Sofia Antipova, student of the Faculty of Food Biotechnologies and Engineering
Summer school: Clean Energy + Future Cities and Technology
I picked the summer school Clean Energy + Future Cities and Technology because this is the field I want to pursue my future career in. There is a lot of research done at the Technical University of Madrid, so I think this is going to be a very useful experience for me.
The program of the summer school consists of six weeks. I joined it during the fifth week, which was dedicated to my field of study. In the course of the first couple of days, we talked about clean energy. During these lessons, I learned a lot about renewable energy, solar panels, etc. The next two days were dedicated to the topic of technologies and the cities of the future. We reviewed various concepts of the future world. During the last day, we talked to invited lecturers about how to make our cities more livable. Apart from that, we learned in detail about how solar panels are manufactured. I even came up with a few ideas for my future projects. I really hope that I’ll be able to bring them to life.
What I liked the most about this summer school were daily 2.5-hour Spanish lessons. It was just amazing! All the lessons were held mainly in Spanish in a very interactive format that involved a lot of communication and interaction. I would like to continue learning Spanish in such a format in Russia.
I think that the main benefit of such programs is that they give students an opportunity to familiarize themselves with some technologies that aren’t yet introduced to their country, such as waste sorting, for example.
Andrey Palshin, student of the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics
Summer school: Connected and Autonomous Driving + Drones
The summer school I participated in at the Technical University of Madrid lasted for four weeks and covered a range of topics: from robotics and leadership skills to the Spanish culture and language. I only spent a week in Madrid and took courses related to robotics and self-driving vehicles. However, there were many students from all over the globe who stayed there for over a month getting familiar with the culture and the language.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to participate in any additional courses, but it didn’t spoil the fun. We had classes every day from morning to 2pm; the program was very dense.
During my internship, I learned a lot about the internal design of self-driving vehicles, about how they communicate with each other, how these complex systems are developed, and what legal and ethical problems they could cause. We also talked about how to prevent fraud and cyber attacks. The courses are aimed at students with only a basic understanding of drones and autonomous vehicles. However, even though we already knew quite a lot on the topic, it was still interesting and entertaining.
In my research work, I focus on the use of hyperspectral photography in self-driving drones, and it’s exactly the topic the summer school was dedicated to. Apart from listening to lectures, we also had an opportunity to talk to the university’s professors and business partners, which was also very useful.
Elena Gerasimova, student of the Faculty of Physics and Engineering
Summer school: BioTech + Genomics
I study at ITMO University in the program “Nanophotonics and Metamaterials”; parallel to that I work at ITMO ’s International Research Center for Nanophotonics and Metamaterials as part of the interdisciplinary cluster headed by Mikhail Zuzin. I’m currently doing research into the synthesis of micro- and nanoparticles and capsules for targeted drug delivery, that’s why I chose the BioTech + Genomics summer school at the Technical University of Madrid. For me, it was an opportunity to acquire new knowledge and draw inspiration for my future projects.
The summer school lasted for a week. The program of the summer school consisted of lectures, workshops and laboratory work. I had classes every day from 9am to 1pm. It was very convenient as I could spend all evenings walking and admiring the city.
Egor Matsuev, student of the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics
Summer school: Connected and Autonomous Driving + Drones
At ITMO University, I study mechatronics and robotics, and the topic of the summer school was closely related to the topic of my research. The program was jam-packed with activities. In the course of five days, I learned about the types of drones, sensors, technical vision for counting the number of pineapples on a plantation, as well as connected and self-driving cars.
We also visited the INSIA laboratory and learned about the projects its specialists are currently working on. The laboratory is a very big one; they have at least three self-driving cars: a huge truck for carrying stones for tunnels construction, a bus, and lots of drones of different sizes. All these vehicles are partially or completely autonomous and can share information with each other. We also listened to a lecture about practical applications of these technologies at the Technical University of Madrid and its industrial partners.
