UP FAMNIT and UP IAM in the second quarter of 2026

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During the summer months of 2026, UP FAMNIT and UP IAM, together with the other faculties of the University of Primorska, saw an increase in applications for national and international project calls. Among the projects submitted by UP FAMNIT and UP IAM were:

T4EU – SEED FUNDING

Transform4Europe seed funding programme supports collaborative bottom-up activities and co-creative initiatives among partner universities. In the latest call for proposals, the UP FAMNIT was successful in acquired the following projects:

• Building Bridges between People and Nature through Conflict Transformation (lead partner: UP FAMNIT, partners: SU, USAAR, UP lead: dr. Živa Fišer)

UP FAMNIT

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSALS – EU4H-2026 CALL

• EU-JUMP – EU-Joint action: United for Mosquito-borne disease Prevention and control (partner, lead partner: NIJZ, UP lead: dr. Katja Adam, UP FAMNIT)

As part of calls for proposals aimed at coordinated and strengthened joint action by European countries on health issues, the EU4Health (EU4H) program, under the project cluster “EU4H-2026-JA-HERA-IBA-01 – Grants awarded to Member State authorities to strengthen national systems for detecting risks posed by vectors and capacities for managing them,” a project was secured that brings together 108 partners; led in Slovenia by the National Institute of Public Health, focuses on the prevention and control of mosquito-borne diseases.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSALS – QuantERA 2025 CALL

• SDPCode – Semidefinite foundations for quantum codes: convergence, bounds, and constructions (partner, lead partner: University of Gdansk, UP lead: dr. Igor Klep, UP FAMNIT)

The QuantERA Call 2025, launched by 34 funding organisations from 29 countries, attracted over 1400 international research teams that submitted 287 proposals. After evaluation, 39 proposals, including 196 research teams have been recommended for funding – projects will cover two topics spanning the spectrum from fundamental quantum research to application-oriented development. SPDCode project lead by polish University of Gdansk, brings together (alongside UP) german Paderborn University Freie Universität Berlin and french Laboratoire d’analyse et d’architecture des syst èm es (FR), and focuses on Semidefinite foundations for quantum codes.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSALS – ERASMUS

KA220-SCH-Cooperation partnerships in school education

• DATARIUM – DAta TAles Revealing Underlying Meanings through statistics (lead partner, UP lead: dr. Lara Lusa, UP FAMNIT)

The DATARIUM project aims to strengthen statistical literacy in early compulsory education (ages 6 to 11) by developing a shared, research-informed conceptual framework for early statistical literacy grounded in statistical thinking. The project supports teachers in adopting inquiry-based and inclusive practices and promotes early data literacy in line with European priorities for key competences and lifelong learning. The project will develop a shared conceptual framework for early statistical literacy and translate it into curriculum-aligned learning activities and educational resources or primary education. The learning activities will be piloted and evaluated in partner schools across participating countries. Teachers will participate in structured training and collaborative exchange, supported by open educational resources to ensure effective implementation and transferability. DATARIUM will deliver a piloted and refined conceptual framework for early statistical literacy, a set of classroom-tested, curriculum-aligned learning activities, and trained teachers capable of implementing inquiry-based and data-informed classroom practices. All outputs will be openly accessible, supporting long-term sustainability, scalability, and adoption across diverse educational contexts.

ERASMUS+

• BAUHAUS4ESG – BAUHAUS4ESG: Embedding Environmental, Social and Governance principles in Higher Education for Architecture, Design and the Built Environment through the New European Bauhaus (partner, UP lead: dr. Michael David Burnard, UP IAM)

The project lead is AMUEBLA Innovative Business Association of Furniture Manufacturers in the Region of Murcia, with main goal to promote joint actions between companies of the furniture sector and other sectors by facilitating innovative practices and improving the competitiveness of its partner’s companies, as well as defending its general business interests and promoting its projection and international visibility. 

NATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSAL

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL FUND FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Preservation of the old variety “Strunjan Artichoke” and its integration into agricultural production in Slovenian Istria Strunjan Artichoke (partner, lead partner: Strunjan Landscape Park Public Institution, project lead at UP: dr.Dunja Bandelj, UP FAMNIT)

The key objective of the project and the area’s further development is the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, sustainable environmental practices through the development of green agriculture and an eco-friendly economy, the creation of green jobs, and support for organic farming and environmental awareness among residents.

By directly involving farmers as project partners, the project encourages growers to cultivate native varieties that are well-adapted to local conditions and, consequently, more resilient to climate change. A broader audience will also be reached—including young people, to whom the project aims to convey the importance of preserving native varieties and sustainable agriculture, as well as consumers, since promotional activities will allow residents of other regions to discover the “Strunjan” artichoke and other local specialties. This will build a bridge between producers and consumers—meaning assistance to farmers in promoting their crops and products, increasing added value, and consequently improving the economic situation of farmers.

UP IAM

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSALS – Culture Helps Solidarity

• The Resilient Theatre: Participatory cultural theatre rooted in local materials for and with Ukrainian veterans​ (partner, UP lead: Špela Vrtovec, UP IAM)

After the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Independence Day transformed from a symbolic date into a daily reality; one people defend with their lives. In this context, the “Resilient Theatre” project creates a small cultural gathering space, built with and for the community at the Unbroken rehabilitation centre in Lviv. Combining theatre practice, collective making and ecological construction, the project enables storytelling, expression, and social connection. The Unbroken participants are involved in all stages, codesigning, building and activating the space through guided performances. Grounded in personal stories of veterans undergoing rehabilitation, the theatre becomes a platform for social transformation, turning personal experiences into shared narratives while fostering agency, resilience, and belonging. Extending rehabilitation beyond medical care, the project embeds cultural participation into everyday life. Conceived as a pilot, it includes documentation and evaluation to develop a transferable model for participatory theatre in rehabilitation and community rebuilding contexts.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROPOSALS – ERASMUS

KA220-HED

• EcoTwin-HED: Digital Twins and Living Labs for Ecological Transition in Higher Education: Professionalising the Green-Collar Workforce (partner, UP lead: Richard Acquah, UP IAM)

This project aims to provide a holistic response to the green transformation and digitalisation challenges faced by higher education by strengthening practice-based learning, curriculum innovation, and skills relevance. The project focuses on the pedagogical integration of green and digital competences into higher education through authentic learning scenarios, realworld cases, and interdisciplinary collaboration involving students, academics, and external stakeholders. The project will deliver an ESCO-referenced green skills mapping, an ECTS-compatible modular curriculum; open, adaptable learning resources to support practice-based learning in higher education. Students will gain hands-on experience through real-world cases, while universities will benefit from transferable pedagogical models & stronger collaboration with external stakeholders. It will also produce evidence-based recommendations to support institutional sustainability planning and policy development.

ARIS – (CO-)FUNDING OF ERC FOCUS RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Citizen Science as a Driver of Statistical Literacy (lead partner, project partner: University of Graz; UP lead: Dr. Ana Slavec, UP IAM)

Citizen science has become a central mode of contemporary research, engaging millions of volunteers worldwide in the collection and interpretation of real world data. Despite this scale of participation, little is known about how such engagement shapes participants’ understanding of fundamental statistical ideas, including uncertainty, variability, sampling, and data interpretation. In parallel, research on statistical literacy has developed largely independently, focusing predominantly on formal educational settings and rarely considering learning that occurs through authentic, participatory data practices. This project investigates how participation in citizen science contributes to the development of statistical literacy and how digital citizen science environments can be deliberately designed to foster statistical reasoning and critical engagement with data.

You can view the other projects of the University of Primorska at the following link.