Projects

This MSCA project focuses on the development of high-performance carbon dots (CDs) from sustainable biomass sources, specifically lignin and peat. Unlike general synthesis projects, this research prioritizes achieving high quantum yields through optimized doping and advanced purification and separation approaches to obtain well-defined, fractionated products. Through systematic characterization, the project ensures the production of materials with non-toxic properties, specifically tailored for high-contrast bioimaging and cellular labeling. The goal is to establish a robust protocol for creating sustainable, medical-grade fluorescent probes that outperform traditional toxic semiconductor quantum dots.

The aim of the financial competence development project led by TalTech is to provide, in collaboration with various institutions and researchers, the necessary scientific expert group to solve various problems related to improving financial literacy and to conduct measurements and experiments during the project. The project will carry out the analysis described in the initial task, answer the research questions, and additionally propose activities and measures to improve financial literacy. Researchers from TalTech, the University of Tartu, Tallinn University, Estonian Business School, and Mainor Business School will participate in the project, along with external partners from Aalto University (Finland), Trier University (Germany), and Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany).

The Notary Chamber of the Republic of Azerbaijan launched an initiative to improve capacity building programs for lawyers and candidates. To this aim, it ordered from TalTech the organisation and provision of train-the-trainer courses for Azerbaijani judges in collaboration with experts from Germany and Estonia. New courses developed through performance of this contract shall close the gaps in the basic legal education of Azerbaijan, especially with regard to the case solution method.

The project aims to shed light on the differences in the national regulation of children’s autonomous decisions. There are still considerable differences as to the regulatory approaches and preconditions for autonomous decisions of minors in Europe. The approaches largely foresee autonomy of minors based either on an individual assessment of their capacity to understand or on their age, with context-related differences. In order to understand national approaches, renowned national experts from 11 selected countries will contribute to the project, in addition to the project leaders, by reporting on the legal situation in their respective legal orders. The results will be discussed during the project and made available to the research community.

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are the only short-term alternative to fossil fuels in aviation. Considering the increased number of passengers forecasted in the near future, a massive increased in SAF production has been estimated in the years to come. To fulfill this increase in demand, the combination of existing and new renewable production chains is needed. Current SAF-producing pathways are at different levels of maturity, implementation or even commercialization. However, lowering the cost and supply chain development are key challenges for commercial-scale SAF deployment. Using biowastes as feedstock for SAF is challenging but necessary to make SAF competitive with fossil fuels. In this context, yeasts may be key players to generate economically-viable SAF intermediates (terpenes or fatty acids (FA)) in an environmentally-friendly way from biowaste. This SAF production by biological means is very new and presents a lot of remaining challenges and training gaps that have to be addressed. YAF research programme aims at; i) producing carbon sources from biowastes, ii) developing new yeast cell factories to produce SAF, iii) designing new bifunctional catalysts, iv) achieving efficient strategies for FA/terpenes extraction, and v) creating robust framework tailored to the scaling-up methodologies and life-cycle sustainability assessment of different SAF producing routes, which will support decisionmaking. To achieve this, the right integration of biology, biotechnology, chemical engineering and environmental sciences will be required. Thus, the prime training/networking aim of YAF is to train the next generation of researchers in a highly interdisciplinary and intersectorial research environment such that they can soundly address upcoming challenges concerning production yeastbased SAF. YAF has been designed to strengthen European research and innovation, enhancing research visibility and generating a critical mass to address European (and global) challenges

This project aims at enhancing expert workforce and digitalization in the field of fault diagnosis, condition- based maintenance of wind turbines and related components in the partner institutions by bringing innovation in higher education teaching and learning methods in wind energy and applied artificial intelligence for maintenance decisions, increasing its relevance for the labour market and the society as a whole. The project will help partners in Vietnam and Thailand to produce in-house human resources in the field of condition-based maintenance of wind energy, making both the countries independent of external consultants. The main objective of the project is to implement real problem-based teaching and learning methods in the curriculum of higher education institutions (HEIs) of the partner countries. The expertise and know- how of the EU partner universities and their long- term teaching and research in this field would make this project objective achievable. Moreover, this project will build the capacity to produce graduates with independent, global insight, interdisciplinary expertise, competence in wind energy, and intercultural expertise. The project will also help the EU partners to renew their education in renewable energy and build a sustainable flow of students in both directions.

