The European Commission to Fund VU Postdoctoral Fellowships
The results of the 2024 call for proposals for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) under Horizon Europe, the European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation, reveal that two grants have been awarded to Vilnius University (VU) applicants.
The prestigious MSCA PF grant has been awarded to Dr Lukas Waltenberger, whose research is supervised by Rimantas Jankauskas, Professor from the VU Faculty of Medicine. Funding through the ERA Fellowships competition has been awarded to Dr Owen Gohori, who will conduct his research at VU Kaunas Faculty under the supervision of Prof. Virginija Jurėnienė. The ERA Fellowships competition automatically includes those applications submitted in collaboration with institutions from widening countries that received high evaluation scores in the general MSCA PF competition yet have not been funded due to budgetary constraints.
New methods for trauma analysis
Dr Waltenberger will undertake his postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology and Palaeogenetics of the VU Faculty of Medicine. His project, ‘Innovative Methods for Understanding Blunt Force Trauma Patterns to Assess Conflicts in Past Times (IMPACT)’, aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of blunt force trauma (BFT), one of the most common types of injuries observed in archaeological studies and forensic cases, whose origins still remain challenging to determine.
Through his postdoctoral research, Dr Waltenberger will seek to develop new methods to distinguish between accidental injuries and intentional acts. The study will be based on data from 500 recent trauma cases from the US, with the developed methodologies subsequently applied to archaeological samples. This approach will provide new insights into assault, accidents, and child abuse in prehistory.
Research on sustainable community tourism and social entrepreneurship in African countries
Dr Gohori will conduct his postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Social Sciences and Applied Informatics at VU Kaunas Faculty. His research focuses on social entrepreneurship in tourism as an alternative strategy for promoting sustainable community tourism.
His project, ‘Tourism Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Community Tourism Development (TSE_SCTD)’, will be based on qualitative research conducted in rural areas in Zimbabwe and Botswana, where community-based tourism projects have been successfully implemented. This study will not only generate new knowledge but also promote gender equality in communities and the development of sustainable cultural heritage tourism products, enhancing VU’s international visibility in this field.
Other VU applications also received high evaluation scores
A further ten applications submitted by VU have received high evaluations from international experts; one application has been placed on the reserve list for the ERA Fellowships competition. Nine others exceeded the threshold score and are eligible for funding through Lithuania’s European Regional Development Fund allocation under Horizon Europe.
The competition for this prestigious call was particularly fierce – the European Commission received a total of 10,360 applications, representing a 29% increase compared to 2023. Out of these, only 1,696 MSCA PF projects and 41 projects under the ERA Fellowships scheme secured funding. More information on the MSCA PF 2024 results can be found here.