NICEST has been conceived, designed and elaborated with the aid of the ERASMUS MUNDUS Design Measure action (ERASMUS-EDU-2022-EMJM-DESIGN 101082541). This has made possible an intensive work of 15 months were al the Joint Master programme aspects reflected on this website.

The major objective of this proposal as an EMDM project is to finish with a high-quality Erasmus Mundus Joint Master proposal.. Below, each one of the specific Project objectives:

Joint programme design and integrated teaching/training activities,
Joint student admission requirements and application, selection, monitoring, examination/performance evaluation rules/procedures ,
Joint administrative and financial management by the consortium; .
Joint partnership agreement involving at least three HEIs from three different countries. This agreement is intended to cover all academic, operational,
administrative and financial aspects related to the implementation of the Master programme..
A joint Student Agreement.
Common services offered to students (e.g. language courses, visa support).
A joint degree policy;
A joint sustainability and exploitation.
Joint promotion and awareness-raising strategy.
Elaboration of an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master proposal with all the previous joint agreements .

The consortium presented below is the consortium is the one that has been working on the conception and the design of the NICEST Joint Master programme. Erasmus Mundus Design Measures have been introduced in 2021. They support the design of high-level and integrated study programmes, at master level. Joint programmes are designed and delivered by an international partnership of HEIs. Additionally, they may involve other educational and/or non-educational partners with specific expertise and interest in the area of study.

NICEST EMDM Consortium

The NICEST consortium consists of 9 universities across Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and Romania) and one research centre from Greece

UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain): Participation in the current project endorses people from the Telecommunications and Systems engineering Department. Group covers a wide range of expertise ranging from intelligent data analysis algorithms to control engineering processes as well as environmental engineering. The group provides expertise both on the purely scientific part that encompasses profile generation as well as European education projects and actions where it has been very active. Members also provide expertise on innovative education projects.

ULE (Universidad de Leon, Spain): The members involved in the present project belong to the SUPPRESS Research Group (Research on Control, Automation and Monitoring). Its main research lines are the application of intelligent data analysis algorithms to engineering processes and industrial digitalization, including industrial cybersecurity. The ULE group has led 5 National Research Projects oriented to the application of intelligent data analysis to industrial processes. The group participated in other R&D contracts with private companies and institutions (e.g., GEA Process Engineering, Schneider Electric and the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute). The research group also provides expertise with respect to innovation in control education, having developed diverse technological platforms for hands-on training in control, automation or industrial cybersecurity. Among these developments, we can highlight remote laboratories, industrial pilot plants and Industry 4.0 demonstration models.

ULPGC (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain): Much research work related to water topics is done at the Department of Process Engineering. Our group (Group for the research on renewable energy systems - GRRES) has done much work on desalination and wastewater treatment. The group has particular expertise in membrane processes (pre-treatment technologies, cleaning systems) as well as desalination technologies using renewable energies. Another area is the use of membranes for tertiary wastewater treatment. Apart from the research work, the University have provided education in water treatment, and specifically on desalination, both at undergraduate, and postgraduate levels (Master and PhD programs).

UGAL ("Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Romania): The members involved in the present project belong to the Faculty of Automatic Control, Computers, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Department of Automatic Control and Electrical Engineering and Department of Computer and Information Technology. The team members were involved at didactic and research level on developing and using data mining tools and also on innovation for higher education of control engineering subjects, especially with virtual and remote laboratories.

UCV (University of Craiova, Romania) The main role in the project is played by a team from the Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics (ACE). ACE prepares and trains engineers in areas such as: Computers and Information Technology, Control Engineering, Electronics and Robotics. The team members have been involved in research and educational projects in the field of bioprocess control and environmental applications. The team covers an expertise ranging from control engineering processes to environmental engineering. Also, they developed cooperation with enterprises which can provide benchmarks and control applications from bioindustry (Water Company Craiova, Wastewater Treatment Plants Facai and Calafat, Food industry enterprises).

UNIBS (University of Brescia, Italy): The Industrial Control Systems research group belongs to the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of the University of Brescia. Its members have been doing research in process control for many years. In particular, they have published many highlycited papers regarding PID control, event-based control and fractional control, with applications in different felds like solar power plants and biomedical systems. Teaching activity has been devoted to control systems in many engineering programs by pursuing international relationships. The head of the group is responsible of a double degree program with the University of Almeria and he is also the chair of the Technical Committee on Control Education of the International Federation of Automatic Control.

UNIPV is participating in the consortium through the Department of Hydraulic & Environmental Engineering (DHEE). DHEE has recently been a key partner of the Research Training Network Project "WWTSYSENG", the Alfa Project "WETnet", and TEMPUS-JEPs "MeWAR", and “JOMDE” both dealing with water quality and water resources education and training. In the past, DHEE has been a leading partner of the highly successfull TEMPUS-S-JEP "Aqua" project, with the objective of establishing a continuing education setting in the water quality management sector in Slovakia, and of the TEMPUS-JEP "Watermost" project, with the objective of improving water-related education in, the Socrates "EUWaterman" project, with the purpose of designing a European training module on the Water Framework Directive, the HCM-WEEL young researchers' mobility project and a Leonardo staff mobility project in the water resources management sector.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering was founded in 1985 and admitted its first undergraduate students in 1990. The Department is developing modern teaching & research laboratory in order to be able to participate in national, European and international projects. Currently, the Department offers two Postgraduate Programmes that lead to MSc, one in “Analysis and Management of Energy Systems” and the second in “Supply Chain Management and Logistics”. The Laboratory of Transport Processes, which is involved in this proposal, is focused on fundamental and applied research in Transport Phenomena and Industrial Processes. Emphasis is placed on flows with free, vacuum and multiphase flows, as well as on applications related to renewable energies, energy and water conservation, water reclamation and industrial pollution abatement.

IHU was initially established by Law in 2005 in Thessaloniki, Greece. The IHU was Greece’s first public university where programmes were taught exclusively in English comprised three (3) Schools which offered twenty-four (24) master programmes. IHU was re-established by Law in 2019, by the coalition of three additional university institutions of technological background. Today, IHU consists in nine Schools and thirty-three Departments located in 7 cities in Northern Greece. The Laboratory of Technologies for Environmental Protection and Utilization of Food Byproducts is one of the three certified laboratories of the Department of Food Science and Technology with activities related to water and wastewater treatment especially from food industries, while specific efforts are paid to the application of advanced methods for energy and materials recycling from effluents and wastes. Currently, the laboratory is involved in five national funded projects and participates in one ENI-CBCMED project

CERTH is the largest Research Center in Northern Greece, operating under the auspices of the Government, comprised of five Institutes. There is close collaboration of CERTH with many Universities and Research Centers in, and outside, Greece as well as with industry. Dissemination of research results and advanced technical training at the national and international level are CERTH’s prime targets. CERTH will participate in this project through the Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), which has extensive R&D activities, and numerous projects, in the general area of Environmental Protection and Management. The Laboratory of Natural Resources and Renewable Energies (NRRE), at CPERI/CERTH, is focused on development of novel/advanced, membrane-based, water and wastewater treatment processes, including valorization of agro-industrial wastes/effluents. The NRRE Lab, with expertise in membrane process simulation/design, is also well equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory and pilot-scale facilities, where undergraduate and post-graduate students can be trained.