Final Report Summary - IARC FELLOWS II (IARC International Fellowships Programme)
he objective of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is to promote international collaboration in cancer research. The Agency is inter-disciplinary, bringing together skills in epidemiology, laboratory sciences and biostatistics to identify the causes of cancer so that preventive measures may be adopted. A significant feature of the IARC is its expertise in coordinating research across countries and organizations. The Agency has a particular interest in conducting research in LMICs through partnerships and collaborations with researchers in these regions.
As a key component of its Education and Training statutory mission, the IARC Fellowship Programme was the first research programme to be set up in 1966 when the Agency was created and has been running successfully ever since. The aim of the Programme is to provide young postdoctoral scientists with training in aspects of cancer research, ranging from biostatistics and epidemiology to mechanisms of carcinogenesis and, ultimately, to assist the development of cancer research and prevention in all countries, with special emphasis on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). More than 600 Fellows have benefitted from the Programme in its nearly 50 years of existence. Additional information about the IARC Fellowship programme is available from the IARC Education and Training site: https://training.iarc.fr/education-and-training/.
In addition to the Fellows described above, the Agency hosts a number of postdoctoral scientists supported by project funds from scientific Groups. Postdoctoral Fellows may be extended by Groups at the end of their fellowship, for a maximal total duration of 5 years.
The award of this grant in 2013 from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions – People, Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND), which was directly following a similar grant awarded in 2010, has represented a major boost to the programme. The enhanced visibility of the Programme resulted in an increased interest from IARC’s Participating States, leading to the establishment of new bi-lateral fellowship programmes. All in all, this resulted in a significant rise in the number of postdoctoral scientists enrolled in the Programme, with 10 awards per year (including bilateral programmes) between 2011 and 2016 (i.e. awards within the first and second COFUND grants), compared with 5.2 per year in the five previous years. The Programme was reviewed during the 51st and the 54th Sessions of the IARC Scientific Council in January 2015 and 2018, which expressed approval and renewed support.
Within this grant period, three calls for applications were launched in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and widely disseminated through a variety of media. Applications were considered from candidates from any country having finished their doctoral degree (PhD) within 5 years of the closing date for application, or in the final phase of completing their doctoral degree. Applications from candidates from LMICs or applicants from any part of the world, but with projects related to LMICs, were encouraged. The fellowships were tenable in Lyon, France, for a period of 2 years, the extension for a second year being subject to satisfactory appraisal. Fellows were selected on the basis of scientific excellence by a Selection Committee composed of external scientists of international reputation in the field of cancer research, together with scientists working at IARC and representatives from WHO and from the Union for International Cancer Control.
Twenty-eight Fellows from 19 countries benefitted from the grant, corresponding to a total of around 52 Fellowship-Years. The award of less fellowships than initially anticipated (i.e. 33) was due to a decrease of the matching budget towards the end of the grant. In order to anticipate a possible reduction of budget for the programme and to ensure that the cost of fellowships awarded in 2016 (i.e. outside the scope of this project, but within the same timeline), would not negatively impact the amount available to match the funds under this grant (as paid 100% by IARC), an application was made for a new COFUND grant, under the call H2020-MSCA-COFUND-2015, for the period 2016–2021. IARC was unfortunately deemed ineligible for this call under the H2020 framework. In addition (1) six Fellows had to leave earlier than anticipated for professional or personal reasons, and (2) three of the Fellows awarded under the last 2015 call and still at IARC at the planned end of the grant, arrived after the 30 September 2016. Based on the above, a 6-month no-cost extension until March 2019 was requested and granted, allowing those Fellows whose contract started after 30 September 2016 to end their two-year fellowship within the timeline of the grant. This allowed the support of around 6 additional fellow/months, and a final deficit of approximately 164 fellow/months (or 20%).
On average for the three calls within this grant, more than half the awardees were women and about 64% of Fellows were from LMICs. Fellowships were awarded in the following areas of cancer research: mechanisms of carcinogenesis, nutrition and metabolism, cancer surveillance, genetics, infections, environment and radiation, early detection and prevention, with emphasis given to interdisciplinary projects. In terms of outcomes, a total of around 100 publications resulted from the Fellowships, over 50 being first author’s publications, and most of them being directly relevant to cancer control and prevention.
