University of Silesia in Katowice

| Author: Olimpia Orządała |

The University of Silesia in Katowice joined the Transform4Europe Alliance in 2020; it brings together 11 European universities, and its employees, students and PhD students have had numerous opportunities to take part in events and projects ever since. One such person is Agnieszka Babczyńska, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., from the USil Faculty of Natural Sciences, who collaborates with researchers from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania) and the University of Trieste (Italy).

‘It all started with the launch of the Green Horizon, a call for proposals within USil Research Excellence Initiative. One of the evaluation criteria was collaboration with members of the T4EU Alliance. This, in turn, led to the formation of a team to carry out the LifeInDust project. The best part was that all the people I reached out to about the collaboration responded very positively, even though we didn’t know each other at all – the only thing connecting us was the T4EU Alliance. I hadn’t expected such an outcome, but it made me really happy,’ admits Prof. Agnieszka Babczyńska.

The researchers were investigating the invertebrates’ exposure to traffic-related pollutants, i.e. dust generated by the abrasion of tyres and other vehicle parts. One of the conditions for completing the project was to apply in the Horizon Europe call. Despite not securing the funding, the project has been a success.

‘What I consider quite a feat is that we’ve managed to build an international team on the basis of a project financed within the Research Excellence Initiative, and it survived the test of time. I’m still in touch with a few of the colleagues. We’ve remained friends and we trust each other. In the meantime, we’ve already published three papers in high-impact journals,’ says the scientist.

Thanks to the T4EU Alliance, the biologist had an opportunity to spend a week in Kaunas on a field trip aimed at discerning further directions for collaboration. She is not the only one to benefit from mobility within the Alliance – two of her PhD students seized the chance to complete internships at the University of Trieste. Moreover, while applying for the OPUS grant by the National Science Centre, Babczyńska could also count on the support of T4EU partners from Trieste.

‘When I applied for a grant within the Research Excellence Initiative—which marked the beginning of my current scientific collaboration—I had no clue what the T4EU Alliance was, but I was determined to find partners. As the collaboration went by, I discovered how big of span and potential the T4EU has. From the perspective of a researcher, the Alliance has changed a lot in the way I think about such collaborations. The T4EU offers many opportunities,’ admits the scientist.

As part of the T4EU, the University of Silesia received funding from the National Agency for Academic Exchange for an additional project called Stronger Together. With this support, it was possible to organise the Aquamatics Summer School with students from Kaunas and teachers from Kaunas and Trieste, a research expedition on the Neman that involved collecting a wide range of environmental samples and carrying out multiple measurements (results are currently being processed and analysed), and the Aquamatics Conference. Its next edition is scheduled for October 2025 – in addition to participants from the countries already involved, it will also feature researchers from Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ (Bulgaria), and invitations will be extended to scholars from the University of Alicante (Spain). The project has also helped establish a joint Master’s degree studies leading to a double degree – the admission process for Aquamatics started in June 2025. Students will take full advantage of the resources of the University of Silesia and Vytautas Magnus University. Topics will cover problems of aquatic environments from natural, social and legal perspectives.

‘Transform4Europe pushes you to doing networking. With each passing year, we’re becoming more and more aware that we’re a part of one super-university, and we are getting to know each other better and better. The Alliance has done a great deal for the team I lead, contributing to our research and international collaboration. And so, I do believe that it’s worth snatching opportunities created by the T4EU,’ sums up Prof. Agnieszka Babczyńska.

The article ‘T4EU Offers Many Opportunities’ was published in June issue No. 9 (329) of the University of Silesia Magazine.