| |
In this newsletter for globally connected faculty and researchers at MIT, we provide updates on Europe/Eurasia-focused faculty research, new programming, and student activities at the Institute.
You are receiving this email because you have research interests in Europe/Eurasia or have been a friend to MISTI or the Center for International Studies (CIS). Please share this newsletter with others in our research community who might be interested in joining. They can sign up for the newsletter here.
|
| MIT Global Seed Funds in Europe | | |
It was a strong year for European global seed funds, with $1.38M awarded to 62 projects across 14 countries — Armenia (2 awards), Belgium (6), Czech Republic (4), Denmark (1), Estonia (1), France (7), Germany (5), Italy (6), the Netherlands (2), Norway (2), Poland (2), Spain (12), Switzerland (4), and the United Kingdom (8).
Please see the full list of awards here.
The MIT Global Seed Funds (GSF) program helps MIT faculty and principal investigators create new connections by supporting early-stage collaborations with researchers at peer institutions around the world. Administered by CIS, the GSF program has awarded close to $25 million to more than 1,000 faculty research projects since its inception in 2008.
For the 2023-2024 cycle, a total of 107 faculty international research projects received over $2.6 million in funding. These projects were selected from among 226 proposals submitted by faculty and research scientists across the Institute. Learn more here.
| | | 107 | $2.6 | 226 | | faculty winners | million in funding | applicants | | | |
GSF Europe awardees series launched
The European programs at CIS have launched a GSF awardees lunch series that brings together MIT faculty working in the same area. The first meeting took place on December 1, 2023, and was focused on climate and sustainability in Europe with presentations from professors Josephine Carstensen (CEE), Mircea Dinca (chemistry), Benedetto Marelli (CEE), John Marshall (EAPS), Shuhei Ono (EAPS), and Matej Pec (EAPS).
Stay tuned for future events.
|
| |
Global seed funds highlights
On March 12th, a group from Udine University in Italy presented the results of their MIT-Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) global seed fund. Their project, “Sensing dolce vita: An experiment in VR storytelling,” explores heritage preservation with the help of VR and AR.
The MIT audience was presented with an 8-minute VR experience that introduced them to the Odeon cinema in Udine, Italy, right after its inauguration in 1939. The movie theater, closed to the public in 2002, has been declared of historical and artistic interest due to the prestige of its decorations and the architecture by Ettore Gilberti.
The VR reconstruction of the Odeon cinema was created using archival materials and oral testimonies. It grapples with the potentiality of digital and immersive media in preserving cinema heritage and viewers' experience. The project was also an experiment in retro-spectatorship that evokes a historically situated spectator.
| | |
Left to right: Head researcher Giacomo Vidoni (Udine Digital Storytelling Lab), VR pioneer and CAVS fellow Rus Gant (Harvard Visualization Lab), co-PI Professor Andrea Mariani (Udine University), MIT PI
Gediminas Urbonas (ACT MIT), and the lead artist on the project Eleonora Roaro (Udine University).
| | According to MIT professor Gediminas Urbonas, “This collaboration between the MIT Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program and the Digital Storytelling Lab at Udine University unfolds a new trajectory of VR use in cultural heritage preservation to enhance emotional, sensorial aspects that are usually in the blind spot of the historical preservation and reconstructions of an event or a site. It is an exceptional occasion to share and improve technological and scientific knowledge on VR systems and experiment with new forms of platforms and stations for the community to come.” | | |
New MIT seed funds
Starting in the fall of 2024, MIT faculty will be able to participate in two new seed fund collaborations with colleagues at the Politecnico di Torino (quantum computing research) and the Università Cattolica di Milano (all areas) in Italy.
| | |
Roots of Resilience: Ukraine (Exhibit)
Grand Opening: Tuesday, May 21 at 6 PM
Gallery viewing: May 15–31
Gallery 9, MIT Samuel Tak Lee Building
105 Massachusetts Avenue
"Roots of Resilience: Reclaiming Ukrainian City and Identity" showcases the story of Sviatohirsk, a small city in the eastern part of Ukraine, that was heavily damaged and occupied by Russian forces from June to September 2022.
| |
| |
Through the narrative of Varvara, a local volunteer, viewers will explore how resilience shapes urban life in frontline communities and how people can breathe life into the city, giving new meanings to the previous narratives. The exhibit incorporates the urban planning proposals of graduate and undergraduate students in the MIT course “Circular Recovery Strategies of Wartime Ukraine: History and Urban Planning for a Ukrainian City.” The students have been investigating life in the city through the lens of Varvara’s experiences.