The Programme was further developed during the period of the grant, to include new activities to enhance career prospects of Fellows. The Postdoctoral Fellowship Charter introduced in 2011 as a set of tools to clarify respective roles and responsibilities for all postdoctoral scientists and IARC, as well as to describe the opportunities given, continued to be implemented. An evaluation of the Charter conducted in 2018 allowed the identification of areas for improvement which will be addressed in the near future. As part of the Charter and in addition to the wealth of scientific seminars and informal learning opportunities available at the Agency, the generic courses programme continued to be expanded, in close collaboration with the Human Resources Office and within the IARC Staff Learning and Development Framework launched in 2015. Courses offered through the programme aim at equipping early career scientists at IARC with essential cross-cutting skills (i.e. management, communication, ethics, etc.). In addition to internal courses, the grant also contributed to finance attendance at some external courses. Learning needs have been continuously collected through (1) the planning tool integrated in the Charter, (2) Fellows interviews, conducted a few months after the arrival of the Fellow, on a yearly basis (new feature since 2018), and upon departure, and (3) ongoing dialogue and joint assessments with the Early Career Scientists Association (ECSA). The Association created in 2013 groups all post-docs and students at IARC to promote opportunities for training, career development, social activities, and regular dialogue with IARC management. In 2018, and in close collaboration between the Education Training Group (ETR) and ECSA, new opportunities were developed for early career scientists, in particular postdoctoral scientists, to get advice and support on career development: a dedicated course (Professional and Career Development, listed above); an intranet site Career Prospect Portal providing a list of job offers maintained by ECSA, a selection of learning resources and tools to support reflection on own career/job search/job application/interview skills, a “job application clinic” piloted by ETR in 2019, consisting of individual meetings to provide feedback and guidance on job application. In addition, the needs and options for an IARC mentoring programme are currently being specified.
The vast majority of Fellows highlighted the quality of the environment provided and the relevance and usefulness of those complementary opportunities for career development. They reported having benefitted from a unique training experience in an international, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary research environment.
Among the 28 Fellows awarded through this grant, about one third have a permanent position and 42% are completing another postdoctoral stay, at IARC (7) or elsewhere (5). Around 80% of former Fellows are now working in the public sector in several countries. IARC Fellows coming from a wide range of countries and the obligation for Fellows to return to their home countries having been waived in 2015, favoured trans-national mobility and contributed to enhancing the career prospects of bright researchers from all regions of the World, including from Europe. About three quarters of Fellows are still active in cancer research, with about a quarter managing their own group. A good majority of Fellows continue to work with IARC at the end of their fellowship. Fellows report they could apply either totally (68%) or partially (24%) what they learned at IARC to their research when they went back to their home institute or in their new position. A quarter of Fellows received grant funding directly related to or thanks to the research carried out at IARC.
The majority of Fellows from LMICs who benefited from a Return Grant (modest seed grant to help the Fellow start up an independent research programme linked to IARC activities upon return to his/her home country), indicate that their career benefited much from the opportunity (promotion, new position).
More than 95% of Fellows considered the Fellowship to be either decisive or helpful for their career. The areas of their fellowship training and experience that had the most impact on their career were the multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural scientific environment, the opportunities for international collaborations, and their collaborators (inside and outside of IARC). The reputation of IARC, as a research institution part of the World Health Organization and offering a global perspective on cancer research, was also underlined as a positive aspect of the Fellowship environment.
See testimonial from Sankhadeep Dutta Senior Scientific Officer, Grade II Department of Oncogene Regulation Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute 37 S. P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700 026, India https://training.iarc.fr/fellowship-testimonials/testimonial-quotes-fellows/
These results further confirm the previously documented outcomes of the IARC Fellowship Programme[1] as a unique opportunity for early career cancer researchers to develop complementary skills in preparation for a high-level scientific career, contributing to the production of evidence that may lead to the adoption of cancer prevention and control measures.
IARC has been actively seeking for alternative funding to maintain the Fellowship Programme at its current level and even expand it, so that it can continue to contribute to the development of cancer research training facilities and capacities worldwide.
