Prof. Valant has obtained and is the coordinator of 7FP project that seeks to reinforce the University of Nova Gorica, strengthening its innovative approach for research and development of new knowledge in the fields of environmental science and novel nanostructured materials. The most important criteria for the assignment of the project is already existing scientific excellence of the group and potential to be developed in one of the European centres of excellence within these research fields. University of Nova Gorica will be able to invest 3.9 MEUR in upgrading of the research infrastructure, recruitment of experienced researchers, improvement of organisation structure, enhancement of UNG visibility and its collaboration with different stakeholders in the region. For a strategic support in implementation of the project goals four European world class institutions will be involved: Imperial College London, Synchrotron Elettra from Trieste, Italy, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Laussane from Switzerland and Delft University of Technology from Nizozemske. The main objective of the project is strengthening of the research and innovative potential of UNG, integration into the European Research Area and development into one of the leading partners for research and in new environmental technologies materials.
D.01 Chairing over/coordinating (international and national) projects
COBISS.SI-ID: 3635451Materials Research Laboratory of University of Nova Gorica organised international conference ECoMaTech 2013: »European Conference on Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Growth« that was held in Bled, Slovenia between 18. and 21. of September 2013. Among the invited lectures there were two plenary lectures of prof. dr. Hans Lundberg and prof. dr. Martin Chaplin. The talks have focused on a broad topics of nanoscience, refrigeration technologies, environmental material research, alternative energy sources, waste management and pollution. 120 participant from 24 countries attended the conference.
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 268654592Zois award is the highest national award in Slovenia, which is given for the top scientific and R&D achievements. Prof. Valant has been awarded in November 2012 for his contribution in the field of oxide functional materials.
E.01 National awards
In the beginning of 2014 the center for electron microscopy has been established within the Materials Research Laboratory of University of Nova Gorica. The center was established by prof. Valant with a dedicated project grant within FP7 programs. The center is equippedwith field-emission transmission and scanning electron microscopes with EDS and cathodoluminiscence detectors. In addition, the center has got available the full kit of sample preparation instruments for electron microscopy. The entire investment was of about 2 MEUR.
D.02 Establishment of a research centre, laboratory, study course, association
COBISS.SI-ID: 3310075The Infotech Doctoral Program at University of Oulu, Finland, operates in three areas, corresponding to the major research fields of Infotech Oulu. These are electronics, communications engineering, and computer science and information engineering. In the Infotech Program area Electronics prof. Valant gave 12h course with 3 credits entitled "Pyroelectricity and electrocaloric effect in ferroelectrics".During the lectures he discussed phenomenological and thermodynamic aspects of the both material phenomena to understand their microscopic origin, crystallographic constrain, and thermodynamic limits.
B.05 Guest lecturer at an institute/university