Final Report Summary - TRENTINO (The research, training and mobility programme in Trentino)
Trentino is a small mountainous territory situated in northern Italy which hosts a large number of research labs, from environmental studies to high-tech technologies. The Province of Trento has allocated several resources such as infrastructure, real estate and funds to encourage research and innovation. Many institutes, both public and private, local, national and international have established their research units in Trentino.
In this context, the Autonomous Province of Trento decided to start its Research Mobility programme and in June 2009 approved the project “The Trentino programme of research, training and mobility of post-doctoral researchers” – acronym “Trentino”, co-funded by the European Community (Grant Agreement n. 226070), within the 7th research framework programme for the period 2007-2013 - “People” specific programme - Marie Curie actions - COFUND.
The grand total budget of the project “Trentino”, finally amounting to € 13.840.000,00 is much higher than the amount originally negotiated with the European Commission (€ 9.800.000,00 including EU contribution of € 2.660.000,00 as foreseen in Annex I to the grant agreement), following further allocations of additional funds by the Province, as shown in the attached table n. 1.
This considerable investment in the project is a clear indication that the Province is greatly interested in fostering the mobility of researchers and in strengthening the internationalisation of the Trentino system of research.
In order to allow all the awarded fellows to complete their fellowships before the conclusion of the project “Trentino” and also to promote the widest dissemination of the results of the best research projects, originally not planned in Annex I, the Province requested an extension of the project duration (one year longer) and the request was accepted by the REA.
All the co-funded fellows started their projects regularly and by the end date of the project “Trentino” (24/06/2014) 47, out of 58 co-funded fellowships, were finished. The remaining 11 fellowships were not finished by the same date, as a consequence of just as many extensions regularly allowed upon request, without any additional cost for EU (see attached tables n. 2 and n. 3 including lists of extensions and resignations).
All the fellows have duly submitted their periodic scientific and financial reports which have been examined and approved by the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, according to the rules fixed by the relevant calls for proposals. The Committee often pointed out the projects considered as worthy of special mention.
The objectives of the project “Trentino” may be summarized as follows:
1. to increase the number of trans-national fellowships awarded, fostering the mobility of young researchers of any nationality towards the Trentino research system and increasing the percentage of awarded foreign researchers, so as to contribute to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system;
2. to introduce a new outgoing scheme, in order to promote the international mobility of young or senior researchers who are already operating in the Trentino research organisations, so as to contribute to their professional growth and to the transfer of knowledge, through a research experience at international level, also aiming at stimulating collaboration with foreign research organisations and participation in international research projects;
3. to introduce a new reintegration scheme, in order to recall young researchers who were born and/or have resided and/or have studied in Trentino and are working abroad, so as to contribute to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system;
4. to encourage the updating of skills and career development of researchers, in an international dimension, playing a fundamental role in the development of human resources;
5. to improve the fellows' conditions by promoting the implementation of the conditions described in “The European Charter for Researchers and The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers”, in particular by offering employment contracts to the fellows and by establishing career development plans;
6. to improve the Internet website and its English version;
7. to promote the dissemination of the results of the project through several communication actions consisting of the realization of short TV programmes broadcasted by various local networks and the organisation of workshops aimed at facilitating the meeting and discussion among the fellows.
The objectives listed at points 1., 2. and 3. have been fulfilled by means of calls for proposals, on the basis of three different types of mobility: incoming, outgoing and reintegration.
In fact, as per Annex I the implementation of the project “Trentino” consisted of activating two calls for proposals for each of the following types of mobility scheme: post-doc incoming, post-doc outgoing, researcher outgoing, post-doc reintegration and one call for proposals for each of the following types of mobility scheme: team incoming, team reintegration (call n. 6 “team reintegration” had no applications).
Table n. 4 shows the data of the submitted, evaluated, eligible projects and the fellowships awarded, along with the related amounts in Euro for each call (see attached table n. 4).
Table n. 5 gives the idea of the most requested scientific areas and of the researchers’ gender and nationality, with reference to the submitted projects. It also shows the number of external experts involved in the evaluation process for each call (see attached table n. 5).
The project evaluation process took about three months and was carried out by the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, involving 146 external experts and some of them assessed more than one project.
With reference to the awarded fellowships, table n. 6 reports the data regarding research areas, gender and nationality of the proposing researchers (see attached table n. 6).
