PROJECTS

Higher education student and staff mobility between Programme and Partner Countries

Erasmus+

Goal of the project is to increase international mobility of students and staff as well as international cooperation with partner countries.

Type: Erasmus+

Full title: Erasmus+ programme KA1 “Higher education student and staff mobility between Programme and Partner Countries”

Number: 2019-1-LV01-KA107-060300 (-LV)

Goal of the project: Increase international mobility of students and staff as well as international cooperation with partner countries

The target group: Students and staff at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and its partner institutions

The leading partner: Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

All project partners:

Armenia (Yerevan BRUSOV State University of Languages and Social Sciences)
Bosnia and Hercegovina (The University of Zenica)
Gambia (The University of Gambia)
India (Dr. Y.S.R. National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management; Indira Gandhi National Tribal University)
Israel (ORT Braude College)
Kosovo (University of Business and Technology Kosovo)

Project implementation period: 01.08.2019. – 31.07.2021.

Main activities: Student and staff exchange

Study directions: Business administration, information technologies, communication and journalism, political sciences, tourism

Total budget: EUR 159 072,00 (122 940,00 EU; 36 132,00 Latvian national co-financing)

Project funding: EU funding, Latvian national co-financing

Erasmus+ Charter: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/sites/erasmusplus/files/files/resources/he-charter_en.pdf

Information for partners: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/sites/erasmusplus/files/library//guide-credit-mobility_en.pdf

The selection process of students takes place at sending university based on following criteria - academic performance and achievements, adequacy of exchange study content to the study programme, already used abroad study and internship opportunities (preference is given to students who have not participated in Erasmus+ exchange), study semester, motivation, english or particular national language skills, involvement in various professional activities and projects, other criteria of the partner university.

Student selection has to be documented (including criteria used), after the selection partner university provides an official protocol in order to participate in the particular Erasmus+ KA 107 project. After the selection, university nominates the selected student and only final chosen student has to apply at ViA university for studies (fill in the online application), not all potential candidates.

The selection process of staff takes place at the host university (Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences)

Contacts:

Project manager at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences: Tatjana Mažāne

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: +371 22042022

Advancing Human Performance in Cybersecurity, ADVANCES

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The world is experiencing a high demand for high-quality cybersecurity specialists due to an increasing number of cyber attacks and their technological advancement. In the Baltic countries, the geopolitical situation sets cybersecurity as a top priority. All economic sectors depend on the protection against cybercrime. In more than 90% of cyber incidents, humans could be seen both as attack targets and defenders having a broad set of technical and generic competencies. There is an enormous lack of research regarding the role of human factors in cybersecurity internationally. The establishment of an international cross-disciplinary research team will address the urgent need for a scientific understanding of human limitations and capabilities in the cyber kill chain.

The three Baltic countries and their partners from Norway and Liechtenstein make the team to investigate human behaviour in cybersecurity by combining research areas of computer science, psychology, and human genomics. The project aims to develop a comprehensive, science-based interdisciplinary framework to develop and assess generic and subject-related competencies of the current and future cybersecurity workforce. The data will be gathered based on the participants of international cybersecurity exercises. Risk assessment and educational components will be tested in the student environment. Statistical and data mining tools will be used to interpret multilayered data and to find correlations among genetic, behavioural, and technical skills under stressful conditions.

The project will result in the creation of a set of methodologies and tools that will include specific software components to gather and analyse data, self-report tools to collect factual data on social behavioural patterns, recommendations to consider specific biological marker information, a custom genotyping array, a methodology to develop and assess competencies, and the risk assessment process based on the joint interdisciplinary data.

Main objectives:

The main objective is to advance the performance of the cybersecurity (CS) specialist by identifying possible improvements from three different perspectives: by regarding the human as a biological entity, by analyzing behaviour patterns of the person, and by addressing the necessary knowledge and skills of the cybersecurity specialist.

The project is based on a hypothesis that it is possible to map cyber competencies required to solve cyber-crime, defend infrastructure, or be resilient to cyber abuse and then to develop a rational competence improvement path for a CS specialist. When dealing with critical infrastructures or handling life mission-critical support systems, tools that enable the assessment of human traits or inherent risks are non-existent, or research components are not validated scientifically.

The envisioned results include a) identification of key performance indicators in individual/team level training/exercises to develop an evidence base for a comprehensive assessment of cyber competencies, b) development of methods to assess and predict the performance of a human in individual tasks and collaborative decision-making environments in cyberspace, c) development of specific tools to advance the performance of a human in learning to cope with challenges during stressful situations that require technological knowledge.

Funding:

The Advancing Human Performance in Cybersecurity benefits from nearly €1 million grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants under the Baltic Research Programme. The aim of the programme is to consolidate the research potential of the Baltic States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, strengthen regional cooperation in research relevant to the countries of the region, and fill the gap between the national research funding and the European Union Structural Assistance.

Research results on the promoter's page:
https://cs.vu.lt/projects/ADVANCES

Grant: Baltic Research Programme, European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014-2021

Programme operator: the Research Council of Lithuania

Project No: S-BMT-21-6 (LT08-2-LMT-K-01-051)

Project duration: 01/01/2021 – 31/12/2023

Project promoter: Vilnius University, project leader dr. Agnė Brilingaitė (Institute of Computer Science, Cybersecurity Laboratory)

Principal investigator at the institution: dr.sc.ing. Ginta Majore

Project partners: Vilnius University (Lithuania), General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania (Lithuania), Norwegian University for Technology and Science (Norway), Østfold University College (Norway), Riga Technical University (Latvia), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), University of Liechtenstein, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences (Latvia)

European Researchers' Night in Latvia 2021

ERAF

The main objective of the project (Nr 1.1.1.5/20/A/002) is to raise awareness of science in the wider community, particularly youth, as well as to present the public with the profession of scientist; to demonstrate the impact of such science as the daily human life of natural science, social science and humanities: to bring researchers closer to the Latvian society and raise interest in research.

