SEARCHING
Taking reference to Luxembourg’s coalition agreement of 2018 to support the LU Industry in getting access to the defence market, the Directorate of Defence of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of the Economy, the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and Luxinnovation join forces to offer a new funding opportunity to companies and research organisations looking to develop dual-use defence technologies (products, services and systems). The call supports the development and validation of innovative dual-use defence solutions potentially benefiting the national defence forces, international defence organisations (EDA, NATO), the defence forces of allied nations, as well as civilian research and local industry.
This measure serves to provide support for researchers who have fled the war in Ukraine. These persons should be employed at Luxembourg public research institutions in ongoing FNR projects for a maximum of 6 months based on requests for additional funding. The FNR earmarks 1 MEUR for these grants. Additionally, 5 INTER Mobility grants in the 2022-2 call are earmarked for researchers from Ukraine.
The FNR is pleased to share the newest podcast in the collaboration with Lëtzebuerger Journal. Titled ‘Mäin Element’, the series features researchers in Luxembourg talking about their lives and their passion for science, showing a glimpse of the people behind the science. The 12th episode features epidemiologist Guy Fagherazzi.
The FNR is pleased to announce that 4 INTER projects have been retained for funding in the AUDACE Call with Quebec FRQ, with an FNR contribution of 100,000 EUR. Webinars for the 2022 Call will take place in late July and mid-August.
When we wrote about Miguel Olivares Mendez in the 2017 edition of Spotlight on Young Researchers, the researcher was working on an FNR JUMP project, focussing on developing algorithms for autonomous drones. The robotics scientist has continued to build his research career in Luxembourg – 5 years later, Miguel is a Professor leading a research group with a focus on space robotics.
Emma Schymanski is a chemist and environmental engineer, who embarked on her FNR ATTRACT Fellowship in 2018. Her husband Stan Schymanski is also an FNR ATTRACT Fellow, making them the first dual career couple to both benefit from this scheme. We spoke to Emma about her group’s detective work to find traces of chemicals in our environment and the associated challenges; her experiences as a woman in STEM; open science, and the experience of setting up your own research group for the first time.
An estimated 10% of Parkinson’s Diseases cases are due to genetic factors – in the search for answers as to what could cause the other 90%, research is increasingly finding evidence pointing to environmental factors. To paint a clearer picture of what role chemicals could play in the disease, researchers are for example looking for ‘fingerprints’ of chemicals in biological samples.
Lack of access to fast and reliable Internet in rural and remote areas is a [multi-step] challenge that must be addressed to pave the way for smart agriculture and precision farming, a vital step toward ensuring food security in a changing climate. In the quest for smart agriculture, researchers are working on solutions for connecting Internet of Things (IoT) with satellite communication (SATCOM) systems.
