Shared expertise through EULiST

The first two longer EULiST exchanges on research at Jönköping University (JU) are now taking place at the School of Engineering (JTH).

"Our schools have similar projects and expertise, which we can share through EULiST," says Guillaume Pouget, a PhD student at IMT (Institut Mines-Telecom) in Albi in the south of France, who will spend the spring semester at JTH.

Guillaume Pouget, a PhD student from the Technical University IMT in the south of France, is currently on a six-month exchange programme at JTH through EULiST. Behind him, from left: Professor Maria Riveiro, JTH, Aurélie Montarnalm, Assistant Professor at IMT and Jerome Landré, Assistant Professor at JTH.

EULiST (European Universities Linking Society and Technology) is an alliance of ten European universities formed to support long-term cooperation in education, research, innovation and service to society.

JU has had various types of EULiST exchanges so far, but this is the first time that two longer research collaborations within the alliance take place at JU. It is done together with the technical universities IMT and LUT (Lappeenranta–Lahti University of Technology) in the south of Finland and both exchanges take place at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at JTH.

"Very excited to be here"

Guillaume Pouget, PhD student from IMT, will during the spring semester do research on radar signal processing, machine learning, AI and industrial applications at JTH.

"I am very excited to be here at JTH and in Jönköping and feel very welcome. I like the international atmosphere on campus, but I do not know how I will cope with a cold Swedish winter, says Guillaume Pouget and laughs.

"A unique opportunity"

Aurélie Montarnal, Assistant Professor at IMT and Guillaume Pouget's supervisor but who will not be present in Jönköping, sees EULiST as a unique opportunity to meet and be inspired by other universities.

"I expect we will learn more about AI research and applied research in industrial applications being done here. That is close to what my course group is doing at IMT. So I feel at home on several levels at JTH and at the same time discover many new things, which makes it interesting for us to collaborate with JTH."

She emphasizes the cultural and linguistic benefits of doing exchanges in another country.

"Guillaume will have to speak English every day during his time at JTH and that is always a good thing for us French people," says Aurélie Montarnal with a smile.

"Learn about their methods and strengths"

Guillaume Pouget will, among other things, work with Professor Maria Riveiro at the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at JTH.

"From our side, it is a pleasure to receive academics from other countries and do research with them. We get to see how they work and learn about their methods and strengths, says Maria Riveiro, who would like to see someone from their department do an exchange at IMT in the future.

Jerome Landré is from France and wrote the email to IMT that led to the exchange.

"I know IMT from before and told them that we work with data processing, AI and cybersecurity, among other things, and that we were interested in a collaboration with them. I see EULiST as an opportunity to find common areas of knowledge with other universities in Europe. EULiST is great for international collaborations in research and teaching, which can lead to very interesting opportunities and new research grants for us," says Jerome Landré.

Joakim Kävrestad, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at JTH (to the left), with Bilal Naqvi, Post-doctoral researcher at LUT University in Finland.

Natural step to come to JTH

Furthermore, Bilal Naqvi, Post-doctoral researcher at LUT University in Finland, has been researching and teaching at the Department of Computer Science and Informatics for almost six weeks. He is here until January 16 and enjoys it.

"I really like being at JTH and in Jönköping. It is calm and nice here, much like at LUT University, says Bilal Naqvi.

He already has a research collaboration with Joakim Kävrestad, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at JTH, on the human aspect of cybersecurity, so it was a natural step for him to come to JTH.

"This department has a big cybersecurity focus, while I work in a department for program development, so it's a bit different specialisations.

"Builds networks and provides good exposure"

Joakim Kävrestad mentions this type of exchange builds networks, provides good exposure for their department and is a way for them to learn more about different EULiST initiatives. He has visited LUT himself and sees many similarities with JTH, but also some differences.

"They have a greater focus on business education and are probably better than us at getting away on these types of exchanges. Another thing I picked up when I was there was that LUT, despite its shared campus and the fact that they are quite scattered geographically, is still good at keeping their business and study programs together, says Joakim Kävrestad.