Final Report Summary - FAME (Functionalised advanced materials engineering of hybrids and ceramics)
The main objective of the FAME project was the creation of a permanent European Multifunctional Materials Institute (EMMI), which will continue the work of FAME, and provide a permanent research infrastructure for multifunctional materials research in Europe.
Hybrid materials consist of organic and inorganic components, and have new or enhanced properties for applications in chemistry, biology, electronics and other areas. FAME aimed to combine this new field with ceramic materials research, in order to find new materials and generate technological breakthroughs.
The project was structured into 15 work packages (WPs), as follows:
- WP1: Implementation of virtual institute EMMI
- WP2A: Website and intranet
- WP2B: Training and fellow programme
- WP2C: Large-scale facilities (external); medium-scale facilities (internal)
- WP3: Research prioritisation and structure
- WP4: Biomedical use of hybrids
- WP5: New architectures for passive electronics
- WP6: Hybrids for optics and sensing
- WP7: Next generation multifunctional ceramics
- WP8: Theory and modelling
- WP9: Education (European Masters)
- WP10: Training and research with third parties
- WP11: Science policy and research strategy
- WP12: Intellectual property rights plan
- WP13: Gender action plan
- WP14: Public participation and awareness plan
- WP15: Management and coordination.
During the fourth year, FAME achieved its main objective, the creation of EMMI. Twelve FAME partners became full members of EMMI, while the three others prefer to be associated trough a cooperation agreement with EMMI. This agreement has been signed by all partners. The operational structure of EMMI is defined in two documents:
- the statutes, which cover the basic structure, and have to be approved by the Belgian government; and
- the internal regulation, which can be defined by the EMMI governing board itself.
The internal regulation cover also the most important legal aspect of EMMI's work: carrying out joint research projects, for which a contract template is annexed; and rules governing co-owned intellectual property rights (IPRs). The first meeting of the EMMI governing board was held in October 2008 in Munich. The governing board approved the internal regulation, and created a research committee, an educational committee, and an industry support group. The latter consist of members of the industry companies Bosch, Merck and Rhodia. These three companies were also the first adherent members admitted to EMMI by the board. Some more industry companies are expected to join soon. The industry support group will become the core of the EMMI advisory board, and will help EMMI to formulate a research road map.
FAME had a public website at http://www.famenoe.org which had a blog-like character, with the underlying idea that all FAME researchers contribute by supplying articles on their research, job offers, other news and events. In addition, some pages were added to give introductory information of FAME and EMMI. Similarly, the design of the FAME intranet has strong emphasis on interactivity, with modules for forums, chats, polls, documents, etc. Also, here, the hope was that the researchers would populate the site with their contributions, for example scientific discussions via online forums. Unfortunately, the number of contributions remained very low on both sites; most of the articles were supplied by the FAME management.
As a consequence, the EMMI website (please see http://www.emmi-materials.eu online) was designed very differently and with a more professional 'look', in the style of a conventional news site, with general information for first-time external visitors, news and events for EMMI researchers and externals, and an internal section accessible only with login to EMMI members. The FAME databases 'Research equipment and tools' and 'People and skills' were migrated to the new website, and new databases on EMMI projects and member laboratories were added. A section for internal documents was also implemented.
The fellowship programme was created to support longer visits (one week or more) between FAME laboratories and to training schools. To this purpose, a part of the annual budget was set aside as 'competitive money', and paid as a lump sum fellowship to successful applicants. For handling of the applications, a dedicated website and online database was created by the Barcelona web team. In total, 167 exchange visits spanning over 774 weeks were financed. Additionally, several hundred attendances to FAME training schools were financially supported. The schools also received direct subventions through the fellowship budget. These types of exchanges and schools have proven very successful in terms of integration and research results.
FAME also supported a large number of concrete research projects, which were grouped into five research work packages:
- biomedical use of hybrids
- new architectures for passive electronics;
- hybrids for optics and sensing;
- next generation multifunctional ceramics;
- theory and modelling.
Each work package was divided into several sub-tasks and smaller collaborative research projects, and many of these have been extremely successful both in their research output and in terms of creating strong links between FAME laboratories, which is a pre-requisite for durable integration of the network. Several new European research projects were created as direct spin-offs of FAME, and 17 PhD theses with international co-supervision were initiated. In total, 144 collaborative publications were produced, and two patent applications have been filed.
Industrial interest was moderate in the beginning, but several major industrial groups active in the field of multifunctional materials have developed continuous interest in durable cooperation and have already become associated members in FAME's successor organization, EMMI. With the advent and long-term perspective of EMMI, industrial interest has intensified considerably, also certainly due to several dedicated industrial workshops that have been held in the last two years.
FAME organised several training schools during its four years. The flagship school was the 'FAME Hybrids Summer School', which was held four times in various locations. In-depth classes on various aspects of hybrids materials research were combined with work meetings and social activities. It was attended each time by 70 to 80 young researchers, and many senior scientists who gave lectures. The 'European School on Multiferroics' was organised twice since 2007, organised by FAME members from Barcelona and Grenoble. FAME members were also involved in the training school 'Abinit' which teaches basics and use of the simulation software package with the same name. In addition, several work packages organised smaller schools and workshops, for example the 'Inorganic Functional Materials School' held in July 2008 in Portugal.
A major success of FAME was the creation of a full two-years European Masters course in multifunctional materials, hosted by seven FAME partner universities in four countries. Due to the different systems of higher education between the four countries, the organisation of this international course required an enormous amount of dedication and patience from the participants, and the achievement can hardly be overstated. The programme received a boost through a successful application in the Erasmus Mundus programme, which supports in particular students from non-European countries with a stipend.
