Competition for the Scholarship of S. Banaitis

Saliamonas Banaitis scholarship was established at the University in 2016 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the restoration of Lithuanian statehood by his grandchildren living in Canada. The aim of the scholarship is to support and encourage the most talented students at the University conducting research related to personalities, organisations, events or processes of the First Independent Republic of Lithuania (1918-1940), which in one way or another are connected with the activities and environment of the signatory of the Act, S. Banaitis.

In this context, a thematic competition is being launched for students at all levels who are writing a thesis or carrying out research in one or more of the themes indicated by the founder of the scholarship:

History of Lithuania relating to the activities, professional interests, or achievements of Saliamonas Banaitis, his family or relatives.
Lithuanian culture (art) related to the activities, professional interests, or achievements of Saliamonas Banaitis, his family or relatives.
transportation of goods or people by land and water (priority is given if there is any connection with S. Banaitis, his family or relatives);
communication, publishing and dissemination (priority will be given if there is any connection with Mr Banaitis, his family or relatives);
the family economy and its development (priority is given if there is any link to S. Banaitis, his family or relatives);
amateur, village (barn) theatre or folk music (priority is given if there is any connection with S. Banaitis, his family or relatives).

The scholarship in the name of S. Banaitis, signatory of the Act of Independence of the Republic of Lithuania, with a preliminary amount of ~ 2,200 EUR(up to half of the amount of the scholarship, i.e. ~ 1,100 EUR if the scholarship is awarded to two persons), will be given to the student(s) who is/are most relevant to the field of study, and who is/are intending to have his/her/their research published.

The decision to award the scholarship is made by the Lithuanian Canadian Foundation (LCF), with which VMU has concluded a cooperation agreement, according to which the nominal S. Banaitis Scholarship is awarded to the best students at the University whose studies and/or research interest is related to the history, culture, and achievements of Lithuania. Priority is given to students who are interested in the activities, professional interests or achievements of Saliamonas Banaitis, his family, or relatives, thus encouraging students to achieve professional and academic excellence.

Students who are willing to apply for S. Banaitis scholarship has to complete an electronic application form in Student self-service portal until March 10^th. How to do this?

log in to the VMU Student self-service portal using your personal login provided by the University;
select the Applications in the menu box and click on the Requests button;
select the application category Finances and Scholarhips and other support, click Nominal scholarship (form F-005), complete the form, justifying the area of study or research interest in the priority list of topics above and indicating its relevance: identification of work in progress, etc. and submit it.

The candidate(s) selected by the Founder of the Fellowship will be informed personally of the conditions and deadlines for the award of the scholarship by the end of May.

For more information on the scholarship and its award, please contact the Student Affairs Department at e-mail srd@vdu.lt or by phone at (8 – 37) 327 976.

11th International Scientific Conference “Rural Development 2023: Bioeconomy for The Green Deal”

We kindly invite You to the 11th International Scientific Conference “RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2023: Bioeconomy for the Green Deal”, which will take place in Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (Lithuania), 26-28 September, 2023.
This conference is aimed at providing interdisciplinary scientific discussion, presenting new ideas for rural development processes in the context of Bioeconomy, Climate Change, Innovations and Social Progress.

The main topics of Conference sessions:

Agro-innovations and Food Technologies;
Biosystems Engineering and Environmental Integrity;
Multifunctional Approach for Sustainable Use of Bio-Resources;
Social Research for Sustainable Bioeconomy and Climate Change.

Business and Science Forum “Connecting the Dots: A Roadmap for Lithuanian Bioeconomy Development” will be held during the Conference.

Conference keywords: Innovations, Integrity, Bio-resources, Well-being.

