Research Day

One of the first major results of the EU Project TransSLO initiative has been a specific PhD Research Day organised alongside the ISEP 2007 Conference (The International Symposium on Electronics in Transport). The event was supported and opened by the Slovenian State Secretary for Transport - Dr. Peter Verlic.

The goal of this PhD Day was to encourage PhD students who are involved in current state-of-the-art transport research to present their work, to encourage other students to engage in Transport research and to present the excellence of Slovenian Transport researchers and those from nearby countries to other (potentially) interested parties such as ISEP participants. This participation also supports knowledge transfer and experience exchanges within the EU and specifically targets Slovenia and nearby countries in order to promote transport research and encourage post-graduate transport research at Universities. This was achieved by networking of the research community, policy makers and industry, by creation and strengthening of contacts between professional, educational, development, research and industrial institutions and by information exchange. The critical mass necessary for active participation in the shaping of national policies and participation in the EU projects.

As an introduction, the different relevant themes from the European Commission's 7th Framework programme for Research was presented with the aim of informing and motivating the new PhD experts as well as the other attendees to take part in European research projects. The priorities for Transport research were specifically addressed in the presentations within the Cooperation part of FP7 and also the special possibilities for PhD student researchers in general from the FP7 programs IDEAS, PEOPLE and CAPACITIES were mentioned. Following this introduction to the EC's FP7 Research Programme, the transport researchers presented their highly interesting and innovative work.