Coordination & Management

Profs. V.G. Papadakis and W. Wang, as Principal Investigators from the Leading Partners (UP/Greece and BUCT/China, respectively), have the overall responsibility for the project, its coordination and management. They provide a systematic management structure for the overall administrative, financial and legal management of the project, and the different technological / scientific tasks that have been assigned to the participants. They manage the administrative and financial aspects of the award in accordance with the terms and conditions of each country.

Arguably, the successful implementation of this project demands the highest possible degree of cooperation between the two Consortia, and also between the Consortiums members. At the strategic level, the close collaboration between the two Consortia benefits from the already established, harmonious collaboration that the academic partners enjoy. It should be noted that UP and UOWM have already signed Memorandums of Understanding with BUCT that make provisions for student exchange, staff exchange and research collaboration.

For the purposes of SYNAGRON, the Leaders of the consortiums are meet tri-monthly (via skype, zoom) to address the project updates (e.g. technical, development issues, report on progress updates, identify additional training or support requirements). Meetings (via skype or zoom) with the participation of both consortium members are organized on a six month basis. Budgetary provisions have also been made that will allow the visitation of China and Greece by appropriate delegations from each side (as far as the new COVID-19 situation permits).

Third Country Participation

The project SYNAGRON benefits from the participation of the newly-established Khalifa University of Science and Technology (United Arab Emirates), which combined The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research and The Petroleum Institute into one world-class, research-intensive institution. KUST has consistently ranked among the best 100 universities in Asia, reaching the 32^nd position in 2018.

The participation of this worldwide recognized entity provides a unique international dimension to SYNAGRON and help complement the in-house skills and expertise, leverage the scientific outcome beyond the scope of the Greece-China call for proposals and boost the potential for dissemination. The participation of KUST is based on the fruitful, ongoing and mature collaboration that Prof. Goula enjoys with the Prof. Kyriaki Polychronopoulou (KUST), evidenced by their respective lists of publications.