BrainMap

Mrs. Maria - Elena Boatca

Ph.D. Eng.

- UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA

Researcher | Teaching staff

Maria Elena Boatca is a young researcher and associate teaching assistant interested in various topics, including green energy, energy prices, digitalization, multimedia and digital skills, and remote education. Her research outcomes received public appreciation: in 2022, she received "The best PhD thesis in Management" award from the Romanian Academic Society of Management. Currently, Maria Elena Boatca is involved in three Erasmus+ projects as researcher and trainer. She was also a research assistant in the EIP-MACRO project, where she gained further knowledge in the field of environmental and energy economics.

Web of Science ResearcherID: M-6640-2014

Curriculum Vitae (16/05/2023)

Expertise & keywords

Upskilling and certification scheme for virtual educators Call name:
2022-1-RO01-KA220-HED-000086331 2022 - 2025

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA DE VEST TIMISOARA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA DE VEST TIMISOARA (); UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA (); University of Rijeka (); DENKSTATT ROMANIA SRL (); BICERO (); European certification & qualification association (ECQA) ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA ()

Project website: https://www.virtual-edu.eu/

Abstract:

The main objective of the project is to establish a certification system, up-skill and certify remote educators, edu. managers and support staff. The purpose is to boost the EU’s digital transformation, improve the digital readiness of the EU to be more resilient to the crippling effects of pandemics and similar unexpected events, which live collaboration, education and work.

Respectful Communication through Media Education Network Call name:
2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000027578 2021 - 2024

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITA TELEMATICA PEGASO

Project partners: UNIVERSITA TELEMATICA PEGASO (); UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA (); INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL AND BUSINESS STUDIES CELJE (); VEREIN FÜR SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTLICHE BERATUNG UND FORSCHUNG E.V. ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA ()

Project website: https://respectnet.eu/

Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social inequality and societal incoherence demonstrably increased. They became more visible, mainly through negative communication, fake news, disinformation and cyber-bullying. Such development is reflected in many European countries. Furthermore, recent scientific studies suggest that general societal behaviour, habits, and attitudes grew out of social media impact the universities and significantly affect scholarly communication.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities have moved many of their activities online. As a result, university teachers are the focus of attention, as they should be the role models of trustful, respectful and encouraging communication. Therefore, media literacy must be a universal part of university teacher competence. However, while media literacy has a strong tradition in social work, pedagogics, and youth work practice, there is a lack of imparting these competencies within the broader higher education environment.

However, there is little knowledge of students and faculty’s media consumption and media creation habits. Moreover, universities are not sufficiently networked with the broader civil society, youth groups, cultural and civic initiatives. For these reasons, cyberbullying poses a double risk. Young people and students can fall victim to it, but they can also become cyberbullies themselves. Consequently, it is necessary to focus on the relationship between the media and youth culture and the digital media skills of young people. The latter relates not only to the use of technology but also to the development of cognitive resources that critically evaluate information.

This project calls for educational literacy confined to the acquisition of skills and the development of a critical structure for understanding social, economic, and communication contexts.

Multimedia competencies for University staff to Empower University – Community Collaborations Call name:
2021 - 2023

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The relationship between energy investments, shocks in energy prices and the macroeconomy in the EU countries Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0142 2018 - 2020

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA TIMIŞOARA (RO)

Project website: https://sites.google.com/site/eipmacrote2016/home

Abstract:

The energy prices, and especially the oil prices, considerably fluctuated during the last decade, increasing the uncertainty in the markets. The central role of energy prices in influencing the consumption and investments, but also the risks generated by their fluctuations for the accomplishment of the macroeconomic and monetary objectives, recommend supplementary investigation. In this context, the present research project is developed on three research directions. First, we analyse the investment behaviour of energy sector companies. Using the AMADEUS statistics, our purpose is to see how the macroeconomic uncertainty and the shareholders structure influence the investment decisions. Second, we investigate the interaction between oil prices and the macroeconomy, considering the shocks in the fuel prices, and not in the international oil prices as previous studies did. More precisely, our aim is to see how do these shocks pass-through into inflation and exchange rate, in different monetary and exchange rate regimes. Third, we investigate the bi-directional causality between the structure of energy consumption and the business cycle. In this line, if the energy consumption is diversified and the renewable sources represent an important percentage out of the total consumption, the economy is less exposed to shocks in international oil prices.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects