GreenCool Newsletter

GreenCool project Newsletter.

VMU to Host Conference of Young Sociologists and Anthropologists

The Department of Sociology at Vytautas Magnus University and the Lithuanian Sociological Association would like to invite you to participate in the 9th annual National conference of young sociologists and anthropologists “Actual Research in Sociology and Anthropology: Problems and Contexts”. The conference will be held on April 21^st, 2023, in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Vytautas Magnus University, Jonavos St. 66, Kaunas.

National conference of young sociologists and anthropologists is a traditional annual event that provides a platform for beginning researchers to present their bachelor, master, and doctoral research, share their discoveries, discuss future research and meet like-minded people.

This year’s conference theme is “Own-Alien-Other: building borders and crossing borders in the context of the current geopolitical situation”.

Our social life consists of constantly building borders and boundaries, and constantly crossing them. In the literal sense – as building walls and urgently guarding state borders against “illegal” migrants and in fear of war, but also as free crossing of these borders by us – as emigrants. Borders and boundaries also have a more metaphorical sense, meaning the constant determination and negotiation of where are the boundaries of our social, religious, ethnic group, and where the “stranger” or the “other” begins. But we must remember that borders are not just something negative – without borders, without the “stranger”, we would not be able to define ourselves – without defining these “others”, “we” would not exist.

The organizers of conference welcome all students and young researchers from a wide range of study disciplines – sociology, anthropology, and related disciplines such as political science, economy, communication, creative industries, psychology, social work, history, ethnography, and many others which use social research methods.

Submissions can propose theoretical and empirical presentations. Conference languages – Lithuanian and English. The participation in the conference is free of charge.

You are welcome to submit an abstract for the conference by email sk@vdu.lt until 3 April 2023.

Requirements for the abstract:

Maximum 250 words, including the title, major idea and arguments of the presentation;
Please, indicate the name and surname of the presenter, institution, position, and the stage of studies (if you are a student), contact information (email address).

There will be an opportunity to publish the scientific articles, based on the presentations, in the peer-review scientific journal “Culture and Society: Journal of Social Research”, published by the VMU Department of Sociology. If you plan to prepare such an article, please, indicate this in your abstract.

The conference email: sk@vdu.lt

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).

The second transnational partners meeting of the Erasmus+ MARIPET project in Kaunas

Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. However, today we are seeing 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks overexploited. FAO estimates that total fish production is 179 million tonnes in 2018 and about 88% of the mentioned amount was utilized for human consumption directly and the rest (12%) was described as used for “non-food purposes” and “waste”. Reducing by-catch and discard is an important issue for fishery management. Not only ecological impacts on biodiversity but also economical losses are enormously tragic problems worldwide. More than 40 fish species are caught per operation in bottom-trawl fishing, especially in Mediterranean waters because of its multi-species fishery characteristics. Among these, species that are discarded for various reasons besides those that are evaluated commercially have a significant amount in the total catch. A large proportion of fisheries production (35 percent of the global harvest) is either lost or wasted.

For this, it is aimed to provide training on the possibilities of using discarded fishery products as pet food by bringing them to shore. MARIPET Project intends to create an awareness to use discard products by captured-based fisheries into the pet food industry. Although fish meal and fish oil which are the most valuable feed ingredients in the fish feed industry have been produced by using discarded fishes, it needs still a huge amount of investment to create economically valuable products. By contrast, most of the discarded fishes can be used as “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food” (BARF). The barf diet is obtained by blending foods that are useful and nutritious for cats and dogs in certain proportions. It means biologically suitable raw foods which is a diet that has been formulated considering the diet of cats and dogs in their evolutionary process. The main theme of MARIPET includes more than one value chain step from the marine environment to pet food plant and any single step can create a difference itself. an innovative 5-module training programme, a virtual dedicated environment with an online education kit, platforms for discard fisheries and pet food trainers/experts and pet food manufacturers/experts, and an e-book/guidebook on European Discard Fisheries and Pet Food Production will be developed. The Training workshops and Multiplier events in five countries will finalise the project activities.

The project was launched on February 28, 2022; in 2023 January 10-11 the second international meeting of project partners was held at Vytautas Magnus University. Project implementation issues and the creation of training programme modules were covered during the meeting.

The meeting participants visited the Aquaculture Centre at the VMU Academy of Agriculture, where the centre’s director, A. Žibas, introduced the technologies used here, the scientific research being conducted, the fish species being cultivated, the daily challenges that arise, and expressed satisfaction with the centre’s accomplishments. The project’s achievements were reviewed with the chancellor of the Academy of Agriculture prof. Dr. Astrida Miceikienė and the dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Ecology prof. Dr. Vitas Marozas. The possibility of collaboration in arranging studies and performing scientific research was also addressed.

Tadas Laurinavičius, head of UAB Baltic Facility Management’s aquarium maintenance, introduced the project participants to the aquarium housed in PLC Mega. It is the largest and tallest aquarium in the Baltic countries, and it is ranked in the top ten in the world. The aquarium is 10 metres high and 4 metres wide, with a length of 11 metres and a water capacity of 170,000 gallons. With more than 10 tonnes of salt dissolved in it, the aquarium maintains an average water temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. Computer systems maintain water quality and temperature. The aquarium is home to around 170 tropical fish species from the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Red, Mediterranean, and Caribbean seas. T. Laurinavičius got many questions about assuring fish viability, nutrition, well-being, cohabitation, and ecological functioning. The quarantine system built in the aquarium’s technical premises, which is used for the acclimation of new fish and the treatment of ill ones, as well as technological gadgets that maintain the life of the aquarium’s residents, piqued the curiosity of project participants.

The project is coordinated by Ege University (Turkey), project partners: University of Balikesir (Turkey), University of Dubrovnik (Croatia), Agricultural University of Iceland, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Vytautas Magnus University.

The project’s next meeting will be held at Dubrovnik University (Croatia) in June 2023.
The project will last until February 28, 2024.

Conference of Young Scientists „YOUNG SCIENTIST 2023“

The 20^th Conference of Young Scientists YOUNG SCIENTIST 2023 will be held on 29 March 2023 (remote). The conference is intended for first, second, and third-degree students. Its goal is to engage the students in research activities, cultivate the skills of public presentation of the research findings, present the research achievements, and hold discussions on the relevant issues of bioeconomy, Green Deal, climate change, ecosystem sustainability, rational use, and protection of natural resources. Participants of the conference will be awarded the participation certificates.

More details about Conference and Online Registration on the conference website: https://zua.vdu.lt/en/conference-young-scientist-2023/

Scientific papers online submission: Conference Proceedings YOUNG SCIENTIST 2023

Visit our website to read the full announcement.

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Conference “Young Scientist 2022”

International Scientific-Methodical Conference BALTIC SURVEYING’23

Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Lithuania

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

Department of Land Use Planning and Geomatics

invites you to participate in International Scientific-Methodical Conference BALTIC SURVEYING’23

10^th-12^th of May, 2023, Kaunas, Lithuania

in collaboration with

Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Latvia

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

The purpose of this conference is to share the experience and knowledge in actual problems of land administration, land management, cadastre, land use, rural development, geodesy, cartography, remote sensing, etc. Problems of improvement of education in land management will be discussed as well.

AGENDA OF THE CONFERENCE

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

INVITATION

TEMPLATE FOR ARTICLES

TEMPLATE FOR ABSTRACT

CONFERENCE TOPICS

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

CONFERENCE OFFICE

DOWNLOAD

REGISTRATION FORM

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!

Greetings from VMU Agriculture Academy. Happy and hopeful holidays!

Dear community,