The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NU SEDS hosted three scientists and one student from the Institute for Buildings, Energy and Materials Technology at the University of the Arctic, Norway (Narvik), from August 8-10.
During this visit, a three-day research seminar was organized to strengthen the bilateral cooperation that began in 2019.
“Graduate students and faculty members from the CER department visited UiT Arctic University (Narvik Campus) in May 2022 to exchange experiences in research activities. In addition, two modular online courses: Principles of Low Energy Design and Integration of Renewable Energy Technology in Cold Climate Buildings: Sustainable Buildings – have been developed in recent years. They will be released on Moodle platform soon”, said the head of Department Jong Kim.
At the seminar, two sides exchanged ideas and projects, while a graduate exchange student Louise Geisser showed a process of making the fuel cell plates.
“This was done for the first time at our university. It may be noted that she started her master’s thesis at the University of Toulon (France), continued as an exchange student at the University of the Arctic UiT (Norway) and completed it at NU (Kazakhstan). Ms Louise Geisser demonstrated and explained the principles of hydrogen fuel cells,” said Jong Kim.
UIT and NU have experience in different areas related to sustainable buildings and energy technology due to their geographical location, said Mohamad Mustafa, professor at UiT of the Arctic University of Norway. In his view, two universities can share these experiences to improve their educational offerings and develop professional programs and joint courses and seminars.
The visit of Norwegian scholars to NU took place because of the “Academic Cooperation in Post-graduate Engineering Education” (ACE) project, funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir).
“The ACE project is intended to contribute to the development plans of both institutions. The experience gained from the project will enhance their competence for future collaboration beyond the project and increase the participation of other interested researchers and participants,” said Professor Mohamad Mustafa.
As part of the visit, guests met with representatives from the NU School of Engineering and Digital Sciences and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They also visited the SEDS laboratories.