The European Commission supported FAME with a budget of EUR 5 million. From year 2, the FAME budget was divided into base budgets for each laboratory, and special budgets for fellowship grants, five integration post-docs and the Masters programme. The budget was practically fully used at the end of the contract.
Hybrid materials consist of organic and inorganic components, and have new or enhanced properties for applications in chemistry, biology, electronics and other areas. FAME aimed to combine this new field with ceramic materials research, in order to find new materials and generate technological breakthroughs.
The project was structured into 15 work packages (WPs), as follows:
- WP1: Implementation of virtual institute EMMI
- WP2A: Website and intranet
- WP2B: Training and fellow programme
- WP2C: Large-scale facilities (external); medium-scale facilities (internal)
- WP3: Research prioritisation and structure
- WP4: Biomedical use of hybrids
- WP5: New architectures for passive electronics
- WP6: Hybrids for optics and sensing
- WP7: Next generation multifunctional ceramics
- WP8: Theory and modelling
- WP9: Education (European Masters)
- WP10: Training and research with third parties
- WP11: Science policy and research strategy
- WP12: Intellectual property rights plan
- WP13: Gender action plan
- WP14: Public participation and awareness plan
- WP15: Management and coordination.
During the fourth year, FAME achieved its main objective, the creation of EMMI. Twelve FAME partners became full members of EMMI, while the three others prefer to be associated trough a cooperation agreement with EMMI. This agreement has been signed by all partners. The operational structure of EMMI is defined in two documents:
- the statutes, which cover the basic structure, and have to be approved by the Belgian government; and
- the internal regulation, which can be defined by the EMMI governing board itself.
The internal regulation cover also the most important legal aspect of EMMI's work: carrying out joint research projects, for which a contract template is annexed; and rules governing co-owned intellectual property rights (IPRs). The first meeting of the EMMI governing board was held in October 2008 in Munich. The governing board approved the internal regulation, and created a research committee, an educational committee, and an industry support group. The latter consist of members of the industry companies Bosch, Merck and Rhodia. These three companies were also the first adherent members admitted to EMMI by the board. Some more industry companies are expected to join soon. The industry support group will become the core of the EMMI advisory board, and will help EMMI to formulate a research road map.
FAME had a public website at http://www.famenoe.org which had a blog-like character, with the underlying idea that all FAME researchers contribute by supplying articles on their research, job offers, other news and events. In addition, some pages were added to give introductory information of FAME and EMMI. Similarly, the design of the FAME intranet has strong emphasis on interactivity, with modules for forums, chats, polls, documents, etc. Also, here, the hope was that the researchers would populate the site with their contributions, for example scientific discussions via online forums. Unfortunately, the number of contributions remained very low on both sites; most of the articles were supplied by the FAME management.
As a consequence, the EMMI website (please see http://www.emmi-materials.eu online) was designed very differently and with a more professional 'look', in the style of a conventional news site, with general information for first-time external visitors, news and events for EMMI researchers and externals, and an internal section accessible only with login to EMMI members. The FAME databases 'Research equipment and tools' and 'People and skills' were migrated to the new website, and new databases on EMMI projects and member laboratories were added. A section for internal documents was also implemented.
The fellowship programme was created to support longer visits (one week or more) between FAME laboratories and to training schools. To this purpose, a part of the annual budget was set aside as 'competitive money', and paid as a lump sum fellowship to successful applicants. For handling of the applications, a dedicated website and online database was created by the Barcelona web team. In total, 167 exchange visits spanning over 774 weeks were financed. Additionally, several hundred attendances to FAME training schools were financially supported. The schools also received direct subventions through the fellowship budget. These types of exchanges and schools have proven very successful in terms of integration and research results.
FAME also supported a large number of concrete research projects, which were grouped into five research work packages:
- biomedical use of hybrids
- new architectures for passive electronics;
- hybrids for optics and sensing;
- next generation multifunctional ceramics;
- theory and modelling.
Each work package was divided into several sub-tasks and smaller collaborative research projects, and many of these have been extremely successful both in their research output and in terms of creating strong links between FAME laboratories, which is a pre-requisite for durable integration of the network. Several new European research projects were created as direct spin-offs of FAME, and 17 PhD theses with international co-supervision were initiated. In total, 144 collaborative publications were produced, and two patent applications have been filed.
Industrial interest was moderate in the beginning, but several major industrial groups active in the field of multifunctional materials have developed continuous interest in durable cooperation and have already become associated members in FAME's successor organization, EMMI. With the advent and long-term perspective of EMMI, industrial interest has intensified considerably, also certainly due to several dedicated industrial workshops that have been held in the last two years.
FAME organised several training schools during its four years. The flagship school was the 'FAME Hybrids Summer School', which was held four times in various locations. In-depth classes on various aspects of hybrids materials research were combined with work meetings and social activities. It was attended each time by 70 to 80 young researchers, and many senior scientists who gave lectures. The 'European School on Multiferroics' was organised twice since 2007, organised by FAME members from Barcelona and Grenoble. FAME members were also involved in the training school 'Abinit' which teaches basics and use of the simulation software package with the same name. In addition, several work packages organised smaller schools and workshops, for example the 'Inorganic Functional Materials School' held in July 2008 in Portugal.
A major success of FAME was the creation of a full two-years European Masters course in multifunctional materials, hosted by seven FAME partner universities in four countries. Due to the different systems of higher education between the four countries, the organisation of this international course required an enormous amount of dedication and patience from the participants, and the achievement can hardly be overstated. The programme received a boost through a successful application in the Erasmus Mundus programme, which supports in particular students from non-European countries with a stipend.
The European Commission supported FAME with a budget of EUR 5 million. From year 2, the FAME budget was divided into base budgets for each laboratory, and special budgets for fellowship grants, five integration post-docs and the Masters programme. The budget was practically fully used at the end of the contract.