While there exist ways to observe the sea surface, the underwater environment requires extended research. Filling this knowledge gap is in line with EU Mission Starfish 2030. Any movement in fluid creates a pressure change. The source of such changes can be natural phenomena like waves, currents, or iceberg calving. These pressure changes also include man-made dynamics, like moving vessels or wastewater release, and can be detected and monitored using pressure sensors. These sensors are non-invasive, energy-efficient, and work submerged. The sensitivity to weak signals may suffer in presence of strong sources like waves or currents. Separation of different sources can be treated as a ”cocktail party problem.” The main purpose of this proposal is to address this challenge and contribute to underwater sea monitoring. We aim at creation of algorithms for source separation, detection and localization to work on low-cost platforms, and validate performance in real deployments.

The aim of the project is to assess the partner universities' IT curricula from the point of view of industries' and digital services end-users' needs, and to develop and pilot additional modules by universities.

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital collection of product-related information, including data on sustainability and circularity performance. DPPs are an essential tool to support European policies towards the twin, Green and Digital, transitions. Built on the results of the CIRPASS project, CIRPASS-2 will support 13 pilot deployments of DPP-enabled circular use cases, across multiple complex value chains in the textiles, electronics, tires and construction sectors. DPP system interoperability will be demonstrated for all pilots and confirm viable cross-sectoral, large-scale deployment of the DPP in real-life settings. The DPP Information System deployed will be aligned to European harmonized standards and regulatory requirements. The project will assess the information understanding and satisfaction of consumers, end-users and authorities in using the DPP. The environmental, economic and policy impacts of the DPP, as well as its benefits and challenges for all stakeholders, will be assessed.

TThe EuroTeQ 2030 is the next stage in the European Universities Alliance to deepen, expand and intensify the existing cooperation. Eight partners propose an unprecedented approach to collaborative education that not only brings together various countries but also a broad coalition of stakeholders in industry, society, and both academic and non-academic education. With our partnership, we will enhance today’s engineering study programmes with new core competencies, transversal skills, design methodologies, and structured links to relevant stakeholders. New ideas will occur from merging different perspectives, and new groups of learners will enrich the diversity in the classroom, which leads to innovation. Participating in EuroTeQ initiatives shall train learners to find answers to societal challenges, human needs, and real-world questions in a collaborative and responsible approach. We strongly believe that this European network will foster and strengthen European values by enabling young citizens to meet their peers and inviting the entire university family to make connections across Europe

The complexity of an urban water collection system, which includes wastewater, rainwater and drainage water, can be expressed in the length and connections of pipelines, the use of pumping stations or various collection tanks and tunnels, the consumer profile (domestic wastewater or industrial wastewater), the inflow of rainwater, the use of pre-treatment plants, etc. Therefore, there is a risk of unforeseen disturbances, which also results in odor nuisance. Large-scale and voluminous sewage networks are usually associated with a long residence time of wastewater before reaching the water treatment plant. Due to the long residence time, water pollution can be carried into the air through mixing processes in the pipeline and exit from sewage wells. Sewage gases can cause disturbances because unpleasant odors significantly affect the living and working environment and pose a threat to human health. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a well-known irritant in the human respiratory tract. This gas has an unpleasant odor that is recognizable to humans as a rotten egg. One of the main goals of this project is to investigate the spread of hydrogen sulfide in urban sewage networks and to explain its effects in densely populated urban areas and on underground pipeline structures.

How do neurons maintain their function throughout life? Neurons are born early in development and are not regenerated during an individual’s lifetime. Therefore, after maturation, our neurons must remain functional throughout life, which in humans can be up to a hundred years of more. The goal of my ERC Starting Grant 2024 proposal EpiNeuroLife was to uncover how the formation of the epigenetic landscape during neuronal maturation contributes to the maintenance of neuronal gene expression and function during adulthood and ageing. My preliminary studies show that developing neurons in the mouse cerebellum accumulate extremely high levels of the repressive histone modification H3K27me3 during maturation, which I hypothesise is critical for regulating chromatin compaction and neuronal gene expression later in life. In MOB3ERC113, I will generate supporting data for my ERC application to uncover the mechanisms of H3K27me3 deposition in neurons.

Mycoprotein texturization technologies are being developed to create high-quality alternative meat and fish products. The work includes optimizing the composition and structure of prototypes and evaluating their quality. The technology will be scaled up from laboratory to industrial scale. The result will be an industrially applicable solution for developing mycoprotein-based products.