The rector’s meeting of the European university consortium NeurotechEU, established to enhance cooperation in the field of neuroscience in the broad sense, was held in the Swedish capital. At the NeurotechEU Hackathon competition, which was announced as an additional event, an international team won the first prize with their proposed solution for the treatment of mental illnesses in young people, which included a researcher from the University of Debrecen, writes unideb.hu.
At the rector’s meeting in Stockholm, which was hosted by the Karolinska Institute, the results of the first phase of the NeurotechEU project were summarized and the most important goals for the second phase, which will start on November 1 of this year, were defined. The University of Debrecen was represented at the event by József Tőzsér, vice chancellor responsible for life sciences, and Péter Szücs, director of the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Development of the UD Faculty of Medicine, scientific coordinator, and Orsolya Gregán, the local coordinator of the project.
The meeting also created an opportunity for the members of the NeurotechEU working groups to meet in person and hold discussions. Among other things, we got to know the Karolinska Institutet’s communication practice and organizational background. Our university was represented at the program by a delegation of 15 people
– explained Gábor Gyarmati, the project’s communications manager.
He said that part of the delegation from Debrecen also came with research purposes, since the NeurotechEU Best Practice Survey, which examines a total of nine universities, was launched in Stockholm.
The meeting also hosted the NeurotechEU Hackathon competition, to which UD was able to delegate a five-person team of researchers and students. Its members were Zoltán Mészár, assistant professor of the Institute of Anatomy, Tissue and Development of the Faculty of Medicine, Almusawi Husam Abdulkareem, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics, Mihály Székely, a student of the Faculty of Medicine, Gábor Sóvágó, a student of the Faculty of Medicine, and Phong Dang, a student of the Faculty of Science and Technology were given to work together with delegates from other countries to develop ideas that would help with innovative technological solutions in the treatment of a mental illness affecting adults. This was a great success because the competition was won by the team that included Zoltán Mészár.
Although the meeting was primarily about the consortium’s situation and educational plans and strengthened the cooperation between the universities that joined the NeurotechEU initiative, participants in neurotechnological research could also learn about important professional innovations at the previous two-day scientific conference. Two researchers of the Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Development of the Faculty of Medicine, director Péter Szűcs and scientific adviser Zoltán Kisvárday, also had the opportunity to present their latest results.
Photos: Erik Flyg
