On June 9, the 4TU federation hosted the High Tech for a Sustainable Future (HTSF) Crossover event, bringing together brilliant minds from HTFS Round 1 and Round 2. Scientists shared captivating insights into their groundbreaking work, igniting discussions about the impact on society and envisioning a sustainable future. Green Sensors, as one of the projects receiving funding in Round 2, whose members actively participated in this noteworthy event.
In the demonstrator section, the Green Sensors team delivered an enlightening video that unveiled the promising prospects of their project. Project members from TUD and WUR enthusiastically introduced the vision and concept behind Green Sensors to the interested attendees, showcasing a range of prototype materials.
Dr. Congcong Sun, as the coordinator of Green Sensors, gracefully participated in an interview during the plenary session. In her discussion, she shared the challenges encountered in building the team: "Selecting suitable candidates, especially 50% female tenure trackers, is a significant challenge. It can be a delicate balance between gender considerations and qualifications. However, we successfully managed to include one excellent female team member. Many thanks to 4TU committee for providing us with flexibility. With more women joining our academic programs, we may achieve a more natural gender balance in academia with time." In addition, she also highlighted the prevalent challenge of effective collaboration in interdisciplinary teams, stating, "Our team members' lack of personal and academic familiarity with one another, so it would be another challenge to have rapid and effective collaboration. We indeed took valuable lessons today from the teams' experiences from round 1, which makes me think this event is so important."
In the afternoon session, Professor Eldert van Henten, the esteemed project leader, delivered two captivating presentations on the motivation and promising prospects of the 4TU Green Sensor project. The session also witnessed engaging discussions, with attendees actively expressing their views on the Green Sensors and generously sharing their insights.
‘The benefit of participating in this event for the future success of Green Sensors cannot be overstated. Throughout the exchanges, we gleaned valuable insights from fellow participants,‘ as highlighted by Professor Eldert van Henten，”In addition to the scientific questions central to our project, we also recognize the importance of societal acceptance and the involvement of other stakeholders than farmers. Moreover, we greatly benefitted from the shared experiences of other projects, which provided us with invaluable lessons to learn from. Furthermore, the potential for collaboration with other 4TU groups beyond the Green Sensors consortium is certainly worth further exploration.”