FREEWAT aims at promoting water management and planning by simplifying the application of the Water Framework Directive and other EU water related Directives. FREEWAT will be an open source and public domain GIS integrated modelling environment for the simulation of water quantity and quality in surface water and groundwater with an integrated water management and planning module. Specific objectives of the FREEWAT project are: - to coordinate previous EU and national funded research to integrate existing software modules for water management in a single environment into the GIS based FREEWAT; - to support the FREEWAT application in an innovative participatory approach gathering technical staff and relevant stakeholders (in primis policy and decision makers) in designing scenarios for the proper application of water policies. FREEWAT will initiate a process aimed at filling the gap between EU and US on widespread-standardised ICT tools and models for management of water quantity and quality and will set a well recognisable and flagship initiative. The open source characteristics of the platform allow to consider this an initiative "ad includendum" (looking for inclusion of other entities), as further research institutions, private developers etc. may contribute to the platform development. Through creating a common environment among water research/professionals, policy makers and implementers, FREEWAT main impact will be on enhancing science- and participatory approach and evidence-based decision making in water resource management, hence producing relevant and appropriate outcomes for policy implementation. The Consortium is constituted by partners from various water sectors from 11 EU countries, plus Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. Synergies with the UNESCO HOPE initiative on free and open source software in water management greatly boost the value of the project. Large stakeholders involvement guarantees results dissemination and exploitation.

Encoded surfaces have a rich set of applications that range from anti-counterfeiting to sensing. A desirable characteristic is the synergetic combination of molecular specificity with macroscopic changes that can be detected with simple infrastructure. Wetting is a macroscopic property, with transitions identifiable even with the naked eye. As the genetic information carrier, DNA is perfectly suited for molecular encoding. A grand challenge is generating macroscopically visible changes in wetting properties with sequence-specific interactions between DNA oligonucleotides. WETDNA will address this rewarding challenge by linking DNA encoding with localized wetting properties. WETDNA requires rational design of systems with components that span several orders of magnitude in length scales. To understand structural effects on the wetting-based encoding, microscopic liquid pinning sites are first fabricated by adaptation of lithographic processes with mechanochemical grafting, which is a concept recently developed in my laboratory (WP1). Printing of oligonucleotides and chemical coupling to liquid pinning sites will then mediate multiplex DNA encoding over wetting patterns (WP2). A key step in linking Watson-Crick base pairing and macroscopically visible localized wetting properties is generating omniphobicity over DNA-informed surfaces by grafting liquid-repellent polymers (WP3). In the presence of complementary DNA molecules, patterns will be unlocked to reveal wetting features that can be read-out at multiple levels (WP4). WETDNA is structured to exploit this unlocking mechanism for authentication of deterministically and stochastically defined wetting features (WP5). The understanding of the principles that govern DNA-driven wetting-based encoding is expected to generate knowledge at the intersection of physical, chemical, and biological sciences with major impact in adaptive and smart surfaces, anti-counterfeiting, sensing, environmental monitoring, and diagnostics.

Youth employment has grown in prominence on national and global development agendas.The underlying problems regarding youth employment are the large number of young people entering the labor markets every year, the lack of employment opportunities, in particular in poor economies and post-conflict countries, and the low quality of education and training without a proper link to the labor markets. This is why the ERASMUSTERN consortium aimed at outlining the dimensions of the issue, the motives for intervention, and the possibilities of improving youth employment through cross-sectorial cooperation. This cross-sectorial approach was perfectly in line with AGU’s identity as a state university (public and formal educational sectors), putting Youth at its core and having therefore built a Youth Factory (non-formal sector) and being supported by a private foundation composed of renowned Turkish CEOs (private sector). AGU Youth Factory is an active member of a European network called “Eurodesk” which is the main provider of information on European policies and opportunities for young people and those who work with them. It is accredited by the National Agency for European Voluntary Service. Young volunteers are given the opportunity to contribute to the daily work of our office dealing with youth information and policies, young people's personal and socio-educational development, civic engagement, social care, inclusion of disadvantaged, environment, non-formal education programmes, ICTs and media literacy, culture. Having the expertise in the field, network of young people and experienced staff on Erasmus+ Program and youth, AGU gathered all Kayseri Universities together with an outstanding Chamber of Commerce (KTO) as a partner and Council of Young Entrepreneurs as silent partner. “This Consortium aimed to brings Kayseri to the world and the world to Kayseri!”The aim of the consortium was to empower Anatolian young people, young academics and administrative staff to have an international employment experience.Performed activities were:- Innovative application process, designed to be “ user/youth friendly” encouraging all students/academics and administrative staff to understand the process and apply- New selection process, involving HEIs and Chamber of Commerce (KTO), was transparent from the very beginning. - Pre-departure programme (linguistic support, intercultural learning) to prepare applicants for intercultural experience- Recognition of the internship - Establishing an online management and database system to monitor the internship period- Design promotion material (brochures, flyers)- High visibility events to promote the program. - Participating and supporting events organized by consortium partners and foreign partners (such as youth festivals, career days, etc.) to disseminate the traineeships and the staff mobility opportunities, as well as to exploit the results.- Dissemination of the consortium through; publishing a “Youth Employment through empowering young people by Erasmus+, with Kayseri perspective”, Meeting with outstanding CEO’s, Participating and making a presentation at ISYEC II Conference in May, 2016, organizing an international event such as a “job fair” in order to pair up employees and employers. - Evaluation stages of the consortium would be through monthly meetings of the partner team, annual meeting with the Rectors and President of Kayseri Chamber of Trade and the outcomes were shared with a press release. - Quality assessment of the internship period would be carried out by the feedbacks of the students along with the hosting institutions A teamwork of 4 universities Erasmus + offices and Chamber of Trade was established. Each partner has EU networks, projects besides its national network. All universities have close collaboration with private sector. All EU programs offices of partners benefited from this program by enhancing their network, human capital and quality assessment.AGU organized Erasmus info days both for its own participants and for the other Universities in Kayseri. AGU tried to combine Youth and Erasmus projects. Youth projects and Eurodesk network were used in order to find internship places for the students. Office consultancy is provided throughout year. Before mobility Erasmus Office organized orientation and coaching program about intercultural learning and pre-departure preparation. After mobilities, internship mobility evaluation meetings were organized. AGU gave high importance to geographically disadvantaged areas. Since AGU and Erciyes University are state Universities, there are some economically disadvantaged students from different cities in Anatolia. They are also using Erasmus opportunity. 52 students went for internship. 5 staff member went for training mobility.AGU is aiming to improve cross-sectorial approach combining business and educational sector in the longer term.