ADvanced ManufacturIng REsearch Fellowship Programme in the Basque – New Aquitaine Region

Project Information

ADAGIO

Grant agreement ID: 101034379

DOI

10.3030/101034379

EC signature date 22 March 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 310 200,00

EU contribution

€ 1 655 100,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/ EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ADAGIO (ADvanced ManufacturIng REsearch Fellowship Programme in the Basque – New Aquitaine Region)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Research in Advanced Manufacturing has been identified as an essential pillar of the European economy. The EU is a global market leader for high-quality products, and European Industry is the world’s biggest exporter of manufactured goods. Nevertheless, intense competition from (primarily) Asian markets implies that European industry must constantly innovate in order to not lose its market leadership, and European industry is also driving the transformation to climate neutrality and sustainable circular economy. For this reason, Advanced Manufacturing is also an important elements of both the Basque Country and the New Aquitaine regions, and forms an essential part of their regional industrial strategies. Both host universities boast strong programmes in both basic and advanced research in this field, and enjoy excellent links with the industrial fabric within both regions, which consequently leads to a strong industrial influence within their academic programmes.

The ADvanced ManufacturIng REsearch Fellowship Programme in the Basque – New Aquitaine Region” (ADAGIO) is an international Fellowship Programme promoted by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Bordeaux (UBx), created within the context of the joint Bordeaux – Euskampus Euroregional Campus of International Excellence. It offers 15 positions to excellent Experienced Researchers (ER) of any nationality to develop individual and freely selected research projects at one of the two cross-border universities from the New Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarre Euroregion during a 36 month stay. The Programme aims to recruit the ERs through a selection process established in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.

ADAGIO is a cross-border network that integrates two universities (UPV/EHU and UBx) and two International Campuses of Excellence (Euskampus and IdEx) within the Euroregion New Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarre. The RIS3 strategy of the Euroregion, as well as the individual strategies of the participating regions, underline the importance of attracting, fostering and retaining research talent, with a specific focus on drawing more excellent researchers into the regional R&D sector. This need will be directly addressed by ADAGIO, which will attract international researchers by offering competitive conditions in order to develop high quality human resources for the region, and will encourage intersectoral experience by facilitating secondments at industrial partner organisations from the Euroregion and beyond. This way, the programme will enable the participating R&D entities to build strong ties with the researchers that may lead to future employment. Additionally, the incorporation of international researchers will contribute to the internationalisation efforts of the universities involved and connect them to the fellows’ previous and future institutions worldwide. Therefore, it is hoped that ADAGIO will be a step towards converting the Euroregion New Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarre into one of Europe’s leading research destinations in the field of Advanced Manufacturing.

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

Two international calls were published, one in 2022 and the second in 2023. The first call opened was open for 2 months from 1st February to the 31st March 2022; the second call was open for 1.5 months from 1st December 2022 to 11th January 2023.

Before the launch of both calls, the ADAGIO programme was extensively advertised on the official websites of both Host Institutions, and each call was also published clearly on the home page of the project's official website https://www.ehu.eus/en/web/cofund-adagio. The details of the calls were also published on EURAXESS, and a selected group of the most relevant regional, national, European and international online job portals for doctoral positions. In addition, an effort was made to identify job portals specifically aimed at contracting women postdocs in the STEM disciplines in an attempt to increase the visibility of the programme among female scientists.

Following call 1, 8 fellows were offered contracts within the ADAGIO programme, 7 in the UPV/EHU, and 1 in UBx. Following call 2, a further 7 fellows were offered contracts, 3 in UPV/EHU and 4 in UBx. As of the date of this report, 11 of the ADAGIO fellows had already started their contracts, and the remaining 4 fellows will begin in January 2024.

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 ADAGIO fellowship programme gives researchers from all over the world the opportunity to develop their innovative projects within a network of internationally renowned European Universities, research centres and R&D companies. This programme therefore constitutes the ideal stepping-stone in order for them to develop their academic and professional profile and explore future career perspectives both within and outside academia.

The development of relevant scientific and transferable skills is especially essential to lay the groundworks for promising long-term career perspectives. A tailored Personal Career Development Plan will determine the specific training needs of each fellow, thus ensuring an adequate labour-market preparation. ADAGIO expects a potentially important implication of its industrial partners in the programme. Fellows will be assigned a supervisor and, if relevant to their project, an industrial mentor, and will be encouraged to undertake secondments and courses at participating R&D enterprises will form an important feature of their training. Apart from gaining first-hand insights into the private R&D sector and first professional experience outside academia, these secondments present an excellent opportunity for the researchers to build a significant professional network in the Cross-border Euroregion that they will be able to draw on when seeking employment after their contract.

The wide variety of participating industrial partners will allow the fellows to explore the interdisciplinary aspects and applications of their research projects and to develop intersectoral skills, which will open up additional opportunities and enhance their professional profile. The international orientation of the programme will furthermore have a positive impact on the fellow’s future career perspectives.

ADAGIO strongly encourages its researchers to participate in international research networks and to be transnationally mobile in order to gain insight into the international research community that is currently active in their field, and thereby explore post-doctoral research and employment opportunities both in the region and abroad.

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