Project

research and teaching in Physics; condensed matter physics; advanced materials

Lead
Lay summary
Materials-both very simple ones and composite oradvanced ones-have always been important to human society, as shown by the factthat our prehistoric eras are named after the new material that defined them,e.g. the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. The present age is likely to remain known as theAdvanced Materials Age since there has been a nearly explosive growth in materialsscience research, which provides the basis for modern technologies. The presentInstitutional Partnership (IP) aims to use the joint teaching, training andresearch initiatives and mobility programs to strengthen teaching and researchcapacities in modern materials science at Tbilisi State University (TSU),Georgia. The project will take advantage of the existing long-term scientificand technical cooperation between the partners at TSU and the Solid State Chemistry group withinLaboratory of Development and Methods at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). An importantmission of the project is to integrate research into the academic curriculum atTSU by supporting science education at the bachelor, master and doctorallevels. The main goal is to increase the level of education by keeping youngpeople interested in science. For this purpose leading scientists involved inthe project will present introductory lectures concerning the topics related tothe research initiatives of the IP. Organization of summer schools is alsoplanned. Students will have an opportunity to fully experience the work in amultidisciplinary environment in both formal and informal settings throughparticipation in group meetings, research seminars and colloquia. A veryimportant component of teaching initiatives will be the participation ofstudents in real experiments. By having access to a wide range of experimentaltechniques, students and young researchers will be trained not to restricttheir focus on the locally available methods, but to organize their research ina collaborative fashion by setting up active collaborations at national andinternational levels. A mobility schemeis foreseen for joint experiments, including short-term visits of the youngscientists to laboratories at PSI. Anotherimportant goal of the proposed IP is to strengthen and modernize the teachingand research infrastructure at the physics department of TSU and the exchangeof the teaching experience with the Swiss partners. It is foreseen thatexperienced Swiss scientists involved in the project will give lectures at TSUand at summer schools in Georgiaabout the latest developments in the research field of the IP. Realization of the project goals will help to integratethe high-level research into the educational curricula of the Tbilisi StateUniversity. Youngspecialists of qualitatively new type will be prepared, who will be able towork in inter-disciplinary domains of experimental condensed matter physics andpossess knowledge of theoretical concepts and experimental skills to solvemodern problems of advanced materials science.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 21.02.2013

Active participation

Title	Year

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

Materials-both very simple ones and composite or advanced ones-have always been important to human society, as shown by the fact that our prehistoric eras are named after the new material that defined them, e.g. the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. The present age is likely to remain known as the Advanced Materials Age. Capitalizing on the recent advent of new instrumentation for materials synthesis and characterization there has been a nearly explosive growth in materials science research, which provides the basis for modern technologies.The present Institutional Partnership (IP) aims to use the joint teaching, training and research initiatives and mobility programs to strengthen teaching and research capacities in modern materials science at Tbilisi State University (TSU), Georgia. The project will take advantage of the existing long-term scientific and technical cooperation between the partners at TSU and the Solid State Chemistry group within Laboratory of Development and Methods at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI).An important mission of the project is to integrate research into the academic curriculum at TSU by supporting science education at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. The main goal is to increase the level of education by keeping young people interested in science. Therefore teaching activities are in the focus of the proposed IP. For this purpose leading scientists involved in the project will present introductory lectures concerning the topics related to the research initiatives of the IP. Organization of summer schools is also planned. Students will have an opportunity to fully experience the work in a multidisciplinary environment in both formal and informal settings through participation in group meetings, research seminars and colloquia. A very important component of teaching initiatives will be the participation of students in real experiments. By having access to a wide range of experimental techniques, students and young researchers will be trained not to restrict their focus on the locally available methods, but to organize their research in a collaborative fashion by setting up active collaborations at national and international levels. Students and junior scientists will benefit from the extended international scientific contacts established by the project leaders. A mobility scheme is foreseen for joint experiments, including short-term visits of the young scientists to laboratories at PSI. Another important goal of the proposed IP is to strengthen and modernize the teaching and research infrastructure at the physics department of TSU and the exchange of the teaching experience with the Swiss partners. It is foreseen that experienced Swiss scientists involved in the project will give lectures at TSU and at summer schools in Georgia about the latest developments in the research field of the IP.Realization of the project goals will help to integrate the high-level research into the educational curricula of the Tbilisi State University. Young specialists of qualitatively new type will be prepared, who will be able to work in inter-disciplinary domains of experimental condensed matter physics and possess knowledge of theoretical concepts and experimental skills to solve modern problems of advanced materials science. Up to now such specialists are not prepared in Georgia.