As for the achievement of the above mentioned objectives, we can remark that the project “Trentino”:
- has concretely contributed to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system. In fact, with reference to the submitted applications and considering only the incoming type of mobility, foreign researchers are about 27%. With reference to the awarded fellowships and always considering only the incoming scheme, the percentage of foreign researchers is 43%;
- has pursued a policy of gender equality. Women who applied are 38% and, with reference to the awarded fellowships, the percentage of women turns out to be 32%;
- was very successful in terms of number of applications and awarded fellowships, even beyond expectation, as shown in the attached table n. 7;
- has boosted the dissemination of the scientific results of the best research projects. The press agency of the Province, supported by the project management staff, realized three short TV programmes about some co-funded projects, which were previously pointed out by the Committee as worthy of special mention. During these programmes the fellows were interviewed and they presented their research activity.
The three programmes are available at the following links:
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/pagina146.html;
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/-giungo_2013/pagina194.html
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/-marzo_2014/pagina236.html
- has promoted and given the opportunity to have a dialogue and some interesting exchange of views between the fellows, the provincial governance, the members of the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, the representatives of the host organisations and the EU representative. In fact, after the first review meeting arranged by the European Commission-REA in Trento on October 18th 2011, the Province itself organised a meeting between the fellows and the members of the Committee. The meeting took place in Trento on December 3rd 2012 (see attached agenda). The aim of the meeting was to encourage the discussion between the fellows presenting their project activities and the evaluators of their projects, that is to say the members of the Committee, also with the participation of the representatives of the host organisations. This event was very successful and the members of the Committee confirmed the good quality of the research activity carried out by the fellows;
- has brought to fruitful exchange of views between the host organisations (see attached list), the fellows, the provincial governance, the members of the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation and the EU representative about the best tools in order to foster the internationalisation of the scientific research in Trentino, and in particular about the COFUND action and the possibility of repeating the experience in the near future. The event, which consisted of a final meeting with the fellows presenting their projects and the results of their research activity plus a round table with the participation of the EU representative and the representatives of the host organisations, was held in Trento on March 22nd 2014 (see attached agenda). All the participants have agreed on the effectiveness of the COFUND action and on the convenience of repeating it. Many fellows confirmed that their COFUND experiences were very useful for their professional growth and career development.
In conclusion, giving an account of the project “Trentino”, we can observe that it has really contributed to the improvement and enhancement of the research system in Trentino.
As far as socio-economic impacts are concerned, it is important to point out that, as a consequence of the project “Trentino”, all the fellows have been offered employment contracts which provide equivalent conditions to those offered to permanent employees, with insurance and social security contributions paid by the host organisations. At the same time, some wider socio-economic implications of the project can be mentioned, such as the rental income coming from accommodation solutions found by the fellows who stayed in Trentino and the touristic aspects, both local and nationwide.
Moreover, thanks to the implementation of the project “Trentino”, many host organisations have promoted internal welcome offices and have worked in collaboration one another, in order to assist the fellows coming from abroad, providing information and common support services. Some host organisations have also organised Italian classes for the foreigners and made agreements with CINFORMI (Centro informativo per l'immigrazione” - http://www.cinformi.it/index.php/il_cinformi an office belonging to the Autonomous Province of Trento, which has among its tasks also to ease the entry of foreign citizens to public services and to offer information and advice about the terms and the rules established by the Italian law to obtain the necessary permit to stay and work in Italy, as well as linguistic and cultural support). Thanks to the work of various provincial structures in cooperation with some “Welcome Offices” belonging to the main host organisations, the foreign researchers could find help with the numerous fulfilments entailed by the Italian law on immigration, but also answers to their practical needs (accommodation, Italian classes organised by a specific structure belonging to the University of Trento, as well as the opportunity offered to their children to join English teaching primary and secondary schools).
The project “Trentino” has also contributed to improve the setting and the management of the calls for proposals, by reviewing the format of the scientific reports and of the evaluation reports, by establishing clear and transparent reporting rules and by introducing a specific new software for the administrative and financial management of the research projects.
The Internet website (http://www.uniricerca.provincia.tn.it/) and its English version have been developed, with a specific up-to-date section assigned to the project “Trentino” (http://www.uniricerca.provincia.tn.it/cofund/). This section has been enriched with a space designed for researchers’ contributions (abstracts of projects, results of their research activity, etc.).
