“Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati (UGAL) is a prestigious higher education institution in Romania in terms of teaching and advanced research. It was established in the year 1974 and currently, it employs over 700 academic members and 1275 administrative members. The University has accumulated a vast experience in the implementation of research and educational projects, through more than 500 implemented projects, as a beneficiary and partner. As well, “Dunarea de Jos” University is included in the international ranking ,,The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021”. The University has a legacy in the research of the Danube River and Danube Delta (due to its location on the Danube’s shore), through different bachelor, master, and PhD programmes, but also through the research activities conducted in the Universities 18 Research Centres. Also, the University has the only Aquaculture Engineering learning program from Romania, with a tradition of over 40 years. UGAL has the necessary resources to coordinate high-value consortium and infrastructure projects, being considered a highly open institution in terms of international relations, with extensions of study programs in 3 foreign countries (Italy, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova). UGAL management capacities are sustained by its complex organigram. The university is managing one of the highest investment plans from Romania, proving its managing and coordination capabilities as it currently implements and coordinates projects of over 40 mil euros. In September 2022, UGAL hosted the first edition of the Erasmus+ International Staff Week, organized by the Erasmus+ Office within the Department of International Relations. The main theme of the event was to both promote and strengthen internationalization and digitization strategies in higher education, as well as the development of inter-university cooperation relations. The beneficiaries of the training course were 50 guests from 20 partner universities, teaching and administrative staff from 16 non-EU countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Kosovo, Morocco, Nicaragua, Palestine, Republic of Moldova, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, Vietnam.
Role in SKILLS4Water
The added value that UGAL brings in the present project is based on the multi- and inter-disciplinary skilled team formed from specialists from Faculty of Automatic Control, Computers, Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Faculty of Food Science and Engineering and Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, which bring together and integrate essential digital and soft skills targeted to be transferred within SKILLS4Water.
SKILLS4Water Team from UGAL:
Ira Simionov
PhD Ira Simionov is the project coordinator and she is an assistant professor at UGAL, Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, the Aquaculture Department. She is head of the Water Quality Control Laboratory within the UGAL MoRAS Research Center. She has published 13 research articles in journals with impact factor and over 40 articles in WOS indexed journals. Dr. Simionov has been involved in over 10 research projects, of which one as project manager. Dr. Simionov focused her doctoral and post-doctoral studies on monitoring water quality by using innovative techniques such as using virtual sensors through machine learning algorithms. Currently, she is working for her second PhD in system engineering focusing on the automated control of bioprocesses in wastewater treatment facilities. The most representative projects for the present proposal in which she is involved are „Modelling and control of sub-lethal stress mechanism in microalgae in spirit of biorefinery concept” and ,,The optimization of rearing technologies of animal and vegetable biomasses in multi- trophic aquaculture systems by using intelligent visual recognition techniques and IoT”.
Phd Marian Barbu
PhD Marian Barbu is a Professor at the Department of Automation and Electrical Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Automation, Computers, Electrical Engineering and Electronics within UGAL, Romania. Marian Barbu focused his research on the management of wastewater treatment plants by developing innovative control strategies for water lines. As well, Prof. Marian Barbu has contributed to the development of control strategies for water quality within recirculating aquaculture systems by modeling the nitrification bioprocess. Prof. Barbu has previous experience with Erasmus+ projects and he was the Institutional Responsible for two Erasmus+ projects: SPEET (Student Profile for Enhancing Engineering Tutoring) (2016-2019) and DIGIWATER (digitalization of the water industry by innovative graduate water education) (2020 – 2022). Within SKILLS4WATER, Prof. Barbu is responsible for the development of a guidance toolkit for young professionals.
PhD Alexandru Capatana
PhD Alexandru Capatana is a Professor at UGAL, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. He is a Business Innovation Coach at EIC Accelerator and a Visiting Professor at IPAG Business School Paris, France. His digital and soft skills extend to the use of digital platforms in training activities (Simbound – http://simbound.com/ for Digital Marketing, respectively DIG – https://dig.demedicis.fr/ for Innovative Business Models). Prof. Capatana has been a member in the research project ,,FutureWeb – Empirical modelling and experimental development of emerging technologies tools for online social networks. Within SKILLS4WATER, Prof. Alex Capatana is responsible for the project sustainability strategy.
PhD Dragos Cristea
PhD Dragos Cristea is a Professor at UGAL, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. His expertise extends to intelligent systems, distributed programming, machine learning and statistics. Prof. Dragos Cristea published more than 20 articles WoS indexed, focusing on machine learning/AI techniques applied for various biotechnological scenarios applied in the water sector. The most representative projects of Mr. Cristea for the present project proposal are: ,,Intelligent methods based on Wireless Sensor Network technology for the management of water quality in aquaculture systems”, ,,Advanced techniques for the automated control of recirculating aquaculture systems wastewater effluents”, ,,Smart City 3D simulation and monitoring platform”, ,,The optimization of rearing technologies of animal and vegetable biomasses in multi-trophic aquaculture systems by using intelligent visual recognition techniques and IoT”. Within SKILLS4WATER, Prof. Cristea is responsible for the practical guidance development.
