Explore our research profiles through the links below
Hochschule Mittweida (HSMW)
Laser Technologies
laser micro- and nanoprocessing, USP processes
laser high rate processing, surface processing
pulsed laser deposition, thin-film systems
additive manufacturing processes (3D printing)
laser macro technologies, laser process technologies
photonics, optical metrology
modelling and simulation
Product and Process Development
power engineering and systems, resource management
information and system electronics, embedded systems
manufacturing technologies, work planning
materials & surface technologies,
drive systems, robotics, automation, industry 4.0
component development and -rating,
fibre composites
biological systems and technologies
Digitalisation in Economy and Society
challenges of economic and social change
Open Government
working environments, life situations, mobility
regional development und entrepreneurship
digital education technologies
innovative media technologies, applied acoustics
Applied Computer Science
ICT, networks and distributed systems
machine learning, applied mathematics
big data, blockchain / DLT, cryptography
software engineering, visualisation
web-, app-, cloud- & gaming technologies, IoT
virtual reality / augmented reality
computational life sciences, digital forensics, IT security
Montanuniversität Leoben (MUL)
Overview of research areas
Mineral Resources Production and Processing
Metallurgy
High-Performance Materials
Process and Product Engineering
Environmental Technology and Recycling
Energy Technology and Resource Management
Safety Engineering and Risk Management
Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Engineering and Economics
Positioning and Profile of Montanuniversität towards 2030In the field of competence “Advanced Resources”, the Montanuniversität Leoben focuses in particular on the following key areas:
Development and application of geophysical methods for the investigation of the earth’s crust
Deposit formation in the regional and geodynamical framework
Mining and tunnelling with a special focus on new resource- and energy-efficient technologies, the digitalisation of technologies, the digitalisation of processes, the development of new mining methods, geotechnology and safety technology for the construction and operation of subsurface facilities. In this context the Zentrum am Berg (ZaB), a large-scale subsurface research laboratory, is unique in Europe.
Raw material analysis, suitability and requirements for the development and optimisation of process sequences.
Refinement technologies for the innovative use of raw materials
Development of the scientific basis for raw material certification for the labelling of products.
Digitalisation of the core processes
Securing the energy supply through
a) Research on the formation and sustainable use of hydrocarbon reservoirs, with particular emphasis on cost-efficient drilling methods and increasing the use of reservoirs.
b) Use of geothermal energy
c) Use of the underground to store hydrogen, hydrogen-based raw materials, CO2 and heat. This requires the use of synergies through intensified cross-disciplinary cooperation of the raw materials sector with areas of process engineering, materials, etc.
In the field of competence “Smart Materials”, the Montanuniversität Leoben focuses in particular on the following key areas:
Metallic engineering materials for novel steels for automotive and tooling applications.
Intermetallic materials and refractory metals for high-temperature applications and for medical technology
Functional materials with a special focus on new concepts for materials in energy technology to increase the efficiency of alternative energy technologies and to advance new techniques for energy conversion and storage
Materials for microelectronics, flexible electronics and for communications (5G technology)
Development of polymers and reactive resins for additive manufacturing, biogenic plastics and compounds
Energy efficiency in the processing of composites and elastomers
Development of concepts for the lifetime prediction of plastics, the design of materials for lightweight construction and hybrid structures, and the recycling of plastics (Circular Economy).
Sustainable material design with the inclusion of available raw materials and recyclability
Virtual Materials Design
In the field of competence “Sustainable Processing”, the Montanuniversität Leoben focuses in particular on the following key areas:
Linking material and/or product production with the collection systems in waste management and waste recovery technology, processing and the actual recycling and recovery processes, as well as the provision and optimisation of recycling technologies to supplement primary resources.
Metallurgy as well as material and product design, taking into account a sustainable raw material base and recyclability (Zero Waste).
Disassembly and re-use strategies, the development of life-cycle considerations, technology assessments and the definition of benchmarks for energy and material efficiency.
Materials-oriented mechanical engineering, use of additive manufacturing and smart predictive analytics for the transformation of industrial production to the Circular Economy
Decarbonisation of industry through the use of energy-efficient technologies, as well as through the integration of decentralised and fluctuating energy generation with new methods of energy distribution and energy storage, as well as sector coupling in energy technology
Energy process optimisation of existing production sites and new ones to be built by connecting previously unused surplus energies (e.g. heat) with demand sources at other production areas or at other times.
High-temperature and thermoprocess technology in energy-intensive industry.
Technical climate protection, environmental and process engineering, in particular utilisation of CO2 via Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) as a CO2 reduction and utilisation measure.
Hydrogen as energy vector of the future and reducing agent in metallurgy. Generation of hydrogen with reduced CO2 footprint via methane pyrolysis, which combines raw material, material and process technology aspects.