Important dates and deadlines:

Until September 15th, 2023 – registration  (extended)
Until September 26th, 2023 – article submission (extended)
Until September 10th, 2023 – payment of participation fee
January, 2024 – publishing of the Conference proceedings

Participation fee	In person (EUR)	Online (EUR)
Authors until August 27th	250	170
Authors after August 27th	300	220
PhD students	125	100
Non-authors	150	Free of charge

Participation fee in person covers not only the Conference proceedings, but also coffee breaks, lunches and gala dinner. The costs of accommodation, cultural (social) programme and transport should be covered by the participants of the Conference.

Speakers of the conference pay the participation fee after receiving information about the confirmation of the topic of the presentation.

Certificates of participants will be sent by e-mail after the conference.

More information about the Conference
Online Registration on the Conference website.
Information for authors.

New design, more user-friendly Conference website: https://www.ruraldevelopment.lt/
Conference e-mail: rural.development@vdu.lt

This Conference starts a cycle of events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy.

Empowering Rural Tourism through Entrepreneurship with Youth

The Erasmus+ project „RURALYOUTH” (“Empowering Rural Tourism through Entrepreneurship with Youth”) forms a lifelong education system for tourism students, who would like to be the entrepreneurs in rural areas. The project creates actions to improve knowledge of agricultural, touristic, rural, cultural and entrepreneurship among young people and will prevent miss-match for tourism students. With this project, which was formed with 6 partners, it was aimed to support the development of rural areas, to support lifelong learning, to increase awareness of the nationality through education and technology-based distance education model and to develop action plans in line with the European Youth Strategy.

Erasmus+ project „RURALYOUTH” live events in 2022:

The “Train the Trainer” activity of the international Erasmus + project “Ruralyouth” was organised in České Budějovice, Czech Republic in August, 2022. The training activity was organized by the project partners from ProEdu (Czech Republic).

The 4th transnational meeting of the Rural Youth project was hold at the Department of Architecture and Design Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, in November, 2022. The meeting attended colleagues from Eskisehir Osmangazi University (Turkey), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), Proeduca (Czech Republic), Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey), Slovak University of Technology (Slovakia), University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland).

Empowering Rural Tourism through Entrepreneurship with Youth “RURALYOUTH” project has finalized with the International Rural Entrepreneurship Summit held in December, 2022, at Eskisehir Osmangazi University (Turkey). There Lithuanian RURALYOUTH team has presented rural tourism development project idea and took the second place of the International Rural Entrepreneurship Summit.

The project coordinator: Eskisehir Osmangazi University (Turkey), project partners: Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia), University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland), Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey), ProEduca z.s. (Czech Republic).

Greetings from VMU Agriculture Academy. Happy and hopeful holidays!

Dear community,

This period is a great time to give a thanks for the gift of friendship, to celebrate the dreams came true and the work done in cooperation. We wish everyone to cherish and grow what we have and light up a bright, peaceful and creative future!

The European Green Deal is Affecting More and More Organizations. Changes in Customs

The action plan of European Green Deal is gaining momentum, more and more organizations have to rethink and review their operational processes, adapt to current and future changes. Associated professors of the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development of Vytautas Magnus university Agriculture Academy (VMU AA) were invited to discuss these changes at the 7th Conference of the Customs Practice Association.

Assoc. prof. dr. Erika Besusparienė on December 8 attended at the 7th conference of the Customs Practice Association, she made a presentation “The European Green Deal: Challenges and Opportunities”, which has been prepared together with colleague assoc. prof. dr. Milita Vienažindienė. The researchers presented several key actions of the European Green Deal, which will directly affect companies importing goods, logistics companies, customs brokers, customs and the consumer of imported goods.

Assoc. prof. dr. M. Viežindiene noted that logistics companies will face new challenges in the product supply chain due to the reduction of CO₂ emissions from new passenger cars and new vans, which by 2030 must be reduced to 50%, and in 2035 – 100%. “This progress can only be achieved by ensuring alternative fuels and evaluating the amount of CO₂ emitted by vehicles, so the European Commission by 2025 must develop a common European Union (EU) methodology for the evaluation of CO₂ emissions throughout the life cycle of passenger cars and vans”, – commented assoc. prof. dr. M. Vienažindienė. Assoc. prof. dr. E. Besusparienė noticed that supply costs are often “hidden costs” in the value of goods, so it is difficult to predict how much the value of goods would increase as a result of transporting goods using alternative fuels.

