ESEIA International Summer School 2015
13- 24 July 2015: ESEIA International Summer School on Integrating Bioresources and Waste in Urban and Rural Energy Systems
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Graduate students and young professionals from five European countries, two ENP countries and Russia took part at the 2015 edition of the ESEIA International Summer School on Integrating Bioresources and Waste in Urban and Rural Energy Systems, held from 13 to the 24 July 2015, in Lisbon, Portugal.
The event was locally organised by the Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia (LNEG) and the New University of Lisbon, and was hosted in the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies. The Summer School was aimed at offering participants a systems perspective on smart solutions and innovations to the bioenergy challenge for cities and communities.
The Summer School addressed the policy governance, socio-economic, design angles, as well as the technological angle of urban and rural bioenergy Systems.
Lectures focused on production processes and application to biorefineries, residues valorization, biomass waste treatment, Challenges of Smart Cities. A specific module on IPR and EU Project Management grouped lectures and interactive workshop activities coordinated by EU experts. Top scientists and practitioners guided participants on their work and helped them develop their career paths.
The students had the chance to visit and discover the functioning of the CMC Biomassa Lda. – a recycling company using green sawdust and other wood wastes, the LNEG’s zero net energy building Solar XXI and campus “Biomass infrastructure” as well as the company Algafuel, dedicated to the development and the delivering of bioengineering projects for the industrial production of microalgae.
The ISS 2015 class appreciated not only the professional visits, but also the strong mix of interactive lectures completed by workshops, discussions and project work. During a Garden talk they had the opportunity to discuss the needs and gaps of the bioenergy sector in terms of knowledge and skills with ESEIA experts. During the event Teresa Ponce de Leão, President of LNEG and Scientific coordinator of the ESEIA Summer School presented the H2020 BioEnergyTrain project that would create two new Masters Curricula – Biorefinery Engineer (BRE) and Bioresource Value Chain Manager (BVI). The two Masters will be open in 2018 in University of Twente (Netherlands) and Graz University of Technology (Austria). Hedda Weber from the Austrian company Wood K Plus discussed with the participants the Bioresource careers in the pulp and paper industries and Michael Narodoslawsky from Graz University of Technology talked about the role of bio-energy as element of a future energy system.
What made this Summer School memorable in the eyes of the participants were the professional visits, the networking opportunities and the practical learning exposure.