Transdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Microbiome Science at the University of Naples Federico II

Project Information

CRESCENDO

Grant agreement ID: 101034245

DOI

10.3030/101034245

EC signature date 7 April 2021

Start date 1 February 2022

End date 31 January 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 1 627 200,00

EU contribution

€ 813 600,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CRESCENDO (Transdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Microbiome Science at the University of Naples Federico II)

Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2024-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The microbiome is the community of microorganisms inhabiting an ecosystem along with all their genes and it plays a fundamental role in influencing the metabolic fluxes on the biosphere. Microbiome activity is essential for the life on our planet and the well-being of organisms, and research is attracting interest and investment from the industry worldwide. For these reasons, research is progressing fast in the microbiome field and a significant request of microbiome experts is expected in the future, which makes microbiome training and research very relevant.

This doctoral programme provides for the necessary scientific knowledge, equipment and infrastructure to support research activities spanning from the observation of natural processes to clinical trials and to investigate the role and the possible use of complex microbial communities. Microbiome research is multidisciplinary by definition, regardless of the specific ecosystem under investigation. Indeed, investigating the microbiome of an ecosystem involves multiple disciplines, technical skills and facilities. These are microbiology and system biology to study microorganisms in the ecosystem and interpret the results from metagenomics analyses, molecular biology and molecular techniques to generate metagenomics data on microbial communities, bioinformatics and data science as key disciplines to analyse and interpret the data, chemistry to study the metabolomics and finally social sciences for both ethical issues related to the research and also for a proper exploitation of the results. Such complexity of needs is fully covered by the implementation of this EU funded Doctoral programme. CRESCENDO is therefore a unique pan-European doctoral programme in Microbiome Science, developing trans-disciplinary Microbiome scientists with intersectoral and international experience
Such fast moving field has on overall wide impact on society because microbiome research, depending on the specific domain of application, can potentially contribute to face global challenges such as global warming, climate changes, hunger, sustainability, human and environmental health.

CRESCENDO overarching objective is the final recruitment of 10 international Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs; PhD candidates) conducting specific research and training projects involving microbiome studies on human, animal, soil, plant, food, environment or marine systems. The main objectives of the programme is the implementation of the research and training activities for each ESR, at local and network level, on microbiome research and transferable skills.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project results towards the set objectives that have been fully achieved in this reporting period are:
• The Call for recruitment was widely disseminated until its closing date through various channels, job platforms, social media, others, fully reaching a very high audience of interested candidates. We have received a total of 246 applications submitted by candidates from all over the world.
• We have successfully organised and run the evaluation process, from eligibility check until the final selection of the 10 ESRs, with the offering of a full-time employment contract starting at the beginning of January 2023.
• The research and training activities to be provided for each fellow at local level have been agreed with the main supervisor at the beginning of each contract, by duly signing the PCDPs. Also the training to be provided at network level for core research and transferable skills has been set and made public on the project website (https://www.crescendo.unina.it/index.php/training-opportunities). In the first year of the running of each fellowship a total of 3 courses and 6 modules of training on several microbiome-related issues have been delivered.
• The dissemination and communication activities have been managed both at central level and by the recruited ESRs and PIs. During this reporting period a very high volume of participation rates has been recorded, with ESRs fully and actively engaged in performing such activities.
• From an ethics point of view, the monitoring and management of any ethics’ issue, in terms of gender and any ethical or other minorities management for the application and evaluation/selection phases have been duly fulfilled. In addition, at the very starting of each research project, the management of any ethics’ issue at project level has been fully administered.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Call was then advertised for 3 months through 18 different EU/international channels, being job portals, scientific job databases and journals, intra-EU and worldwide networks, social media announcements, others, reaching a total of potential international target end-users of more than 1 Ml, with more than 200K followers of social media. The overall evaluation, selection and recruitment process has entirely followed an open, transparent, merit based, impartial and equitable procedure, fully adhering to H2020 MSCA rules and in line with the principles set by the European Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The starting date of each employment contract is the 1st of January 2023. All PCDPs (Personal career development plan) were finalised at the beginning of each ESR’s appointment. Each PCDP is considered as a working document to be verified and updated during the running of each Fellowship. Subsequent updated versions will be submitted every year until the end of each individual research project, according to the individual research and training progresses.
Both the scientific and transferable skills training have been provided at local and network level (https://www.crescendo.unina.it/index.php/training-opportunities) the former including also training on mentoring and leadership, the latter covering core microbiome courses and complimentary and transferable skills courses for all recruited ESRs.

The overall programme is fully addressed to reach the expected long-term impact, in terms of:
European and international level. The implementation of the microbiome research projects will impact in the long-term all productive sectors, translating scientific advances into jobs and opportunities for competitive growth and new businesses creation. While estimating the impact of microbiome research on the job market is difficult due to the wide range of applications and the fast-paced nature of the field, the growing microbiome economy has the possibility of creating up to 1 million new jobs by 2030 according to the latest European Commission report. The programme is therefore fully addressing this opportunity. In fact, a large portion of these jobs will be driven by new professional profiles trained interdisciplinary in the broad field of microbiome research and applications. The microbiome training, coupled with the intersectoral, business-oriented experience carried out at the POs, will help to strengthen the human resources in this area. The ESRs will be also exposed to the start-up ecosystem and entrepreneurship, favouring business creation and encouraging technology transfer.

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