Assoc. prof. dr. E. Besusparienė singled out the new CO₂ tax, which is named as a carbon border adjustment mechanism in the European Green Course. “The first steps towards the introduction of the tax are already starting from January 1, 2023. The new CO₂ tax will initially affect imports of cement, steel and iron, aluminium, fertilizers and electricity. The CO₂ tax will be applied from 2026 and with the complete abandonment of pollution permits from 2030 only this tax would remain. According to the calculations of the European Commission, the EU budget would be replenished by about 1 billion euros on average every year (2026-2030) due to this tax. Thus, the costs to the business would increase in the same volume. Although the carbon border tax mechanism is designed to prevent that polluting goods would not enter the EU market; and thereby indirectly contribute to third countries’ transformation to more sustainable production. Unfortunately, the market often observes that “green” goods cost more”, – commented assoc. prof. dr. E. Besusprienė.

While participating in the discussion “Green economy, current issues of tariff classification”, assoc. prof. dr. E. Besusparienė noted that the successful development of a circular economy requires the involvement and cooperation of business, government and higher education and study institutions. Assoc. prof. dr. E. Besusparienė, together with the moderator of the discussion Milda Stravinske, discussed that exists false stereotype that the green economy is far from the customs area. To this day, it is being discussed about importing waste and its value, does it differ, if the waste will be utilized or processed. According to accounting theories, when pricing is determined by the cost-plus method, the value of the waste may be the same regardless of further use. However, when discussing the transaction method, which is based on negotiations, different values can be agreed, where the price (value) of the waste to be utilized will be lower (the seller tends to get rid of the waste faster) and the waste that can be used according to the principles of the circular economy will be more valuable and it is assumed that the price (value) will be higher. This is directly related to the customs assessment of goods (in this case, waste) and the calculation of taxes paid to customs. UAB “Muita” head of the customs compliance department Jurgita Stanienė, who participated in the discussion, noted that new challenge is how to classify such imported waste.

The 7th Customs Practice Association conference further revealed the intertwining of various fields and how important it is for representatives of different businesses to reorient themselves in new changes in order to achieve a more sustainable future.

Moments of the 7th Customs Practice Association conference:

Conference “Young scientist 2023”

The 20th annual conference of young scientists “Young scientist 2023” organized by the Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (VMU AA) will be held on March 29 remotely. The conference is intended for the first, second and third degree students. The purpose of the conference is to involve students in scientific activities, develop the ability to publicize scientific research results, present their scientific research achievements and discuss topical issues of bioeconomy, green course, climate change, ecosystem sustainability, rational use and protection of natural resources.

There is no conference fee for students.

Certificates of conference participants will be awarded to the speakers of the conference. Speakers will be able to publish articles in the collection of articles of the conference “Young scientist 2023” or in another scientific publication, for example, in the scientific journals “Agricultural Sciences”, “Agricultural Engineering” or another, after submitting articles that meet the requirements for articles in a scientific publication.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Conference topics	Subtopics
Bioeconomy	Accounting and finance: challenges and opportunities
	Bioeconomy, sustainability of agriculture and food sector
	Innovations and solutions in business logistics
	Management of agri-business and other bioeconomy business organizations
	Sustainable development of rural areas
Biosystems engineering	Energy engineering
	Land management
	Mechanical engineering
	Power engineering
	Technology engineering
	Transport engineering
	Water engineering
Sustainability of agricultural, forest, and water ecosystems	Agronomy
	Food quality and safety
	Sustainability of agricultural ecosystems
	Ecosystem services
	Sustainable forestry
	Wildlife population management

Pre-registration for the conference until January 31, 2023.

