EEA Mobility Project Brings Together Professors from the Universities of Iceland and Liechtenstein

The project envisages the mobility of scientific and administrative staff, as well as students so that they can develop applications for scientific projects on ageing together with partner universities and share their experience on possible solutions by expanding the choice of courses offered at universities.

The first in person introduction to the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Statistics Unit, that initiated the mobility scholarship project, took place on the unit’s premises on 30 May. Associate Professor Tanja Kirn from the University of Liechtenstein gave a guest lecture on the “Future Gender Gap in Pensions”. The lecture attracted local attendees as well as researchers from the University of Latvia, users of social platforms like the Feminist Forum, SHARE Latvia, and others, as it addressed a topic that is important to public welfare and a statistical methodology called dynamic microsimulation that is still little-known in Latvia.

All project participants continued their discussions and learned more about each other at an informal social event where they had the opportunity to get to know Latvian folk music and traditions.

The second day was devoted to international cooperation and drafting project outlines. Guests and the project’s participants also met with Baiba Pētersone, the Director of the RSU International Department, and Maruta Funta, the International Affairs Manager. Representatives from RSU and guests, Prof. Halldór Sigurður Guðmundsson from the University of Iceland, Assoc. Prof. Tanja Kirn, and Mirjana Schedler, the Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the University of Liechtenstein, as well as Assist. Prof. Courtney M. Queen, a Fulbright Scholar visiting RSU from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, agreed on forms of collaboration between researchers and academic staff and the development of study programmes for students. The meeting ended with a tour of the RSU main building led by Ilze Zvēra, a representative of the RSU International Department. 

Participants also enjoyed a memorable guided tour of the RSU Anatomy Museum and a tour of Riga that was interrupted for a moment due to heavy rain. After exploring the Art Nouveau district, participants met for dinner in the Old Town.

During their visit, participants also had constructive negotiations with Assoc. Prof. Signe Tomsone, Dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation, and Daiga Behmane, Director of the Health Management Master’s programme. Assoc. Prof. Anda Ķīvīte-Urtāne, Director of the Institute of Public Health, organised a collaborative conversation at the RSU Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, with Prof. Ģirts Briģis.

The visit ended with a four-hour long seminar at the Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Riga. Among those who gave presentations were Ieva Reine, project leader and lead researcher at RSU, researcher Madara Miķelsone, mobility partners Tanja Kirn and Halldór Sigurður Guðmundsson, as well as researchers of the Baltic States Collaborative Network – Prof. Luule Sakkeus from the University of Tallinn, Prof. Antanas Kairys from Vilnius University, researcher Olga Zamalijeva, as well as Asst. Prof. Queen from Tech University of Texas. Participants joined the conference both online and in person and included representatives from several ministries, Nordic embassies, NGOs, researchers, students, and others interested in issues related to the ageing of society.

As part of this mobility project, three-month long mobility visits by two PhD students to the University of Iceland and return visits by several RSU staff members at the University of Iceland and the University of Liechtenstein are scheduled for the autumn semester.