Biogenic materials as a source of raw materials in addition to their conventional use as materials or energy carriers to transform the fossil base of chemical and petrochemical products to renewable sources.
Design to Sustainability, both at product and process level
Politechnika Śląska (SUT)
Computational oncology and personalized medicine;
Artificial intelligence and data processing
application of artificial intelligence methods in optimisation problems, construction of decision and quality systems, authentication of people, and natural language processing
Materials of the futureSmart cities and future mobility
identification of the needs connected with the existing infrastructure as well as those of the society
technological and spatial development making it possible to satisfy the needs previously identified, to overcome contemporary limitations, to improve the efficiency of solutions, and to reduce the negative impact of human activity on natural environment and quality of life.
Sustainable consumption and production
environmental impact caused by transport and by waste generation because of design, production and use of vehicles, as well as of vehicle operation and decommissioning, and on the development of air pollution profiling systems and the application of Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for analysis of the environmental impact of smart urban solutions, development of methods and technologies intended for acquisition and processing of transport infrastructure, qualitative and quantitative social surveys used to describe various phenomena related to the human factor in urban transport and logistics.
Process automation and Industry 4.0Climate and environmental protection, modern energy
Climate and environmental changes and reduction of air pollution,
Water and wastewater management and environmental biotechnology,
Circular economy,
Renewable and alternative energy sources and prosumer energy,
Innovative technologies and sustainable development,
Education for sustainable development and shaping environmental awareness,
Problems of degradation and revitalisation of areas,
Energy efficiency and energy management,
Energy storage and hydrogen energy,
Shaping the internal environment
Intelligent buildings
Strategy for sustainable development of energy and gas energy.
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (TU BAF)
Innovative technologies for mining operations
Energy efficiency through selective cutting and the reduction of waste generation,
Enhanced recovery of mineable resources,
Sensors, algorithms, automation and robotics in mining,
Improvement of equipment availability,
Health and safety and rescue
Reclamation of mine lands and their rehabilitation for re-use
Environmental technologies for the recovery of raw materials from environmental compartments
Climate mitigation and adaptation strategies
Climate modelling and hydrogeological modelling for forecasting groundwater replenishment and the availability of water resources
New materials and technologies for the energy transformation in Europe
Solar energy, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, biogas and gasification technologies
Climate change economics and management
Study of consumer patterns and behaviour with respect to natural resources, energy and water, recycling and re-use.
Polytechneio Kritis (TUC)
Waste valorisationSolid and liquid municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes are considered in most cases as secondary raw materials. Thus, efforts need to be taken for their valorisation, including the extraction of heavy metals (also rare earth and critical elements), the recovery of energy and nutrients, the production of secondary construction materials, biochar, compost and others. Their valorisation requires the development of novel technologies or the modification of existing ones as well as the implementation of LCA/LCC studies to assess benefits and environmental impacts.
Advanced mining technologies enhancing the sustainability of raw material extraction
Recent advances in artificial intelligence technologies have provided a new approach in solving many problems related to the mineral industry, a traditional economic activity which was heavily based on the experiential knowledge. The implementation of machine learning, expert and autonomous systems, intelligence process automation, advanced analytics modelling and simulation provide many economic benefits for the mineral industry through cost reduction, energy efficiency, improved productivity and safety and reduced environmental footprint. Particularly the success of these technologies is mainly due to their similarity to human perception and reasoning. The mineral industry has been particularly receptive to these methods, since many of the mining operations and processes are understood and controlled in empirical ways.
Sustainable Materials and Products
Materials production requires a large amount of energy use and is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, producing approximately 25% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. It produces large volumes of waste both in production and at end-of-life disposal. More efficient use of materials could play a key role in achieving multiple environmental and economic benefits. Sustainable materials are materials used throughout our consumer and industrial economy that can be produced in required volumes without depleting non-renewable resources and without disrupting the established steady-state equilibrium of the environment and key natural resource systems. Particular emphasis and concern is given worldwide with the sustainability of cement-based materials in construction. Therefore, the cement replacement using binders of waste or recycled materials, such as coal fly ash, blast-furnace slag, natural or artificial pozzolans, as well as aggregates of recycled glass, brick and concrete can efficiently reduce the embodied energy, improve the durability of construction materials and reduce the burden on the environment.
Air pollution
Basic research on suspended particles dynamics. Applications to the atmosphere. Heterogeneous reactions on the surface of particles.
Development and application of three-dimensional models of air pollution.
Application of air quality models to study the dispersion and physico-chemical processes of atmospheric pollutants in the troposphere.
Measurements of air pollutants and meteorological data in the atmosphere.