More information here.
| | |
In response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, CIS has launched a comprehensive MIT-Ukraine Program to serve as a hub for MIT’s innovative technological and humanitarian responses.
In addition to serving as the voice of Ukraine on the MIT campus, the program focuses its efforts in three key directions: student internships and applied coursework, both through MISTI Ukraine, as well as scientific collaboration.
Visit this website to learn more.
| |
MIT students Andrii Zahorodnii and Laker Newhouse leading the 2023 Ukraine Leadership and Technology Academy in Barcelona, Spain. | | Global MIT At-Risk Fellows program launch | | |
The Global MIT At-Risk Fellows (GMAF) program welcomed its first cohort of fellows from Ukraine in spring 2024: Liudmyla Huliaieva, an economist researching economic adaptation and survival of Ukrainian women in times of war, Dmytro Chumachenko, a multidisciplinary scientist working at the intersection of computer science and public health, and Kateryna Lopatiuk, an urban researcher contributing to the development of sustainable approaches to reconstruction of cities and infrastructure damaged by the Russian war. The pilot program will be focused on Ukraine and is managed by the MIT-Ukraine Program at CIS.
Read more here.
| |
Left to right: Kateryna Lopatiuk, Dmytro Chumachenko, and Liudmyla Huliaieva. | | Global Classroom in Italy | | |
A new MISTI Italy Global Classroom led by MIT professors Andrew Whittle, Admir Masic, Heidi Nepf, and Paola Malanotte Rizzoli will be dedicated to coastal erosion and remedial actions in Sicily. It will be held in Syracuse from June 14–27, 2024, in partnership with the University of Catania’s Department of Engineering and Architecture.
Read more here about how to develop a MISTI Global Classroom project.
| | |
MIT Global Teaching Labs (GTL)
In January 2024, several hundred MIT students traveled to Europe/Eurasia to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, entrepreneurship, and debate to high school and university students in Andorra, Armenia, Germany, Georgia, Italy, Norway, Spain, and the UK.
Watch this video to learn about one of the newest GTL destinations: Armenia.
| | | |
PhD students receive CIS summer research grants
The Center for International Studies has awarded four research grants to PhD candidates whose dissertation research will take them to Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK:
Nicholas Blanchette, political science, “Strategies of capability revelation: Explaining variation in how states reveal novel military technologies”
Chen Chu, DUSP, “Social policy through environing: The European Green Deal and land use changes”
Olivia Houck, architecture, “Becoming concrete: NATO as a territory project, 1940–1960”
Rustam Khan, STS, “Dancing after decolonization: Race, class, and technology in Belgian hip hop culture, 1960–2020”
| | |
Alumni spotlight
When Jasmina Aganovic (Chemical-Biological Engineering ’09) decided to complete an internship through MISTI Spain at a startup in Barcelona, she could not have predicted how this would influence her career. Now, as an established entrepreneur, she reflects on how these early experiences paved the way for her success.
Watch the video here.
| | | Other featured activities | | |
MIT Technology Review in London
On April 16–17, 2024, MIT Technology Review took its flagship EmTech Digital event to London for the first time, tapping into the UK’s thriving AI research and innovation landscape. Speakers included Professor Pulkit Agrawal from CSAIL talking about his work in robotics and AI, as well as a wide range of leading operators, policy-makers, and academics from the likes of Google DeepMind, NVIDIA, and the UK government’s technology office.
| |
Photo credit: Halo Creative for MIT Technology Review | | |
One of the liveliest sessions featured the Romanian member of the European parliament Dragos Tudorache. Dragos was the architect of the EU’s recently passed AI act, and discussed the implications of the act for AI companies seeking to do business in the EU.
EmTech Digital returns to the Media Lab on May 22–23, more information here.
| | Do you have questions or news to submit? Contact MIT-Europe program lead Ekaterina Zabrovski at zabroves@mit.edu | | | | |
