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The Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS) of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen is part of the COLOSSE project, which links Czech and Slovak research institutes in the field of plasma surface engineering. It is intended to increase their potential for participation in Horizon Europe and future EU research and innovation programmes.

Plasma surface engineering focuses on the treatment of material surfaces to change their functional properties. Such changes may include, for example, improving the wettability of surfaces or creating special films with properties such as high hardness, wear resistance, antibacterial effect or the ability to be compatible with biological tissues.

The COLOSSE project, called Central European Platform for Plasma-enabled Surface Engineering, brings together three Czech and Slovak universities - Masaryk University in Brno, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and Comenius University in Bratislava. Their research centres have been supported by significant investment from the European Regional Development Fund over the last decade and their mission is to conduct excellent science with the potential to allow the development of new technologies.

The University of West Bohemia is represented by the NTIS research centre of the Faculty of Applied Sciences. The coordinator is Masaryk University under the leadership of Prof. Petr Vasina, on the part of the University of West Bohemia the project is led by Pavel Baroch from the Department of Physics and NTIS Research Centre, on the part of Comenius University by Prof. Marián Mikula.

All of the above mentioned universities have been shaping and supporting their regional ecosystems for more than a decade, creating networks of interactions that facilitate knowledge transfer and the use of surface engineering technologies. Their research centres have come together to promote their visibility and prominence on the European R&D map. Together, they will extend best practices in research by taking new postdocs from abroad and presenting their activities in European R&D centres, conferences and trade fairs. They also plan to organize hard-skills and soft-skills trainings for early career researchers and PhD students and two outgoing PhD conferences with an international perspective.

"I consider being part of the COLOSSE project to be both an appreciation of our activities so far and at the same time I perceive it as a strengthening of our position in the European research area, which will enable not only us, but also other teams at UWB to increase their chances of success in future Horizon Europe calls and possibly other EU programmes in the field of research and innovation," says Pavel Baroch.

The COLOSSE project funded by the Pathways to Synergies 2023 call (Horizon Europe) will run from April 2024 to the end of 2027.