From 26 June to 1 July, fourteen master and PhD students from eight countries participated in the BioEnergyTrain International Summer School hosted by the University of Zagreb – Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The programme was a well-balanced mixture of interactive lectures, workshops with group assignments and technical site visits.
Lectures were given by experts coming from university, research organizations and business and addressed the topic of bioenergy from different perspectives. Students gained knowledge on the bioresource value chain, the biorefinery concept and its processes, smart systems and smart energy planning, and the biobased economy. They gained practical skills on Life Cycle Assessment and the InnoEnergy’s Innovation Readiness Level tool. The interactive lectures were completed with a group assignment working with the EnergyPlan computer model to simulate the energy system of Croatia and the impact of renewable energy sources on energy planning.
At the end of the week, students had the opportunity to visit two power plants, namely the Dubrovnik Hydroelectric Power Plant, one of the largest hydropower plant of Croatia with a total capacity of 216 MW, and the Wind Power Plant in Rudine at the Adriatic coast. They discovered the functioning of these two power plants with guidance from academic experts.
The participants valued not only the practical learning exposure but also the attention that was being given to personal career development. They were able to present their own work and projects and received guidance from the lecturers on their projects. Richard Wheeler from eseia gave a presentation on opportunities for young researchers under the EU Horizon2020 funding programme and a small workshop on career development.
The BioEnergyTrain International Summer School was organized by eseia and hosted by the University of Zagreb – Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology for hosting the International Summer School 2017.
written by Linette Viertelhauzen, eseia Project Manager