Contact details:
serv.universita@provincia.tn.it
bandi.ricerca@provincia.tn.it
In this context, the Autonomous Province of Trento decided to start its Research Mobility programme and in June 2009 approved the project “The Trentino programme of research, training and mobility of post-doctoral researchers” – acronym “Trentino”, co-funded by the European Community (Grant Agreement n. 226070), within the 7th research framework programme for the period 2007-2013 - “People” specific programme - Marie Curie actions - COFUND.
The grand total budget of the project “Trentino”, finally amounting to € 13.840.000,00 is much higher than the amount originally negotiated with the European Commission (€ 9.800.000,00 including EU contribution of € 2.660.000,00 as foreseen in Annex I to the grant agreement), following further allocations of additional funds by the Province, as shown in the attached table n. 1.
This considerable investment in the project is a clear indication that the Province is greatly interested in fostering the mobility of researchers and in strengthening the internationalisation of the Trentino system of research.
In order to allow all the awarded fellows to complete their fellowships before the conclusion of the project “Trentino” and also to promote the widest dissemination of the results of the best research projects, originally not planned in Annex I, the Province requested an extension of the project duration (one year longer) and the request was accepted by the REA.
All the co-funded fellows started their projects regularly and by the end date of the project “Trentino” (24/06/2014) 47, out of 58 co-funded fellowships, were finished. The remaining 11 fellowships were not finished by the same date, as a consequence of just as many extensions regularly allowed upon request, without any additional cost for EU (see attached tables n. 2 and n. 3 including lists of extensions and resignations).
All the fellows have duly submitted their periodic scientific and financial reports which have been examined and approved by the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, according to the rules fixed by the relevant calls for proposals. The Committee often pointed out the projects considered as worthy of special mention.
The objectives of the project “Trentino” may be summarized as follows:
1. to increase the number of trans-national fellowships awarded, fostering the mobility of young researchers of any nationality towards the Trentino research system and increasing the percentage of awarded foreign researchers, so as to contribute to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system;
2. to introduce a new outgoing scheme, in order to promote the international mobility of young or senior researchers who are already operating in the Trentino research organisations, so as to contribute to their professional growth and to the transfer of knowledge, through a research experience at international level, also aiming at stimulating collaboration with foreign research organisations and participation in international research projects;
3. to introduce a new reintegration scheme, in order to recall young researchers who were born and/or have resided and/or have studied in Trentino and are working abroad, so as to contribute to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system;
4. to encourage the updating of skills and career development of researchers, in an international dimension, playing a fundamental role in the development of human resources;
5. to improve the fellows' conditions by promoting the implementation of the conditions described in “The European Charter for Researchers and The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers”, in particular by offering employment contracts to the fellows and by establishing career development plans;
6. to improve the Internet website and its English version;
7. to promote the dissemination of the results of the project through several communication actions consisting of the realization of short TV programmes broadcasted by various local networks and the organisation of workshops aimed at facilitating the meeting and discussion among the fellows.
The objectives listed at points 1., 2. and 3. have been fulfilled by means of calls for proposals, on the basis of three different types of mobility: incoming, outgoing and reintegration.
In fact, as per Annex I the implementation of the project “Trentino” consisted of activating two calls for proposals for each of the following types of mobility scheme: post-doc incoming, post-doc outgoing, researcher outgoing, post-doc reintegration and one call for proposals for each of the following types of mobility scheme: team incoming, team reintegration (call n. 6 “team reintegration” had no applications).
Table n. 4 shows the data of the submitted, evaluated, eligible projects and the fellowships awarded, along with the related amounts in Euro for each call (see attached table n. 4).
Table n. 5 gives the idea of the most requested scientific areas and of the researchers’ gender and nationality, with reference to the submitted projects. It also shows the number of external experts involved in the evaluation process for each call (see attached table n. 5).
The project evaluation process took about three months and was carried out by the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, involving 146 external experts and some of them assessed more than one project.
With reference to the awarded fellowships, table n. 6 reports the data regarding research areas, gender and nationality of the proposing researchers (see attached table n. 6).
