diff --git a/packages/models-library/src/models_library/projects.py b/packages/models-library/src/models_library/projects.py
index 401b0ecb79d1..fd5e58849aa6 100644
--- a/packages/models-library/src/models_library/projects.py
+++ b/packages/models-library/src/models_library/projects.py
@@ -144,17 +144,17 @@ class Project(BaseProjectModel):
     ]
 
     # Lifecycle
-    creation_date: Annotated[
+    creation_date: Annotated[  # type: ignore[assignment]
         DateTimeStr,
-        Field(  # type: ignore[assignment]
+        Field(
             description="project creation date",
             examples=["2018-07-01T11:13:43Z"],
             alias="creationDate",
         ),
     ]
-    last_change_date: Annotated[
+    last_change_date: Annotated[  # type: ignore[assignment]
         DateTimeStr,
-        Field(  # type: ignore[assignment]
+        Field(
             description="last save date",
             examples=["2018-07-01T11:13:43Z"],
             alias="lastChangeDate",
@@ -214,4 +214,5 @@ class Project(BaseProjectModel):
     model_config = ConfigDict(
         # NOTE: this is a security measure until we get rid of the ProjectDict variants
         extra="forbid",
+        populate_by_name=True,
     )
diff --git a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/studies_dispatcher/_projects.py b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/studies_dispatcher/_projects.py
index 56c004cdccbf..9067cd58a7af 100644
--- a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/studies_dispatcher/_projects.py
+++ b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/studies_dispatcher/_projects.py
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
 from typing import NamedTuple
 
 from aiohttp import web
-from models_library.projects import DateTimeStr, Project, ProjectID, StudyUIDict
+from models_library.api_schemas_webserver.projects_ui import StudyUI
+from models_library.projects import DateTimeStr, Project, ProjectID
 from models_library.projects_access import AccessRights, GroupIDStr
 from models_library.projects_nodes import Node
 from models_library.projects_nodes_io import DownloadLink, NodeID, PortLink
@@ -96,12 +97,16 @@ def _create_project(
         name=name,
         description=description,
         thumbnail=thumbnail,
-        prjOwner=owner.email,
-        accessRights={GroupIDStr(owner.primary_gid): access_rights},
-        creationDate=DateTimeStr(now_str()),
-        lastChangeDate=DateTimeStr(now_str()),
+        prj_owner=owner.email,
+        access_rights={GroupIDStr(owner.primary_gid): access_rights},
+        creation_date=DateTimeStr(now_str()),
+        last_change_date=DateTimeStr(now_str()),
         workbench=workbench,
-        ui=StudyUIDict(workbench=workbench_ui),  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+        ui=StudyUI.model_validate(
+            {
+                "workbench": workbench_ui,
+            }
+        ).model_dump(mode="json", exclude_unset=True),
     )