The project envisaged a Call for proposals for 50 fellowships, published in January 2022, however only 39 fellowships were granted. A second Call for proposals was published in December 2022, offering the remaining 11 vacant positions. Each fellowship was associated to a research topic, a framework within which every applicant had to propose an original research project. At the end of the second Call, all 50 fellowships have been allocated and are now hosted by 25 PhD Courses at the University of Padua, covering all scientific domains: 8 in Life Sciences (LS), 10 in Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE), 5 in Social Sciences and Humanities (SH), 2 cross-domain PE-LS.
Within the first month of contract, each Fellow had to prepare a Career Development Plan in accordance with their Supervisor. This document, which may be updated if necessary, highlights short-term objectives (1-2 years), long-term career objectives (over 5 years) and major expected accomplishments, set by the researcher and the Supervisor at the beginning of the fellowship.
Two welcome events, one for each batch of UNIPhD Fellows, were organised and throughout their PhD course all ESRs accessed an extensive research training, complemented with an attractive transversal skills package. Two PhD Training weeks were organised for both Academic Years, giving all UNIPhD Fellows the opportunity to participate. The first training focused on research communication, dissemination and exploitation, while the second addressed research integrity, Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Big Data Science. Both events were open to the general Unipd PhD community and featured academic and non-academic professionals as speakers.
To encourage doctoral students' implementation of skills acquired during the PhD Training weeks, two Annual Network Meetings have been organised, the first focused on research communication and dissemination while the second aimed at giving the Fellows tools and perspectives on career development. The meetings hosted international keynote speakers and representatives from the academic and non-academic sectors.
