Final Report Summary - CATHI (Cryogenics, Accelerators and Targets at HIE-ISOLDE)
- The publishable executive summary contains photos that cannot be pasted directly into the report. Please see attachment "ITN-264330-CATHI-publishable-executive-summary.pdf"
- The achievements of the recruited researchers were presented in the CATHI Final Review meeting which can accessed via the following Indico link: http://indico.cern.ch/event/316392/
CATHI is one of the rare mono-site Initial Training Network (ITN) in FP7, with CERN as main host institution, which offered research training in the application of advanced accelerator technology, beam instrumentation, ultra-high vacuum, cryogenics, radiation protection and advanced material technologies in one of Europe’s leading Radioactive Ion Beam facilities (ISOLDE) at CERN, and its future upgrade (HIE-ISOLDE).
• The HIE-ISOLDE project at CERN represented an ideal R&D opportunity to train young engineers over a range of disciplines relevant to the accelerator and nuclear industry.
• CERN and the Associated Partners of CATHI offered excellent hands-on and academic training.
• ISOLDE provided a multi-disciplinary environment on a scale that encouraged collaboration and teamwork.
There was a very slow start to the recruitment with difficulties in finding ESR candidates of the appropriate quality and level - an issue that has been observed by other ITNs at CERN. In addition to contacts through the recruiting groups at CERN, there was extensive use of advertising via social media by CERN's HR department (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Institute of Physics, Institute of Engineering and Technology). CATHI was also promoted in presentations by the scientists and engineers in talks they gave, and the HR department included Marie Curie Actions in their recruitment presentations around Europe and beyond.
Via the CERN e-recruitment website, we received about 150 applications for the ESR positions and selected 10 in the first year of ITN; we also used applications to the regular CERN Fellowship programme as a source of candidates as there was a feeling that we should have had more applications in response to the specific CATHI call for applicants; there was also a feeling among the recruiting supervisors that there was a certain lack of quality in the level of MSc applicants. There has been a significant push to complete the recruitment of the ESRs and the ERs by month 26 of the project.
We have paid particular attention to gender but fell short of reaching the target set by the Commission (29% vs 40%). There was a good geographical spread between the recruited Researchers which represented 14 nationalities.
In so far as possible, candidates were invited to CERN for interview so that they could meet potential colleagues and see the facilities (the furthest a candidate travelled was from Cairo to Geneva); otherwise, interviews were held by Skype / video conference.
In the final year of the Grant Agreement, three of the Researchers left the project a few months earlier than scheduled to take up positions in Switzerland, Spain and Sweden. We were able to use some of the months freed up to extend our late recruit (within WP-9) and re-assign internally some of the work in order not to jeopardize the finalization of all milestones and deliverables due.
The hands-on research training of the Researchers was complemented by formal training through:
- CERN Training Programmes (Academic Training, CERN Seminars,CERN Accelerator School,Technical Training)
- International Conferences (LINAC, IPAC, SRF, ICIS, EMIS, EURORIB, IBIC, IWAA, IEEE Real-Time…)
- Training during secondment (Up to 30% of contract duration)
- Complementary Training (CERN Management and Communication courses+ Other external training courses)
As part of the training objectives we organised extended visits of students, experts and scientists from Associated Partners and other collaborating institutes.
The researchers training plan foresaw two different phases: An initial familiarization phase (6 months) in which the CATHI researchers integrated their respective groups and carried out extensive training; followed by a project-driven phase where the knowledge and experience acquired previously are applied to more practical objectives like problem solving and optimisation. All of the CATHI fellows managed successfully, with the help of their supervisors, to organize their research projects into concrete work units and deliverables with appropriate budget, resource and clear time plan.
All but one Milestones (45 in total) and Deliverables (47 in total) were achieved. Deliverables and Milestones had to be slightly re-organised namely due to late start of the Design Study for the Intensity Upgrade and late recruitment of Experienced Researchers. In general, the Researchers made extensive use of the CATHI R&D and prototyping budget: this was the case for WP1, WP2, WP6, WP7 and WP8. WP2 also benefited from substantial in-kind support from Spanish Government.
As stipulated by the ITN requirements, the project organised regular technical meetings and an annual plenary meeting of Researchers, Supervisors and invited specialists from and outside the Network. During these meetings every single CATHI Fellow reported on the progress and outcome of their research.
Below is a list of the different dissemination activities carried out during this second period:
• Sponsorship of young researchers for attending EMIS2012 (2-7 Dec. 2012 in Riken, Japan). The technical progress presented at the conference by the CATHI Fellow were published in a special edition of Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B, Volume 317.
