It has been a year since the opening ceremony of the EIRU Project

A year ago, on 10 February 2020 during the Warsaw University of Technology Senate session Minister Jarosław Gowin ceremoniously started the implementation of „Excellence Initiative - Research University” at the Warsaw University of Technology (photo gallery). In the past 12 months of intense work, we have managed to achieve numerous objectives set for that year and commence work on other activities.

„Transformation” area

After the first year of work of the Team for University Transformation, the first and probably the most difficult stage of negotiating the common concept of changes was successfully completed. Over 30 official meetings and countless hours of discussions led to a proposal of a map of strategy for the university, which follows the methodology of Management by Objectives (MBO). The second subject of the Team’s work was the reorganisation of administrative support for research projects. Currently, the Team is working on a solution that will significantly simplify day-to-day administrative activities performed by the heads of projects and will allow the administrative staff to enjoy more the newly awarded funding.

An extensive information campaign targeted at all WUT employees is planned for 2021.

„Administration processes” area

In 2020 under Regulation No. 2/2020 of the Head of Management Team of  „Excellence Initiative – Research University” Project, the Process Management Team commenced its work, whose main task is to design a map of administrative processes at the university, to make an independent review of applicable administrative processes at the university, and to prepare a proposal of their optimisation.

In 2020 the EDM (Polish - EZD) Steering Committee, which produced a concept and scope of the implementation of electronic documentation management at the Warsaw University of Technology (see  Regulation No. 1/2021 of the WUT Rector of 04 January 2021 on the implementation of electronic documentation system at the Warsaw University of Technology).

„Student and staff competence” area

Under the Programme of Talent Development, which includes doctoral students and employees beginning their academic career at WUT (before and after their doctoral degree), analyses were conducted whose aim is a report including a good practice catalogue exemplifying talent management at foreign research universities and a comparative analysis of available tools supporting the talent management process. An analysis of the scope of the activities of individual WUT units was also conducted in terms of the possibility of coordinating the Programme of Talent Development at WUT.

„Improving the cooperation between researchers and administration” area

The improved area of cooperation between researchers and administration (implemented under  Action 27. IDUB) assumes the professionalisation of administrative services through the integration of all employees around a common objective, joint motivational mechanisms, and remuneration principles. The first step towards this goal was a diagnosis of the current situation in terms of the cooperation between the academic and administrative staff at the Warsaw University of Technology, which was conducted in December 2020, implementing the first edition of the survey on mutual satisfaction in relations between the academic and administrative staff.

In total, 580 academic teachers and 271 non-academic employees responded to the invitation to the survey (sent to professional e-mail addresses of 4,010 WUT employees). The survey findings provided information on the level of satisfaction from the cooperation between the academic and administrative staff at WUT in the science and research area, amounting to 64.7%.

„Innovations” area

WUT Patent

The first year of work of the Innovations Team enabled us to formulate a detailed concept and budget of the WUT Patent Programme, oriented at supporting patent actions in an international area.  Currently, consultations with patent law firms are underway to select a law firm responsible for securing intellectual property in international markets.  This action is inseparable from the work on finding the mechanisms of valuation of intellectual property and licensing procedures (including open licenses). The first WUT patent auction is being prepared. It is planned for March 2021.

WUT Best Innovators

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, internship trips to the best European centres of technology transfer have been suspended. We are preparing to re-start these trips as soon as the pandemic is over.

WUT Accelerator

During conceptual work on the shape of the WUT Accelerator programme, the previous experience of the university in the area of systems of academic entrepreneurship support was analysed, critical points were defined, and information collected during the previous activities from the participants of the programmes in terms of their expectations and needs of budding enterprises was used. As part of the activities conducted so far, the structure and mechanisms of financing the preincubation, incubation, and acceleration of the university start-ups were devised, the qualification criteria for individual stages and supporting packages were defined, and the pilot programme was launched.

„Research activity” area

Priority Research Centres

In the first year of the IDUB Project implementation at WUT, 2 editions of competitions for research grants as part of individual Priority Research Centres and one competition “IDUB against COVID-19" as a common project of all Priority Research Centres was launched.

BEYOND POB

The aim of the competition, which started at the end of 2020, was to popularise research excellence and conduct research on the world-class level by WUT research teams in research areas exceeding those defined in POB but include in the National List of Smart Specialisations. 96 applications were submitted in response to the competition, and they are currently under the Competition Committee’s evaluation.

Rector’s grant

Competition for internal grants for WUT employees intending to submit applications in ERC competitions was launched in December 2020. The programme includes financial support (a grant of PLN 25,000 and awards for research activity for passing to the second stage of the evaluation and being awarded the grant) and substantive support. 4 applications were submitted in the first competition, but the competition committee did not select a laureate. 

„Publications” area

Best Paper

In the first 12 months of the IDUB Project presence at the Warsaw University of Technology, recruitment to the first edition of the competition organised under the Best Paper programme started. In accordance with the competition regulations, applications for articles published in scientific magazines granted 200 points according to the list of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in 2019 were accepted.

According to the data collected from the Knowledge Database at WUT, 98 of such texts were published. 63 publications were submitted in the competition, 38 of which were awarded. The laureates represent 11 faculties, with the biggest number representing the Faculty of Chemistry and the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology.

Bibliometric analyses based on the data from the Scopus system were conducted to select the laureates of the Best Paper Programme.  Another edition of the programme is planned for early 2021. 

Open Science

The Open Science Programme, in which publications of scientific papers in open access to the content format were funded, attracted a lot of interest. Publications of 47 papers in highly scored magazines with excellent bibliometric parameters were funded by the programme. Authors representing 11 disciplines of science were awarded funding, with the majority from the fields of automatics, electronics, and electro-technology; civil engineering and transport; mechanical engineering. The programme seamlessly continues in 2021.

Additionally, a seminar on the creation of research data management plans (DMP) was organised within the „Publications” area.  The meeting was chaired by the employees of the Main WUT Library.

„Grants” area

As part of the support offered to the doctoral students at the Warsaw University of Technology, a system of additional grants was devised, including pro-quality grants for best doctoral students, grants at Doctoral Schools (one-off support and increased monthly grant), and grants awarded in a competition (the STER Project for international doctoral students).