As for the achievement of the above mentioned objectives, we can remark that the project “Trentino”:
- has concretely contributed to the internationalisation of the Trentino research system. In fact, with reference to the submitted applications and considering only the incoming type of mobility, foreign researchers are about 27%. With reference to the awarded fellowships and always considering only the incoming scheme, the percentage of foreign researchers is 43%;
- has pursued a policy of gender equality. Women who applied are 38% and, with reference to the awarded fellowships, the percentage of women turns out to be 32%;
- was very successful in terms of number of applications and awarded fellowships, even beyond expectation, as shown in the attached table n. 7;
- has boosted the dissemination of the scientific results of the best research projects. The press agency of the Province, supported by the project management staff, realized three short TV programmes about some co-funded projects, which were previously pointed out by the Committee as worthy of special mention. During these programmes the fellows were interviewed and they presented their research activity.
The three programmes are available at the following links:
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/pagina146.html;
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/-giungo_2013/pagina194.html
http://www.webtv.provincia.tn.it/prov_info/-marzo_2014/pagina236.html
- has promoted and given the opportunity to have a dialogue and some interesting exchange of views between the fellows, the provincial governance, the members of the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation, the representatives of the host organisations and the EU representative. In fact, after the first review meeting arranged by the European Commission-REA in Trento on October 18th 2011, the Province itself organised a meeting between the fellows and the members of the Committee. The meeting took place in Trento on December 3rd 2012 (see attached agenda). The aim of the meeting was to encourage the discussion between the fellows presenting their project activities and the evaluators of their projects, that is to say the members of the Committee, also with the participation of the representatives of the host organisations. This event was very successful and the members of the Committee confirmed the good quality of the research activity carried out by the fellows;
- has brought to fruitful exchange of views between the host organisations (see attached list), the fellows, the provincial governance, the members of the Technical and Scientific Committee for Research and Innovation and the EU representative about the best tools in order to foster the internationalisation of the scientific research in Trentino, and in particular about the COFUND action and the possibility of repeating the experience in the near future. The event, which consisted of a final meeting with the fellows presenting their projects and the results of their research activity plus a round table with the participation of the EU representative and the representatives of the host organisations, was held in Trento on March 22nd 2014 (see attached agenda). All the participants have agreed on the effectiveness of the COFUND action and on the convenience of repeating it. Many fellows confirmed that their COFUND experiences were very useful for their professional growth and career development.
In conclusion, giving an account of the project “Trentino”, we can observe that it has really contributed to the improvement and enhancement of the research system in Trentino.
As far as socio-economic impacts are concerned, it is important to point out that, as a consequence of the project “Trentino”, all the fellows have been offered employment contracts which provide equivalent conditions to those offered to permanent employees, with insurance and social security contributions paid by the host organisations. At the same time, some wider socio-economic implications of the project can be mentioned, such as the rental income coming from accommodation solutions found by the fellows who stayed in Trentino and the touristic aspects, both local and nationwide.
Moreover, thanks to the implementation of the project “Trentino”, many host organisations have promoted internal welcome offices and have worked in collaboration one another, in order to assist the fellows coming from abroad, providing information and common support services. Some host organisations have also organised Italian classes for the foreigners and made agreements with CINFORMI (Centro informativo per l'immigrazione” - http://www.cinformi.it/index.php/il_cinformi an office belonging to the Autonomous Province of Trento, which has among its tasks also to ease the entry of foreign citizens to public services and to offer information and advice about the terms and the rules established by the Italian law to obtain the necessary permit to stay and work in Italy, as well as linguistic and cultural support). Thanks to the work of various provincial structures in cooperation with some “Welcome Offices” belonging to the main host organisations, the foreign researchers could find help with the numerous fulfilments entailed by the Italian law on immigration, but also answers to their practical needs (accommodation, Italian classes organised by a specific structure belonging to the University of Trento, as well as the opportunity offered to their children to join English teaching primary and secondary schools).
The project “Trentino” has also contributed to improve the setting and the management of the calls for proposals, by reviewing the format of the scientific reports and of the evaluation reports, by establishing clear and transparent reporting rules and by introducing a specific new software for the administrative and financial management of the research projects.
The Internet website (http://www.uniricerca.provincia.tn.it/) and its English version have been developed, with a specific up-to-date section assigned to the project “Trentino” (http://www.uniricerca.provincia.tn.it/cofund/). This section has been enriched with a space designed for researchers’ contributions (abstracts of projects, results of their research activity, etc.).
Contact details:
serv.universita@provincia.tn.it
bandi.ricerca@provincia.tn.it
