The research project ‘fiEld Line helIcity and Solar eruptivITY’ (ELISITY) will examine the reasons behind the eruptive behaviour of the Sun, and the possibility of forecasting it. The importance of the project stems from the relation of solar eruptivity to Space Weather, and the international effort put in predicting the latter. ELISITY will study the behaviour of the minimally-explored physical quantity field line helicity (FLH) during the production and early stages of solar eruptions. FLH is a proxy for the density of helicity that offers new and important capabilities in the study of solar eruptivity, since it contains the same information with magnetic helicity, the conserved in ideal magneto-hydrodynamics quantity that describes the complexity of a magnetic field, and in addition, it provides information for the locations where helicity is more important. ELISITY will also determine parameters related to the spatial distribution of FLH that indicate eruptivity, and conditions on these parameters for solar eruptions to occur. For these, ELISITY will select observational cases which exhibit different levels of activity and morphology, using existing data from solar missions. The project will accurately compute FLH based on the researcher’s recent developments on the topic. The host institute will provide all required infrastructure and services to assist the researcher, and the supervision by very experienced staff. The project will have a positive impact to all parts involved: the researcher will gain new research skills in using solar observations, and also teaching experience, while the research team of the host will gain on state-of-the-art helicity and FLH computation methods. The potentially ground breaking project results will be disseminated with the publication of scientific articles to peer-reviewed journals, and their presentation to scientific conferences; they will also be communicated to the general public with outreach activities.

This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from EU Member States and third countries associated to Erasmus+ to any country in the world. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

As a small University, but with a major regional, national and international impact, the University of Ioannina encourages student and staff mobility, international cooperation and multilateral projects that further strengthen its role as a primary academic pole in the South-Balkans. The academic community of the University of Ioannina is visible both nationally and internationally and develops partnerships either through personal, professional or academic networks, or more formally, through international project applications,calls for tenders or other, more institutional forms of networking. Mobility is encouraged on every level for all members of the academic community, with non-discrimination policiesand focus on disadvantaged and under-represented groups. Concerning students, important work has been done both on the undergraduate and graduate level, the result of which being the ever increasing number of outgoing students (organized on a fair, transparent, coherent and documented way, in line with the stipulations of the National Agency), but also of incomingstudents despite the language barrier. Administrative staff participation in mobility schemes is on the rise, and the University is confident that it will further increase in the coming years. Faculty mobility, both mainly outbound, is also substantial and permits academic collaboration with colleagues abroad. When participating in mobility activities, the University of Ioannina respects in full the fundamental principles as stipulated in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2014-2021. Coordination, monitoring and dissemination functions of all mobility activities, take place on the administrative level (and its coordinating agency: the International & Public Relations Directorate - IRO), while recognition of mobility activities and results lies at the departmental level.During the academic year 2017/18, the University of Ioannina supported all possible mobility activities, as follows:(i) outbound student mobility for studies, 64 participants,(ii) outbound student mobility for placement, 109 participants,(iii) outbound staff mobility for teaching, 26 participants,(iv) outbound staff mobility for training, 52 participants,(v) inbound student mobility for studies, 55 participants,(vi) inbound student mobility for placement, 5 participants,(vii) inbound staff mobility for teaching, 3 participants,(viii) inbound staff mobility for training, 3 participants