One of the most interesting activities of the ResInfra@DR project are the mutual learning visits among managers of research infrastructures from different countries. One of the thematic pairs selected after the evaluation of applications was the pair Institute of Oceanology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, Bulgaria and the Faculty of Civil Engineering at University of Rijeka, Croatia. Bulgarian team was the first to hit the road, visiting Rijeka on December 11-13.

The main aim of the mutual learning visit is to identify good practices, learn about new approaches, recognise the main success factors of RI processes, and provide practical recommendations for the involved research infrastructures.

The visit to the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Rijeka lasted 2 days and a half. The Bulgarian visiting team included ARC Fund’s Zoya Damianova and Marko Hajdinjak, supported by Mirela Čokešić and Doris Jozić from Croatian Ministry of Science and Education. Unfortunately, the external expert Atanas Palazov did not manage to arrive in Rijeka due to a cancelled flight from Varna. Damianova and Hajdinjak therefore took turns interviewing respondents, while Palazov asked additional questions over Skype.

Nevenka Ožanić, the vice-dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, prepared a very ambitions and interesting programme. The visit started with her lecture, presenting the Faculty of Civil Engineering and project RISK (Research Infrastructure for Campus-Based Laboratories at the University of Rijeka) through which most of the current research equipment for the five laboratories of the Faculty was obtained. The presentation was followed with a visit to the five main research laboratories: Laboratory for transportation engineering; Geotechnical laboratory; Laboratory for materials; Construction laboratory; and Hydraulic laboratory. In each laboratory, the responsible persons (a laboratory manager and laboratory technician) presented the laboratory and the equipment, and answered questions from the visiting team. The organisation of the lab visits was excellent, and the visiting team got a very good idea about the equipment and its actual and potential use, as well as some basic insight into the management of the labs. During the talks with the lab personnel, some initial ideas about strengths and shortcomings appeared, which were later further exploited during the interviews.

In the afternoon of the first day and throughout the second day, the visiting team met with numerous interesting interlocutors, discussing with them different aspects and challenges of running and maintain a successful research infrastructure. On the third day, the visiting team and the hosts met for a final meeting to discuss some preliminary conclusions and any other issues that remained partially unanswered or unclear.

Upcoming visit
In mid-March, the Croatian team will make a return visit to the Institute of Oceanology in Varna. In the meantime, the Bulgarian team will analyse the interviews and prepare a report with practical recommendations for the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

Photo credit:Faculty of Philosophy, Rijeka, Croatia by Silverije, Wikipedia 2015; CC BY-SA 4.0 licences