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With a consortium of eight core European universities and their industry partners and co-ordinated by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, SELECT+ is an Erasmus Mundus-funded doctoral programme dedicated to finding sustainable energy solutions. Studies take four years, two of which are spent at the home university, one at a partner university and one in a company. Lourdes' home is the Aalto University Department of Forest Products Technology, in a research group headed by Professor Olli Dahl.

‘I'm doing research on how to produce biogas from pulp mill wastewater. Each phase of cellulose production generates its own type of wastewater, and I'm trying to optimise their combination so that the production of biogas is as efficient as possible,’ she explains.

Lourdes' partner university is UPC Barcelona, where she is developing nanoparticles for use in the pretreatment of wastewater. Her industry partner is Stora Enso.

‘I think industry's involvement is fantastic. That way, we're not just dealing with theory - we're required to think about how we can apply our knowledge in practice,’ she says.

Clearly-defined industry co-operation is absolutely a SELECT+ strength.

Lourdes' doctoral thesis supervisor Olli Dahl agrees with her.

‘Clearly-defined industry co-operation is absolutely a SELECT+ strength. International co-operation is also effectively co-ordinated in the programme.  Partner universities discuss research topics and also organise joint online courses.  Only ten students are accepted each year, so the screening is very tough - the ones who are accepted are extremely talented and motivated,’ he explains.

At present, Aalto has three SELECT+ students: two from the Department of Forest Products Technology and one from the School of Science Department of Industrial Engineering and Management.  The four-year doctoral programme leads to a doctoral degree at both the home and partner university.

The programme call for applications is currently open and will end on 10 December 2014.

Further information:

Planning Officer Anja Hänninen
anja.hanninen@aalto.fi