[1]: Montesano R1, Akroud EE International Agency for Research on Cancer fellowships programme-over 30 years of experience. Carcinogenesis. 1999 Nov;20(11):2041-4
As a key component of its Education and Training statutory mission, the IARC Fellowship Programme was the first research programme to be set up in 1966 when the Agency was created and has been running successfully ever since. The aim of the Programme is to provide young postdoctoral scientists with training in aspects of cancer research, ranging from biostatistics and epidemiology to mechanisms of carcinogenesis and, ultimately, to assist the development of cancer research and prevention in all countries, with special emphasis on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). More than 600 Fellows have benefitted from the Programme in its nearly 50 years of existence. Additional information about the IARC Fellowship programme is available from the IARC Education and Training site: https://training.iarc.fr/education-and-training/.
In addition to the Fellows described above, the Agency hosts a number of postdoctoral scientists supported by project funds from scientific Groups. Postdoctoral Fellows may be extended by Groups at the end of their fellowship, for a maximal total duration of 5 years.
The award of this grant in 2013 from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions – People, Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND), which was directly following a similar grant awarded in 2010, has represented a major boost to the programme. The enhanced visibility of the Programme resulted in an increased interest from IARC’s Participating States, leading to the establishment of new bi-lateral fellowship programmes. All in all, this resulted in a significant rise in the number of postdoctoral scientists enrolled in the Programme, with 10 awards per year (including bilateral programmes) between 2011 and 2016 (i.e. awards within the first and second COFUND grants), compared with 5.2 per year in the five previous years. The Programme was reviewed during the 51st and the 54th Sessions of the IARC Scientific Council in January 2015 and 2018, which expressed approval and renewed support.
Within this grant period, three calls for applications were launched in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and widely disseminated through a variety of media. Applications were considered from candidates from any country having finished their doctoral degree (PhD) within 5 years of the closing date for application, or in the final phase of completing their doctoral degree. Applications from candidates from LMICs or applicants from any part of the world, but with projects related to LMICs, were encouraged. The fellowships were tenable in Lyon, France, for a period of 2 years, the extension for a second year being subject to satisfactory appraisal. Fellows were selected on the basis of scientific excellence by a Selection Committee composed of external scientists of international reputation in the field of cancer research, together with scientists working at IARC and representatives from WHO and from the Union for International Cancer Control.
Twenty-eight Fellows from 19 countries benefitted from the grant, corresponding to a total of around 52 Fellowship-Years. The award of less fellowships than initially anticipated (i.e. 33) was due to a decrease of the matching budget towards the end of the grant. In order to anticipate a possible reduction of budget for the programme and to ensure that the cost of fellowships awarded in 2016 (i.e. outside the scope of this project, but within the same timeline), would not negatively impact the amount available to match the funds under this grant (as paid 100% by IARC), an application was made for a new COFUND grant, under the call H2020-MSCA-COFUND-2015, for the period 2016–2021. IARC was unfortunately deemed ineligible for this call under the H2020 framework. In addition (1) six Fellows had to leave earlier than anticipated for professional or personal reasons, and (2) three of the Fellows awarded under the last 2015 call and still at IARC at the planned end of the grant, arrived after the 30 September 2016. Based on the above, a 6-month no-cost extension until March 2019 was requested and granted, allowing those Fellows whose contract started after 30 September 2016 to end their two-year fellowship within the timeline of the grant. This allowed the support of around 6 additional fellow/months, and a final deficit of approximately 164 fellow/months (or 20%).
On average for the three calls within this grant, more than half the awardees were women and about 64% of Fellows were from LMICs. Fellowships were awarded in the following areas of cancer research: mechanisms of carcinogenesis, nutrition and metabolism, cancer surveillance, genetics, infections, environment and radiation, early detection and prevention, with emphasis given to interdisciplinary projects. In terms of outcomes, a total of around 100 publications resulted from the Fellowships, over 50 being first author’s publications, and most of them being directly relevant to cancer control and prevention.
