The International Hellenic University is happy to announce its Partnership for the MSc in Bioeconomy: Biotechnology and Law with the University of Leiden, Netherlands and Perseus Company, Belgium within the framework of the Erasmus + 2018 Strategic Partnership for the Higher Education Sector. The aim of the Partnership is to connect Academia with the Bioeconomy market and to develop a curriculum that responds to the needs of the students in combination with the needs of the labor market, in biosafety related subjects. The partnership will address the gaps in academic knowledge and relevant skills in biosafety, biorisk management in clinical research and environmental protection in direct connection to the market and societal needs.

The purpose is to design a curriculum addressing student and labour market needs through hands-on activities and case-study analyses. Our students will benefit from the teaching, experience and guidance of Biosafety Specialists in the Environment and Clinical Research and will have the opportunity to be trained for a week at our Partners' premises on practical topics related to managing biosafety issues. Our Partners include the University of Leiden, Netherlands (https://www.lumc.nl/), world-leader in Biosafety assessment in Biomedical research and the Belgium-based Perseus Company, specializing in consulting in Biosafety management and Biotechnology regulatory challenges (https://www.perseus.be/).

Erasmus + BioContact Kick-off meeting was organized between 15 and 16 January 2019 at IHU Campus. Our Partners include word-leading experts on Biosafety from Leiden University, Netherlands and the Belgium-based Perseus Company. During the meeting all participants concluded that it was a very constructive and productive two-day meeting, necessary for the smooth and successful implementation of the project’s outputs and proposed actions.

During the period 6-13 July 2019, the students of the IHU MSc in Bioeconomy: Biotechnology and Law, had the unique opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Ghent, as well as other cities of Belgium, such as Brussels and Antwerp.

The BioContact Training included:

- Guidance by the biosafety experts of Perseus company in the research facilities of various Institutes, Universities and Research Centers.

- Training by renowned academics and biosafety officers in biosafety subjects and laboratory quality control.

- Attendance of several lectures on biosafety measurements by experts from Belgium and the Netherlands.

- Visit of the laboratories and research facilities of the University of Ghent, the free University of Brussels and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.

- Visit of the animal experiment facilities of the University of Ghent, making students familiar with all the procedures in place to protect animal welfare, human health and the environment.

- Visit of the labs and plant growth rooms of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB).

- Presentation with outmost success of students’ semester assignments in front of an audience of biotechnology academics and professionals, impressing them with the structure and quality of the essays and presentations.

- A warm welcome by the Greek ambassador and the Greek delegation in Brussels, where they talked about the work flow of the EC, the decision making processes in the European Parliament, and their experiences as students of the MSc in Bioeconomy: Biotechnology and Law.