Within the scope of the WIDERA ERA CHAIRS call for Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area within the framework of the Horizon Europe Framework Program (HORIZON), Istanbul Kültür University's project named "Spectroscopy-at-IKU" was entitled to be the first project supported in our country.
The call for ERA Chairs aims to provide widening countries with an excellent scientific researcher and the contribution of this researcher to the scientific activities and research project development capacity at the relevant center. The main goal of the call is to reverse the brain drain, make institutional changes in this context and create centers of excellence. Within the scope of the project, it is aimed to establish permanent research teams based on excellence under the leadership of ERA-Chair, to provide visibility and to integrate with ERA.
“Spektroscopy@IKU” aims to strengthen Molecular Physics, Chemistry and Material Sciences within Istanbul Kültür University and to establish a Center of Excellence dedicated to molecular spectroscopy, where an internationally competitive research team will work. This team will be led by Prof. Dr. Rui Fausto (ERA Chairperson), a world-leading scientist in the field. A new research infrastructure dedicated to spectroscopy will be created and this infrastructure will support the ERA Chair team and serve as a spectroscopy platform for other IKU research groups. It will also offer spectroscopy services to external users from academia and industry. The ERA Chair research team will contribute to the education of young researchers and graduate students and to IKU's academic activities on spectroscopy while actively participating in external activities. All activities will be carried out in line with ERA priorities, in accordance with the principle of free movement of information and expertise.
Research will focus on two main areas requiring precise molecular structure manipulation and characterization: (i) structure and reactivity of molecules important for the atmosphere and astrophysics and (ii) polymorphism in molecular crystals and cocrystals. The former topic centers on the laboratory study of isolated molecules and small aggregates. It focuses on fundamental chemistry and physics in the Earth's atmosphere and in space, and includes two topics pioneered by the ERA Chair holder, such as the discovery of new pathways of chemical reactivity and their underlying physical processes, reactions that occur as a result of vibrational excitation of molecules or reactions that occur through quantum mechanical tunneling. The second major topic is a hot topic in materials sciences and currently one of the most critical issues for the pharmaceutical industry. New polymorph screening approaches based on the development of new versatile techniques for the production of molecular crystals/cocrystals will be applied.
The project team will include ERA Chairperson Prof. Dr. Rui Fausto, ERA Chair Coordinator and our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Gülce Öğrüç Ildız, our TTO Director and Project Manager Cüneyt Genç, Research Team Members Prof. Dr. Sevim Akyüz, Prof. Dr. Nihal Sarıer, Prof. Dr. Merve Durmuş, Dr. Gizem Yavuz and post-doctoral researchers to be employed within the scope of the project.
The implementation period of the "Spectroscopy@IKU" project is 5 years and will be carried out with an EU budget of 2.5 million Euros.
