Fuel Cell Systems (FCS) appear nowadays to be a promising and alternative energy source to face economic and environmental challenges of modern society. However, even if this technology is close to being competitive, it is not yet ready to be considered for large scale industrial deployment: FCS still must be optimized, particularly by increasing their limited lifespan. This involves not only a better understanding but also requires emulating the behavior of the whole system. Additionally, a new area of science and technology emerges: prognostic of FCS is a field of scientific and industrial developments that should be increased. This is the aim of the project: the partners feel a clear motivation for such a research and propose to develop intelligent Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) methods in order to assess the health state of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell systems (PEMFC), and predict its remaining useful life. To our knowledge, this is an original and still unexplored field: although the research in PHM is continuously increasing, one can note that efforts in the area do not deal with Fuel Cells applications. This may be (partially) explained by the lack of knowledge on the behavior of those systems. Indeed, it is difficult to develop prognostics tools that take into account the inherent uncertainty of not well understood failure mechanisms. In addition, prognostic presents deployment challenges: it is difficult to know how to set a prognostic tool, as well as is there is no systematic way to judge from it without waiting for the irreversible deterioration of the equipment. Following all this, scientific objectives of the project are defined as follows: - develop approaches for reliable prognostics of PEMFC stacks; - facilitate their implementation; in order to move towards a generic approach compatible with industrial constraints. Three related axis of developments are expected. 1. The first axis deals with handling the prognostic process. Here, the aim is not only to be able to estimate the remaining useful life of the fuel cell (provide prognostics estimates), but also to improve the capabilities of the developed prognostics tools by quantifying and controlling their inherent error of estimates. Several approaches will be considered: a model-based prognostic tool based on a Bond Graph approach with parametric uncertainty, and data-oriented prognostics tools by extending "signal" and "connexionist" approaches (like neural networks and neuro-fuzzy systems). The development of an hybrid approach will also be addressed. 2. The second axis scopes to enhance the applicability of prognostics tools. The purpose of this part of works is to look for solutions that enable systematizing the building of a prognostics system while reducing the influence of arbitrary human choices, as well as reducing its learning and/or parameterization times. Several options will be studied: the construction of adaptive and parsimonious systems, the definition of relevant "learning patterns", the identification of singular representatives learning samples, among others. 3. The third axis will focus on the industrial adoption process for fuel cells. The diffusion and transfer of results to industrials cannot be conceived without a precise knowledge of their expectations. It is thus necessary to understand the diffusion process of the Fuel Cell technology in the industrial world, and to identify the corresponding bottlenecks, other than those related to technological aspects. The project consortium has a competence in humanities and social sciences that will help to develop this axis.

ENTER aims at creating a novel multicultural and international approach for formal post-graduate professional and pedagogical education for engineering educators. Furthermore, it is focused on low cost and convenience, thus strongly based on e-learning technologies, whenever feasible, and designed with the objective of being internationally recognized and accredited.In order to design the ENTER iPET programme, a thoroughly market and requirements analysis of HEIs and educators needs will be conducted, focused on the EU and partners’ countries, but also considering opportunities in other markets like North Africa, South America and Asia. The ENTER iPET programme, accredited internationally by Estonian Centre for Engineering Pedagogy at TTU, proposes a hierarchy of 3 structured educational programs for engineering educators, in the context of the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning. The actual design is to one of the outputs of the project, but we foresee 3 educational programs with different content and duration (names are tentative):- iPET-1 Short-focused (e.g. 2 ECTS) – “Qualification Development” Certificate;- iPET-2 Professional Retraining (e.g. 8 ECTS) – Diploma ‘’Higher Education Teacher”;- iPET-3 International recognized (e.g. 20 ECTS) – a full programme leading to international accreditation as “Engineering Educator”. Programmes have modular structure, i.e. modules of iPET-1 are included in iPET-2, and both are included in iPET-3. This provides a sustainable improvement path that educators can walk at their own pace. It will also be possible for the educators to combine modules from different ENTER network members. Whenever possible, ENTER will avoid duplicating existing offers. For example, the International Engineering Educator Certificate ING-PAED provided by IGIP will certainly be a reference in the iPET programme design.

"MODEST project aims at modernization of doctoral education in Science in Partner Countries. Wider project objective is ""To enhance cooperation capacities of Higher educational institutions of Partner Countries in the field of Doctoral Studies within European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA)"" and specific objectives are:- Improve quality and employability of doctoral graduates of PC HEI's by modernizing doctoral education towards interdisiplinarity, internationalisation, enhancing mobility, using new teaching methodologies in line with Salzburg Principles, BFGU recommendations- Facilitate successful adherence with Bologna reforms and its instruments by organization of special training sessions for academic and administrative staff of HEI's in PCs- Improve up-skills of research and educational staff by retraining them on new teaching methods and create modern learning and research environment based on student centred approach, competence based program development- Improve structure and internal capacities of services of doctoral education and reseach by setting up Doctoral Training Centers in PC HEI’s; ensure their sustainability and cooperation with EU partners by establishing a professional network using modern ICT tools. To meet these objectives, the project will make use of the analysis of best EU practices and of the needs of PC to develop training materials and organize intensive retraining of HEI’s staff. Structure and content of DTCs will be worked out, including set of regulatory documents, instructions for DTC creation, programs and materials for DTCs and interdisciplinary Summer schools for doctoral students. To ensure sustainability, a web-platform and Virtual Network environment will be developed using participatory approaches and ICT methodologies. Synergy with other European initiatives will be sought via participation of consortium members in EU networks and organizations (Coimbra Group, EURASHE, etc)."