Articles for the conference “Young scientist 2023” are accepted until March 1, 2023. The articles must be prepared according to the recommendations for the authors of the articles.

Scientific papers online submission: Conference Proceedings YOUNG SCIENTIST 2023

Dissemination event of project FARM

Researchers from the Department of Business and Rural Development Management of the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development of the of the Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (VMU AA) together with other partner universities are implementing the international ERASMUS+ project “Fostering Agriculture Rural Development and Land Management” (FARM) coordinated by the Harz University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

Project researchers would like to invite you to the dissemination event of the project. Together with four European partners from Northern Macedonia, Spain, Lithuania and Cyprus, a holistic approach to promote knowledge and technology transfer in the agricultural sector was developed over the last two years. The project focused on innovative technologies, especially decision support systems (DSS) and their usage in agriculture. The event will showcase all project outputs, which include an interactive map and dashboard, an online catalogue, two DSS prototypes, and learning materials. There will also be an opportunity for networking and exchange.

REGISTRATION:

Laura Gorzitze

lgorzitze@hs-harz.de

+49 3943 659 828

More information about the project

The event will be photographed and/or filmed; therefore, please note that you might be featured in photos or videos which can be published in various media.

“ERASMUS+” training visit to Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar

On November 7–11 Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (VMU AA) representatives – dean of the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development assoc. prof. dr. Bernardas Vaznonis and director of Bioeconomy Research Institute, assoc.prof. at the Faculty of Engineering dr. Rytis Skominas visited Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar under the “ERASMUS+” programme.

Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar is an integrated,
accredited higher education institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting of the eight faculties: Agromediterranean Faculty, Faculty of Economy, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Information Technologies, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Education and Faculty of Law. Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar is aiming to be a flexible, functional and socially responsible higher education institution, recognized in the region for its modern study programmes of all cycles, and oriented towards cooperation, internationalization and high quality.

During the visit VMU AA representatives had meetings with Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar International relation office and academic staff. There were discussed possibilities to collaborate in study and research fields. A visit was complemented by the tour at the Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar with the aim to get acquainted with the scientific infrastructure.

Invitation to participate in online lectures of Visiting Professor Irina Pilvere

We kindly invite you to participate in the lectures of the visiting lecturer prof. dr. habil. Irina Pilvere. The topic is “Bioeconomy Development: Challenges and Possibilities”. The lectures will be held online on November 21 – December 2, 2022.

Registration and detailed lecture schedule here.

We sincerely invite you to participate in the lectures to expand your field of knowledge!

Mienat project: Short-term joint staff training events

Assoc. prof. dr. Rasa Pranskūnienė from the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania) has attended short-term joint staff training events for the Erasmus + KA203 project – Erasmus+ MIENAT Strategic Partnership in Higher Education project “Methodology of Interpretation of European Nature Heritage in Tourism”.

In 2022 two joint staff training events were held at the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands, Germany and at the Munster Technological University, Ireland. Short-term joint staff training event 2 was held during 28th June – 1st July at the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands, Rostock, Germany. Short-term joint staff training event 3 was held during 5th – 9 September 2022 at the Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. During short-term joint staff trainings project partners had possibility not only to discuss natural heritage and methodology of its interpretation and to make the evaluation of text of the e-book, case studies, but as well to have training for didactical production of audio-video digital materials (podcasts, presentations, videos). During the learning workshops there were held presentations, piloting, evaluation of prepared didactic materials. Each partner presented the draft of his input of the e-book chapters, as well as shared the idea development of chosen case studies, discussed the didactical concepts.

Mienat project has a 36-month implementation period. The main objectives of the project are to prepare materials for innovations in the field of education on the topic of “Experiencing Nature Tourism” and to create new, modern, didactic materials.

Mienat project coordinator: Prague University of Economics and Business (Czech Republic), project partners: Porto University (Portugal), Universidad Europea, Madrid (Spain), Munster Technological University (Ireland), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romania), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands (Germany) and FH Burgenland (Austria).