The Programme was further developed during the period of the grant, to include new activities to enhance career prospects of Fellows. The Postdoctoral Fellowship Charter introduced in 2011 as a set of tools to clarify respective roles and responsibilities for all postdoctoral scientists and IARC, as well as to describe the opportunities given, continued to be implemented. An evaluation of the Charter conducted in 2018 allowed the identification of areas for improvement which will be addressed in the near future. As part of the Charter and in addition to the wealth of scientific seminars and informal learning opportunities available at the Agency, the generic courses programme continued to be expanded, in close collaboration with the Human Resources Office and within the IARC Staff Learning and Development Framework launched in 2015. Courses offered through the programme aim at equipping early career scientists at IARC with essential cross-cutting skills (i.e. management, communication, ethics, etc.). In addition to internal courses, the grant also contributed to finance attendance at some external courses. Learning needs have been continuously collected through (1) the planning tool integrated in the Charter, (2) Fellows interviews, conducted a few months after the arrival of the Fellow, on a yearly basis (new feature since 2018), and upon departure, and (3) ongoing dialogue and joint assessments with the Early Career Scientists Association (ECSA). The Association created in 2013 groups all post-docs and students at IARC to promote opportunities for training, career development, social activities, and regular dialogue with IARC management. In 2018, and in close collaboration between the Education Training Group (ETR) and ECSA, new opportunities were developed for early career scientists, in particular postdoctoral scientists, to get advice and support on career development: a dedicated course (Professional and Career Development, listed above); an intranet site Career Prospect Portal providing a list of job offers maintained by ECSA, a selection of learning resources and tools to support reflection on own career/job search/job application/interview skills, a “job application clinic” piloted by ETR in 2019, consisting of individual meetings to provide feedback and guidance on job application. In addition, the needs and options for an IARC mentoring programme are currently being specified.
The vast majority of Fellows highlighted the quality of the environment provided and the relevance and usefulness of those complementary opportunities for career development. They reported having benefitted from a unique training experience in an international, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary research environment.
Among the 28 Fellows awarded through this grant, about one third have a permanent position and 42% are completing another postdoctoral stay, at IARC (7) or elsewhere (5). Around 80% of former Fellows are now working in the public sector in several countries. IARC Fellows coming from a wide range of countries and the obligation for Fellows to return to their home countries having been waived in 2015, favoured trans-national mobility and contributed to enhancing the career prospects of bright researchers from all regions of the World, including from Europe. About three quarters of Fellows are still active in cancer research, with about a quarter managing their own group. A good majority of Fellows continue to work with IARC at the end of their fellowship. Fellows report they could apply either totally (68%) or partially (24%) what they learned at IARC to their research when they went back to their home institute or in their new position. A quarter of Fellows received grant funding directly related to or thanks to the research carried out at IARC.
The majority of Fellows from LMICs who benefited from a Return Grant (modest seed grant to help the Fellow start up an independent research programme linked to IARC activities upon return to his/her home country), indicate that their career benefited much from the opportunity (promotion, new position).
More than 95% of Fellows considered the Fellowship to be either decisive or helpful for their career. The areas of their fellowship training and experience that had the most impact on their career were the multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural scientific environment, the opportunities for international collaborations, and their collaborators (inside and outside of IARC). The reputation of IARC, as a research institution part of the World Health Organization and offering a global perspective on cancer research, was also underlined as a positive aspect of the Fellowship environment.
See testimonial from Sankhadeep Dutta Senior Scientific Officer, Grade II Department of Oncogene Regulation Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute 37 S. P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700 026, India https://training.iarc.fr/fellowship-testimonials/testimonial-quotes-fellows/
These results further confirm the previously documented outcomes of the IARC Fellowship Programme[1] as a unique opportunity for early career cancer researchers to develop complementary skills in preparation for a high-level scientific career, contributing to the production of evidence that may lead to the adoption of cancer prevention and control measures.
IARC has been actively seeking for alternative funding to maintain the Fellowship Programme at its current level and even expand it, so that it can continue to contribute to the development of cancer research training facilities and capacities worldwide.
[1]: Montesano R1, Akroud EE International Agency for Research on Cancer fellowships programme-over 30 years of experience. Carcinogenesis. 1999 Nov;20(11):2041-4