• Participation to the industrial exhibition at SRF2013 (23-27 Sep. 2013 in Paris, France) and sponsorship of 19 young researchers from around the world. The CATHI fellows involved in WP1 and WP5 (ER1, ESR1, ESR2 and ESR7) setup a dedicated booth were they exhibited the prototype cavity they had assembled and entertained the participants with a live measurement of the cavity frequency. They also prepared a poster and a video running on live describing the Marie-Curie Actions.
• Organisation of the Annual CATHI Technical Workshop held on 28-29 Nov. 2013. The workshop held at the Globe of Science at CERN was a success and attracted more than 50 participants outside of the Network.
• Co-organisation of the African School of Physics, Dakar Senegal, 11-21 Aug. 2014. The project sponsored the participation of 9 young African researchers. Nice to see CATHI getting a mention in the CERN Bulletin for being involved in the African School of Physics in Dakar. ESR16 Carla Babcock and ESR11Jacobo Montano were active participants as workshop leaders and speakers and also stepped in at the last minute to help as some speakers were unable to attend at the last minute.
• The following series of conferences where attended:
o IPAC by WP1, WP2, WP3 and WP5
o SRF by WP1
o LINAC by WP1, WP4 and WP5
o IBIC by WP2
o IWAA by WP4
o EMIS, EBIST and EURORIB by WP6, WP7 and WP8
More than 120 technical and scientific reports were edited and archived (this includes 47 deliverables, 40 milestones, journal articles, conference proceedings, project notes).
A Detailed Technical Design Report summarizing the developments within the CATHI project will be published in 2015 in the form of a CERN Yellow Report and accessible to all.
Conclusions
- There were no deviations from the original contract
- Slight re-adjustment of Deliverables and Milestones to account for the delay in the project
- Some secondment periods had to be re-scheduled (new partners, late recruitment, etc…)
- Given the difficulty in recruiting ER1, task was covered by CERN staff => ER1 re-oriented on
cavity tuning strategy and cryomodule test
- 3 ESRs enrolled on a PhD programme.
- Additional recruitment of 1 ESR was made possible
- The collaboration with the Associated Partners and entities outside of the Network was strengthened through the participation to the R&D activities and the hosting of the CATHI fellows during their secondment periods.
- The attached file "ITN-264330-CATHI-Researchers-Where-are-they-now.pdf" summarizes the employment situation of the researchers at the end of the Grant Agreement and is very encouraging, showing the positive impact of CATHI on the researchers and their career development.
- The achievements of the recruited researchers were presented in the CATHI Final Review meeting which can accessed via the following Indico link: http://indico.cern.ch/event/316392/
CATHI is one of the rare mono-site Initial Training Network (ITN) in FP7, with CERN as main host institution, which offered research training in the application of advanced accelerator technology, beam instrumentation, ultra-high vacuum, cryogenics, radiation protection and advanced material technologies in one of Europe’s leading Radioactive Ion Beam facilities (ISOLDE) at CERN, and its future upgrade (HIE-ISOLDE).
• The HIE-ISOLDE project at CERN represented an ideal R&D opportunity to train young engineers over a range of disciplines relevant to the accelerator and nuclear industry.
• CERN and the Associated Partners of CATHI offered excellent hands-on and academic training.
• ISOLDE provided a multi-disciplinary environment on a scale that encouraged collaboration and teamwork.
There was a very slow start to the recruitment with difficulties in finding ESR candidates of the appropriate quality and level - an issue that has been observed by other ITNs at CERN. In addition to contacts through the recruiting groups at CERN, there was extensive use of advertising via social media by CERN's HR department (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Institute of Physics, Institute of Engineering and Technology). CATHI was also promoted in presentations by the scientists and engineers in talks they gave, and the HR department included Marie Curie Actions in their recruitment presentations around Europe and beyond.
Via the CERN e-recruitment website, we received about 150 applications for the ESR positions and selected 10 in the first year of ITN; we also used applications to the regular CERN Fellowship programme as a source of candidates as there was a feeling that we should have had more applications in response to the specific CATHI call for applicants; there was also a feeling among the recruiting supervisors that there was a certain lack of quality in the level of MSc applicants. There has been a significant push to complete the recruitment of the ESRs and the ERs by month 26 of the project.
We have paid particular attention to gender but fell short of reaching the target set by the Commission (29% vs 40%). There was a good geographical spread between the recruited Researchers which represented 14 nationalities.
In so far as possible, candidates were invited to CERN for interview so that they could meet potential colleagues and see the facilities (the furthest a candidate travelled was from Cairo to Geneva); otherwise, interviews were held by Skype / video conference.