The aim of the event is to promote the visibility of the profession of researchers and to show their role to Latvian society. During European Researchers' Night, a number of interesting and interactive events will be organised in Riga, Jelgava, Ventspils, Liepāja, Valmiera, Salaspils, Rēzekne, Daugavpils, covering the entire territory of Latvia. This year's slogan: "Diversity of Science for the Future" telling us that scientific research is focused on a better future and showing the diversity of science fields from social, humanities, medicine, physics, chemistry, biology to social sciences. The project will support the visibility of the research community, including, the Horizon 2020 projects, in particular the visibility of Marie Skłodowska - Curie activities in general.

Project partners: University of Latvia, Rīga Stradiņš University, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Daugavpils University, Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Liepaja University, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava", Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Institute of Electronic and Computer Science, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences

Project manager: Oskars Java

Poject period: 01.04.2021 - 31.05.2021

Financing source: ERDF

Technological Solutions for Managing the Flow of Visitors in Specially Protected Nature Territories

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Summary: In 2020, through joint cooperation between Vidzeme University College and the Nature Conservation Agency (NCA), the resources of both institutions were concentrated in order to establish a comprehensive inventory of visitors to specially protected nature territories (SPNTs) - laying the foundations for long-term monitoring. In order to obtain as accurate data as possible, the data available to other organizations were included, data on tourist accommodation or visits at SPNTs, where visitors are registered, were collected. When developing an in-depth monitoring methodology, locations were identified where stationary automatic visitor counters would be installed and where it would be possible to place temporary - portable automatic visitor counters.

Thus, it would be possible to generalize the results more precisely to all existing tourist attractions in the Latvian SPNTs. For this purpose, it is necessary to purchase five new automatic visitor counters, which are planned to be placed temporarily, covering a much wider number of SPNTs throughout the territory of Latvia. They would be operated as portable counters, including in places where there is no NCA infrastructure for visitors, but there is a flow of visitors. In addition, one creative solution is needed to record water tourists in rivers, which has so far been out of sight of census data (traditional counters and cameras do not work in such a large area). In general, it would provide new knowledge on visitor flow dynamics, anthropogenic load, return on public investment, and data for solutions on planning the workload, sustainable tourism solutions, environmental education potential, etc. The obtained data will be applicable to the situation in Latvia as a whole, in order to use them for making informed decisions on the daily management and protection of the territory and to find solutions for more efficient management of the flow of visitors to SPNTs. The monitoring methodology envisages that the data could be comparable and accumulated sequentially every year. In turn, an already established geospatial data collection platform and filters would allow easy selection of the required period, area, or an SPNT category.

Funding/ programme: Latvian Environmental Protection Fund

HESPI role: Project implementer

Cooperation partners: Nature Conservation Agency

Project funding: 16538,89 EUR

Project scientific manager (e-mail): HESPI Lead Researcher Andris Klepers (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Involved staff: HESPI research staff Agita Līviņa

More: https://www.hespi.lv/en/node/546

Simulation Games in Strategic Communication

Erasmus+

Goal of the project: Integration of simulation games in strategic communication studies for the development of future competences. The aim is to create and test pedagogical innovations in strategic communication teaching in three Baltic universities through academic staff training, development of teaching aids, and development of a prototype of an interactive collaborative digital learning and teaching platform.

Programme: Erasmus+

Full title of the project: European Union Erasmus+ programme KA2 (cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices) strategic partnerships for higher education project “Simulation Games in Startegic Communication”

Project number: 2018-1-LV01-KA203-046981

The target group: (1) Academic staff members and (2) students at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and partner institutions

The leading partner: Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

Cooperation partners:

Lithuania, Vilnius University
Estonia, University of Tartu

Associated partners:

United Kingdom, King’s College London
Latvia, Valmiera City Council
Latvia, Vidzeme Planning Region

Project implementation period: 01.12.2018. – 31.08.2021. (30 months)

Main activities: Erasmus+ mobility activities (student, staff exchange, learning/teaching/training activities) between partner institutions, development and dissemination of intellectual outputs

Expected outputs: handbook and methodological guide, descriptions of simulations, teacher training workshops programs, description of simulation game architecture (technical specification and description of technological tools), data set, survey instruments and learning analytics’ metrics for evaluation students competences, scientific publications

Study directions: Communication and media

Total budget: 149 884,00

Project funding: EC funding

Contacts:

Project managers at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences: Tatjana Mažāne (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Agnese Dāvidsone (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Phone: +371 22042022

26/03/2019 Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences will develop students' skills to solve problem situations through social simulations. Read here.

08/07/2019 Lecturers of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences work together with partner universities to develop social simulations for students' communication competencies. Read here .

27/10/2019 Social simulation scenarios will be tested at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. Read here

13/11/2019 Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences has hosted the 6th International Week. Read here

03/12/2020 A publication has been published on transferring in-person social simulation to online environment: pedagogical reflections on creating teaching presence. Read here

11/02/2021 During the online training lecturers gain experience in developing social simulations. Read here

31/03/2021 International Week at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences will Focus on Engaged and Entrepreneurial European University. Read here

11/06/2021 An online scenario of the “Simulation Games in Strategic Communication” project was tested at the Vilnius University Faculty of Communication. Read here

09/09/2021 Three Baltic States universities concludes the project with a research on students' perceptions on acquirement of transversal skills during an online social simulation. Read here