Life Science Engineering at the Forschungsforum 2024

The Faculty Life Science Engineering was represented by three ongoing research projects at this year’s “Forschungsforum” conference in Krems with the motto “Let's apply science! Forum for Research, Business & Impact”. All three projects are embedded in the university’s internal research focus Data-Driven, Smart & Secure Systems.

In his talk on inclusive higher education on the first day, Markus Astl presented the research project BERTL (Barrierfree Design for Teaching and Learning) on overcoming digital barriers for students with disabilities and designing barrier-free teaching and learning environments. The BERTL team is not only active in advising on and implementing accessibility in UASTW buildings and the associated systems, but also offers a wide range of opportunities to raise awareness among staff and students. BERTL is funded by the City of Vienna.

In the afternoon, Veronika Jesenberger represented the ILSE (International Life Science Education) project, which is also funded by the City of Vienna, at the poster session. The aim of ILSE is to create a resilient and future-oriented environment that interconnects the life science sector of different universities on an international level. Special focus is put on joint international courses in which all participants can contribute their specific expertise and expand their network. In addition, so-called “train the trainer” workshops and a multidisciplinary and multicultural learning week are planned.

Andrea Balz, manager of the medTech-mR project (Medizin Technik – mixed Reality in Lehre, Forschung & Industrie), was part of the last session on “Let’s apply health and social sciences!”. The aim of the medTech-mR project is to apply mixed, augmented and virtual reality in medical technology. It focuses on medical room planning and training of clinical procedures and other processes, supported by augmented and virtual reality solutions. The use cases are taken directly from practice and are defined together with the stakeholders. The medTech-mR project is funded via the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG within the program COIN (COIN Aufbau 8. Ausschreibung “FH-Forschung für die Wirtschaft”) by the Austrian Ministry Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW).

The “Forschungsforum” conference of Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences took place for the 17th time this year. As host, IMC Krems focused on making the application orientation of research at universities visible. We are delighted to have been able to contribute to this initiative!