In the final year of the Grant Agreement, three of the Researchers left the project a few months earlier than scheduled to take up positions in Switzerland, Spain and Sweden. We were able to use some of the months freed up to extend our late recruit (within WP-9) and re-assign internally some of the work in order not to jeopardize the finalization of all milestones and deliverables due.
The hands-on research training of the Researchers was complemented by formal training through:
- CERN Training Programmes (Academic Training, CERN Seminars,CERN Accelerator School,Technical Training)
- International Conferences (LINAC, IPAC, SRF, ICIS, EMIS, EURORIB, IBIC, IWAA, IEEE Real-Time…)
- Training during secondment (Up to 30% of contract duration)
- Complementary Training (CERN Management and Communication courses+ Other external training courses)
As part of the training objectives we organised extended visits of students, experts and scientists from Associated Partners and other collaborating institutes.
The researchers training plan foresaw two different phases: An initial familiarization phase (6 months) in which the CATHI researchers integrated their respective groups and carried out extensive training; followed by a project-driven phase where the knowledge and experience acquired previously are applied to more practical objectives like problem solving and optimisation. All of the CATHI fellows managed successfully, with the help of their supervisors, to organize their research projects into concrete work units and deliverables with appropriate budget, resource and clear time plan.
All but one Milestones (45 in total) and Deliverables (47 in total) were achieved. Deliverables and Milestones had to be slightly re-organised namely due to late start of the Design Study for the Intensity Upgrade and late recruitment of Experienced Researchers. In general, the Researchers made extensive use of the CATHI R&D and prototyping budget: this was the case for WP1, WP2, WP6, WP7 and WP8. WP2 also benefited from substantial in-kind support from Spanish Government.
As stipulated by the ITN requirements, the project organised regular technical meetings and an annual plenary meeting of Researchers, Supervisors and invited specialists from and outside the Network. During these meetings every single CATHI Fellow reported on the progress and outcome of their research.
Below is a list of the different dissemination activities carried out during this second period:
• Sponsorship of young researchers for attending EMIS2012 (2-7 Dec. 2012 in Riken, Japan). The technical progress presented at the conference by the CATHI Fellow were published in a special edition of Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B, Volume 317.
• Participation to the industrial exhibition at SRF2013 (23-27 Sep. 2013 in Paris, France) and sponsorship of 19 young researchers from around the world. The CATHI fellows involved in WP1 and WP5 (ER1, ESR1, ESR2 and ESR7) setup a dedicated booth were they exhibited the prototype cavity they had assembled and entertained the participants with a live measurement of the cavity frequency. They also prepared a poster and a video running on live describing the Marie-Curie Actions.
• Organisation of the Annual CATHI Technical Workshop held on 28-29 Nov. 2013. The workshop held at the Globe of Science at CERN was a success and attracted more than 50 participants outside of the Network.
• Co-organisation of the African School of Physics, Dakar Senegal, 11-21 Aug. 2014. The project sponsored the participation of 9 young African researchers. Nice to see CATHI getting a mention in the CERN Bulletin for being involved in the African School of Physics in Dakar. ESR16 Carla Babcock and ESR11Jacobo Montano were active participants as workshop leaders and speakers and also stepped in at the last minute to help as some speakers were unable to attend at the last minute.
• The following series of conferences where attended:
o IPAC by WP1, WP2, WP3 and WP5
o SRF by WP1
o LINAC by WP1, WP4 and WP5
o IBIC by WP2
o IWAA by WP4
o EMIS, EBIST and EURORIB by WP6, WP7 and WP8
More than 120 technical and scientific reports were edited and archived (this includes 47 deliverables, 40 milestones, journal articles, conference proceedings, project notes).
A Detailed Technical Design Report summarizing the developments within the CATHI project will be published in 2015 in the form of a CERN Yellow Report and accessible to all.
Conclusions
- There were no deviations from the original contract
- Slight re-adjustment of Deliverables and Milestones to account for the delay in the project
- Some secondment periods had to be re-scheduled (new partners, late recruitment, etc…)
- Given the difficulty in recruiting ER1, task was covered by CERN staff => ER1 re-oriented on
cavity tuning strategy and cryomodule test
- 3 ESRs enrolled on a PhD programme.
- Additional recruitment of 1 ESR was made possible
- The collaboration with the Associated Partners and entities outside of the Network was strengthened through the participation to the R&D activities and the hosting of the CATHI fellows during their secondment periods.
- The attached file "ITN-264330-CATHI-Researchers-Where-are-they-now.pdf" summarizes the employment situation of the researchers at the end of the Grant Agreement and is very encouraging, showing the positive impact of CATHI on the researchers and their career development.