ELBA kick-off meeting

ELBA – Establishment of Training a nd Research Centers a nd Courses development on Intelligent Bigdata Analysis in CA

On 27–28 February 2020, the ELBA kick-off meeting was held at the University of Santiago de Compostela, with active participation of representatives of all partner universities. The consortium includes 4 universities from Europe, 4 from Uzbekistan, 2 from Kazakhstan, 2 from Kyrgyzstan and 2 from Tajikistan.

Opening remarks and a warm welcome were given by Prof. Víctor Arce, Vice-Rector for Students and Internationalization, and Ms Anne Forrján, head of the Mobility, Cooperation and Agreements section. After the welcome speech, Ms Forrján gave a presentation on the project, its objectives and the University of Santiago de Compostela's cooperation strategy within the project.

Then all partner university representatives presented their universities, focusing on achieving the project objectives, their contribution to the project and their expectations of its results.

The kick-off meeting addressed the following issues, which are key to the implementation of the project:

1. presentation of the ELBA project overview;
2. implementation of the Big Data Analytics programme at USC, programme organization; USC's master's programme in big data analysis and its features;
3. presentation of Central Asia's perspectives on the project with specific reference to WP1;
4. approval of the ELBA logo;
5. project financial matters;
6. programmes for Data Science trainings;
7. consortium work on the Quality Plan and dissemination.

Participants were welcomed by the Rector of USC, Prof. Dr. Juan Viaño.

All members of the International Office and professors of the University of Santiago de Compostela, including Ms Anne Forrján, Sami Ashour, Natalia Solomatina, David Enrique Losada Carril, Paula López Martínez and Tomás Fernández Pena, did their utmost to make the meeting effective. They gave the participants a very warm welcome and took care of meals and a comfortable stay for the delegations. All member universities expressed their deep gratitude to the USC representatives.

Overall, the kick-off meeting was an excellent opportunity for all members to come together, get to know each other in person, learn about the history and current state of the partner universities, discuss important aspects of the project and outline immediate plans for the future.