the framework of the “Twinning” Activity of the “Horizon 2020” Program and congratulated the responsible academics of the two research projects to secure significant European funding. "The fact that University of Cyprus submitted five proposals, two of which were successfully approved for funding, highlights the University for its excellence, scientific research and international influence. What is also of great importance is the positive impression of European officials in relation to the University of Cyprus, which actively participates and successfully co-ordinates existing and new research programs", the Rector noted.
 
The Twinning program aims to achieve research excellence through collaboration with world-renowned research institutions in Europe. It aims to help strengthen universities and research centers in research developing countries such as Cyprus through their collaboration with at least two internationally recognized centers of research excellence. By linking through “Twinning”, stakeholders are expected to enhance their research and innovation capability while strengthening the profile of the members of the research potential involved in the implementation of the projects.