As you finish reading this sentence, do you know how many workers died in mines around the world?Mining has always been a vital economic and social activity since pre-historic times. Providing valuable resources for the survival and the well-being of a considerable part of humanity. Although it is a crucial activity, it ranks as one of the most dangerous working sectors. And still has a negative image within society. When an injury occurs at a workplace it comes at a cost, not just in the suffering of the injured person, but also direct and indirect costs for the company and society.Large mining companies are talking about goals such as “Zero Harm”. To achieve a Zero Harm environment two main measures should be done, one obvious method is continuously identifying, eliminating or reducing risks at the risk management stage. The other essential method is training workers to deal with the risks in a risk-free environment, for instance using Virtual Reality and Augmented reality (VR\AR) equipment to mimic the mining environment. Safety Training with Real Immersivity for Mining (STRIM) arises from the synergy between higher education institutions and mining companies providing tools to improve occupational health and safety (OSH) conditions and implementation of coherent and comprehensive educational approaches for mining sector. With the help of implementation smart technologies in proper training, these tools will improve capacity building, modernisation of universities and to provide safety-oriented culture.This proposed KA aims at enhancing knowledge exchange through an effective collaboration between researchers in the fields of Occupational hygiene, safety and health in and environment in Mining Engineering.The project aims to modernize the educational programs of HEIs in African countries. As well as add master programs in OSH.

The UDI-A project wants to empower HEI from partner countries to play an effective impacting role in fostering sustainable and inclusive development in their region and country. African partners will play this role by helping their students to connect with local economic activity and local social processes in a way that these students will either create new value chains or help to enhance the existing ones. UDI-A project aims to enhance the quality of teaching and research at four African universities (in Angola and Mozambique) in selected areas, where there is a lack of qualified teachers and a high demand for graduates. In both countries, the project counts one big established university in the capital city and one smaller institution in a province.Each of the African universities will work in pairs with one European partner (TWIN). Academic staff at the African institutions will be trained both in terms of scientific content and teaching methodologies. Administrative staff will be trained in international affairs, student placement and entrepreneurship. The Consortium will organise collective training activities with an emphasis on soft skills development, social innovation and entrepreneurship. Each African partner will select 16 academics and 4 administrators (CHAMPIONS and JUNIORS) to take part in the training and other project activities. As from the 4th and final semester the activities will be open to other staff members and students as well.The two year project will result in 4 x 20 staff members, internationally networked and trained to provide state-of-the-art higher education and services in their respective areas.In parallel to the training, these teams will build or renew at each of the four African institutions a 'Centre for Academic Development and Innovation' (CADIs). The CADIs will provide the infrastructure and framework conditions to help promote and ensure continued networking and training for more cohorts of staff beyond the project lifes

"GEODES - ""Geosciences, Development and Sustainability - Africa and Europe together"":ReasonOperational Objectives:(i) Welcoming four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from less developed areas (centre and south of Angola, and centre and northeast of Mozambique);(ii) Technical training of teachers & final year students from six HEIs: Angola (UAN, UKB, UMN), Mozambique (UEM, ULurio, UPungue) in the area of Earth Sciences;(iii) Empowerment of the trainers from two HEIs (UAN, UEM) on training country fellows;(iii) Upgrading and developing BSc (4) and MSc courses (2) in the area of Earth Sciences. The collaboration of companies in Angola and Mozambique will be crucial for the internships and for suiting the CVs to the industrial needs.Political Objective:To prepare the ground for a ""GEODES Initiative"": Earth Sciences are the basis for a resilient and sustainable development and empowerment of students and trainers on Local Community Development (LCD) as opposed to Local Economic Development (LED)”.It follows the recommendations from the AU Agenda 2063 and the UN-SD Goals: (1), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (17).Outputs/Outcomes:Four updated BSc courses and two MSc courses involving the training of at least 20 teachers and more than 100 students in two years of ongoing courses; about 30 internships in companies; bibliographic materials will be prepared and eLearning courses delivered. Sustainability measures of the project objectives put in place. Effective dissemination of results.Long term impact:Facilitate communication and exchange among scientists by bringing together complementary interests so as to improve standards, methods and techniques for carrying out research, including the transfer of fundamental and applied knowledge between partners. The partnership brings a new attitude regarding the exploitation of resources in Africa and a resilient attitude to face climate changes."

Reason:To implement five Mining/Geology degrees with a focus on Local Economic Development. The target countries are: Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique. The EU Partners are the Universities of Coimbra, Salamanca and Turin and a Research Centre (CES, PT). Scientific objectives: (i) Increase the understanding of the geoscientific factors affecting the global environment in order to improve human living conditions; (ii) Develop more effective methods to find and sustainably exploit natural resources of minerals, energy and groundwater (ii) Increase the understanding of geological processes and concepts of global importance, including an emphasis on socially relevant issues, (iii) Improve standards, methods and techniques of carrying out geological research. It follows the recommendations from the AU Agenda 2063 and the UN-SDGoals: (1), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (17).Outputs:Three BSc courses (Geology, Geological Engineering and Mining Engineering), one MSc (Geology) and one PhD (Geology) involving the training of at least 40 teachers and 250 students in two years of ongoing courses. Bibliographic materials will be prepared and a several online courses supplied. The courses will be aligned with the Bologna recommendations.Impact:To address the huge gap in terms of the requisite infrastructure and critical human resources at all levels to fully realize the potential benefits that would accrue from the sustainable use of mineral resources and to assure local benefits by tackling the root causes of poverty, levering inclusive growth and development and seeking to secure sustainable financing. To facilitate communication and exchange among scientists by bringing together complementary interests so as to improve standards, methods and techniques for carrying out geoscience research, including the transfer of fundamental and applied knowledge between collaborating partners. The partnership brings a new attitude regarding the exploitation of natural resources in Africa.