We are happy to announce the success achieved by the team that represented the West University of Timișoara in the competition "UNITA PhD International Talent Challenge" 2023/2024. Within the scientific area "Circular economy", the UVT team was declared the winner through the project entitled "The Transition from Linear to Circular Economy in the Făget Area through Industrial Symbiosis".
The UVT team was formed by: Alexandra Burdulea (Ph.D. in Law, year IV), Paul Handro (Ph.D., Finance, year II), Amelia Laura Mariș (Ph.D., Geography, year I) and Elena-Alexandra Sinoi (Ph.D. , Finances, year I). The team was mentored by researcher Ştefana Maria Dima, CSII, Ph.D., Habil., East European Center for Research in Economics and Business (ECREB), from the UVT Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
The project of this team has as its fundamental objective the development of an action plan for the creation of a network of industrial symbiosis based on the principles of the circular economy. Its application goal is to stimulate the economic revitalization of the Făget area (Romania) by creating new jobs, by developing new businesses or expanding existing ones, by increasing the resilience of economic mechanisms, systems and processes at community level and social cohesion .
In addition, this network of industrial symbiosis capitalizes on the geographical and socio-economic context of Făget, allowing the transformation of waste from agricultural, forestry and industrial activities into valuable inputs for other processes. In this way, the minimization of the consumption of raw materials is achieved and the alignment with the objectives pursued at the international level aiming at sustainable development, human well-being and the preservation of ecosystems.
Due to the specificity of the analyzed region, the model proposed by the UVT team can be replicated in other regions of our country, but also in other EU states facing similar challenges. Also, in the same competition, for the "Cultural Heritage" and "Renewable Energies" domains, two other UVT teams successfully competed, with projects registered in these two UNITA priority domains, occupying the 2nd place.
The prize won by the UVT team in the scientific area "Circular Economy" is worth 5000 Euros, the "UNITA PhD International Talent Challenge" 2023/2024 competition being organized under the umbrella of the "Re-UNITA" project - coordinated by Univ. Dr. Cătălina Ancuța - open to doctoral students from the six founding universities of the UNITA alliance. The Re-UNITA project is part of the alliance's constellation of projects and aims to develop its research policies, but also to develop actions to strengthen a research community in the alliance's priority areas.
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*The European university alliance UNITA brings together 10 partner universities from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Romania, and two associated partner universities from Switzerland and Ukraine. These are: Western University of Timisoara, Transylvania University of Brașov, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Università degli Studi di Torino, Università degli Studi di Brescia, Universidad Zaragoza, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Universidade Beira Interior, Politécnico da Guarda, HES-SO – Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, Chernivtsi National University. With over 250.000 students and a strong European impact on innovation in Education and Research, UNITA aims to become a significant actor in the creation of the future European Education Area.