Modelling processes and measurements of air pollutants indoors. Modelling the transport of air pollutants in the human body.
Technology development for the biological treatment of gaseous waste.
Mobile (automotive) and Stationary (industry) gas emissions control.
Environmental catalysis; Development of (nano-) composite catalytic materials for the abatement of gas pollutants.
Liquid and solid waste management
Water quality.
Emphasis on the identification of organic micro-pollutants and by-products of disinfection.
Water and wastewater treatment.
Membrane bioreactors.
Natural and decentralised waste management systems.
Agro-industrial solid waste and sludge valorisation.
Solid waste characterisation, management and treatment.
Water resources and coastal engineering
Technology development for soil and solid waste (toxic and dangerous) bioremediation.
Development of oil spill response.
Development, analysis, design, process control and optimization of biochemical processes.
Design and application of contaminated soils and groundwater remediation technologies.
Remediation engineering
Hydrology
Geology and Hydrogeology.
Coastal Engineering.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Environmental Models.
Optimal water resources management.
Environmental applications of the above.
Environmental structures – natural disasters
Natural disasters -Floods – Earthquakes.
Soil mechanics.
Foundations design and construction.
Geodesy
Sustainable energy and climatic change
Renewable Energy Systems Management.
Life Cycle Analysis.
Biofuels
Energy efficiency in the built environment.
Green buildings. Zero carbon emission buildings.
Urban environment and climate change. Urban heat island and sustainable cities.
Energy management systems. Buildings modelling control and optimisation systems.
Fuel Cells; Cogeneration of useful chemicals and electricity.
Hydrogen Energy; Hydrogen Production.
Natural gas and Biogas Valorisation and Utilisation.
Design and development of novel electrochemical; reactors and processes.
Environmental sciences
Micro-extraction innovative techniques for quantification of organic micro-pollutants in environmental samples.
Environmental monitoring and fate of organic micro-pollutants in the environment.
Detection, isolation and study of microorganisms.
Microbial resistance against variable antibiotic agents, gene expression, resistance transport and evaluation of disinfection methods.
Degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous phase (water and wastewater) using oxidising chemical degradation methods such as UV radiation in the presence of H2O2 (UV/H2O2), Ozone (O3), homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysis and electrochemical oxidation.
Green Chemistry and Technology with emphasis on the development and implementation of environmentally friendly processes.
Contaminated sites characterisation – exploration and evaluation of contamination.
Remediation systems efficiency monitoring.
Environmental Law and Environmental Governance.
Banach Space Theory.
Stochastic Models of tumor growth.
Heterogeneous Catalysis and Catalyst Promotion.
Surface, interface, structural and electronic properties of (nano-)composite materials.
Decay and conservation of monumentsArchitectural design, Site, Landscape and Environment, Urban planning
Universidad de León (ULE)
Business Economics
Biosystems Engineering
Plant protection and production.
Plant physiology.
Geomatics: drones applied to Biosystems Engineering.
Bioremediation
Waste recycling.
Sustainable infrastructures and constructions.
Environmental Science and Technology
Research in environmental areas and environmental pollution.
Solving problems generated in the environment.
Application of environmental technologies.
Application of environmental remediation techniques.
Université de Lorraine is an intensive research university embracing the full spectrum of scientific disciplines, and actively involved in the creation and transfer of knowledge and technological innovations to civil society, businesses and cultural stakeholders.
2,400 faculty members are the driving force behind our research activities within 60 recognised, structured research units, nearly half of which operate as part of a thriving partnership with leading national research organization (CNRS, Inserm, INRAE and Inria).
The research units are organized in 10 scientific clusters:
improving the methods, technologies, machines and equipment for quarries and underground mining;
investigating rocks and analysing land stability;
excavations and mining construction in quarries and subsurface;
monitoring the impact of mining activities upon the environment and techniques for environment rehabilitation;
studying the networks of mining ventilation, of microclimate and of gas dynamic and thermodynamic phenomena;
modernising the acquiring and processing of topographic and geodesic data;
analysing health, safety and risks in mining activities;
studying electrical and mechanic systems in mining industry.
Industrial engineering domain
increase of energy efficiency through elaborating, analysing and improving heating and fluid assessment of energy equipment;
settling the measures for saving energy resources, for modernising equipment and increasing energy efficiency;
energy expression of the performance of various industrial systems, estimating the technical and energy levels of the process under analysis; theoretical foundation and simulation of thermo-fluid-dynamic processes;
decreasing energy intensity of industrial thermic equipment;
numeric simulation and modelling of the process of heat exchange in industrial equipment.
Systems Engineering domain
electrical actuator control systems, robot control systems, renewable energy systems, biomedical systems, prediction systems based on big data processing, data communication systems.
