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Published on | 2 weeks ago
ProgrammesThe eight winners of the 2026 edition of the ERC Public Engagement with Research Award (ERC-2026-PERA) have been announced. This is the first time, since the PERA Award was established, that two researchers affiliated with Flemish universities have won this award: Valeria Pulignano from KU Leuven and Sarah Lebeer from Universiteit Antwerpen. More information about the winners and their projects is available in the news article from the ERC.
Background
The ERC's PERA Award recognizes and rewards ERC grantees who successfully engage audiences outside their domain with ERC-funded research. ERC grantees who have carried out public engagement or science communication activities in the course of their ERC project or up to two years after its end, can apply for the biennial PERA award call. Previous calls were in 2020, 2022 and 2024. More information about PERA, previous winners and their projects is available on the ERC website here.
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Autoship is, as the name suggests, an acronym for autonomous ship. Just like with self-driving cars, the possibilities of an unmanned boat seem endless. It can create more efficient freight transport, around the clock deliveries and these are just a few of the examples. The project has two societal challenges.
At first, De Vlaamse Waterweg was a bit hesitant as their experience with FP7 or Horizon 2020 projects was limited and they had not been very successful up until then. The fact that they were already doing basic research on the topic of autonomous boats, and the administrative help of NCP Flanders helped De Vlaamse waterweg to cross the line and get involved.
