Final Report Summary - IDP BRIDGES (IDP Bridging Plant Science and Policy)
IDP BRIDGES is an Innovative Doctoral Programme (IDP) supporting 14 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the field of Plant Sciences funded by the SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME (FP7) Marie Curie Actions – People, Initial Training Networks (ITN): PITN-GA-2013-608422- IDP BRIDGES. IDP BRIDGES has expanded a national doctoral programme in Science and Policy towards a significant European dimension: The cohort of 14 international incoming ESR from 8 nations (5 European, 3 non-European) was highly international and gender balanced (8 female, 6 male). After two calls, ESRs were selected from a pool of 432 applicants through the open and transparent recruitment process. IDP BRIDGES is centrally managed by the Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center (PSC), a JOINT RESEARCH UNIT of three Swiss universities, the University of Zurich, the University of Basel and the ETH Zurich. The uniqueness of IDP BRIDGES is that it was aiming at the increasing expectation that life scientists become self-reflective about the science-society-policy interface and its relations to their research early in their career. Early-stage scientists learnt in the programme through formal training and mentoring about their role and how to integrate science in the policy making process through social valorisation of science.
The novel training scheme in IDP BRIGES with two transition phases enabled ESRs to generate policy impact in their research projects, empowering them to become independent researchers, taking responsibility at an early stage for the scope, direction and progress of their projects. All ESRs were jointly supervised (Tandem PhD) by at least two supervisors based in at least two different organizations, one from the plant sciences and one from an organization at the interface of science-policy or science and innovation (=Associated Partners, APs), respectively. TRANSITION 1: The ESRs participated in the European unique PhD Program Science and Policy (12 ECTS) and had access to network-wide Policy Training for understanding the processes of generating policy relevance and policy impact in plant sciences. TRANSITION 2: Tandem supervision of the ESRs in the organizations of the APs s facilitated the transfer of research results in policy outcomes that were defined together with the policy organizations. Targeted secondments at the AP further broadened the scope of the PhDs, allowing students to experience a policy environment. Integrated mentoring schemes facilitated the ESRs development.
IDP BRIDGES combined three major pillars
IDP BRIDGES ESRs conducted groundbreaking research covering two thematic areas “Maintaining plant production for food through the advanced use of technologies” and “Ensuring sustainable land use and environmental protection” within research environments in plant sciences at the three world-leading universities (ETH, ranked 19th; UZH, 58th; UNIBAS, 95th, based on the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017). They have been able to access state of the art knowledge and facilities by working on technical and social innovations and solutions tackling eminent global challenges.
Second, IDP BRIDGES ESRs were co-supervised by representatives of the APs. The collaborating 15 APs were based in 6 EU Member States and 7 Third Countries and were from sectors such as industry (1), non-profit organizations (2), academia (6), governmental organizations (5) and national associations (1)). ESRs were able to experience hands-on training through secondments to their Associated Partners (APs). As part of their project, 11 out of 14 ESR completed a 1 to 8 month secondment. All collaborators are extremely strong in their own right, and promoting a high level of interaction and transnational mobility. Mobility for ESRs was increased by the integration of 3 new APs depending project and ESR needs.
Third, all IDP BRIDGES ESRs completed the structured and certified PhD Program Science and Policy (12 ECTS). They attended a diverse training programme in policy-work and policy-implementation as well as technical and transferrable skills carried out by +25 national and international lecturers and experts. In total, ESRs attended 15 science and policy training workshops and 1 summer school aiming at the transfer of skills to improve the effectiveness of the future generation of plant scientists in responding to emerging political and societal topics. Throughout these workshops, ESRs got hands-on experience on processes and related skills at the science-policy interface. For example, (1) Understanding the policy cycle (2) Recognition of the importance of policy making to research and the importance of research to policy making (3) Communication of scientific and policy-relevant findings in a format accessible by policy-makers, the public or the media (4) Engaging dialogue with stakeholders; and (5) Production of research that can add to evidence-based policies and an improved uptake of sciences by policy-implementers. From the 15 science and policy training workshops offered, 14 courses were highly appreciated by the participants. 80 to 100% of these participants would recommend these courses to others. One ESR who already started a job stated the following: “... as part of my new job ... I have appreciated much of the knowledge I developed over the duration of the fellowship, .... The stakeholder engagement and science-policy training were also useful given that I am now engaging on public policy topics and participating in stakeholder engagement.” Moreover, all ESRs attended +30 courses, seminars, summer schools combining training in technical and complementary skills in addition to the science and policy training workshops, some of these organized also as IDP-wide trainings.
Results and Achievements during IPD BRIDGES
Research excellence (OBJECTIVE 1) by M48, 12 out of 14 IDP BRIDGES projects have fully completed their research milestones for M1- M48 as laid out in Annex I, B4.2. Moreover, 7 ESRs have defended their PhD thesis by the end of 2017.
18 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published and there are more to come. The patent on “MOBILISATION OF TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS TO ENHANCE GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC VARIABILITY IN A POPULATION” was published in M46 (ESR 7), resulting in the recently launched the spin-off company Epibreed AG (by AP Etienne Bucher) as well as in the award of the renowned ERC Consolidator grant BUNGEE: Directed crop breeding using jumping genes (Project # 725701). Moreover, a quantitative non-invasive high-throughput phenotyping protocol to investigate early stress responses to salinity in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been established in collaboration with Photon Systems Instruments (PSI). This newly developed protocol can now be integrated into PSI phenomic applications, creating a marketing product which is unique.
Throughout their PhD projects, all ESRs, PIs as well as APs were constantly diminishing barriers and establishing networks between ESRs and stakeholders in the policy-implementing process (OBJECTIVE 2) by establishing a network of +56 contacts to international experts in both fields, science and policy. In this early stage of their career, ESRs were able to access large international and inter-sectorial networks at the science-policy interface and exploit their research outcomes in terms of policy relevance and policy impact.
Moreover, IDP BRIDGES and ESRs are engaged in and generated impact at the science-policy interface (OBJECTIVE 3). For example, by developing adapted management strategies based on an improved understanding of interacting effects of seasonal drought events and species phenological stages on fodder production and fodder quality in Swiss grasslands. This is highly relevant for making future fodder production more sustainable in respect of climate change (ESR4). We observed an increasing interest of plant scientists in exploiting the results of research for the benefits of sustainable development, and in interacting with non-academic users of research aiming at scientific innovation and their exploitation (see objective 1). For example, scientific results are transferred into successful innovations such as transgenic cassava resistant to viral diseases (ESR2) or by the development of a high-throughput phenotyping protocol for revealing the importance of sugars for plant performance in collaboration with industry (ESR 5).
Through joint supervisions of PhD projects, targeted secondments (OBJECTIVE 3) and sufficient mentoring schemes (OBJECTIVE 4), ESRs had the opportunity to implement policy work into their research and were exposed to several employment sectors at the interface of science-policy and science-innovation. This advanced higher education and career chances of young plant scientists. Feedback from joint supervision and secondments was that their secondment ”... represent a great opportunity to directly experience a working environment besides academia and to have contacts with people who have moved from academia to the industry.” (ESR 5). It “... enabled them to get insight into new organisations, improve networks, and get to know new technologies ...” (ESR5, 6). Moreover, they could “... improve skill such as data analysis and new collaboration, for example to jointly produce and process scientific articles ...” (ESR6, 8). They received support to translate scientific results into outcomes at the science-policy or science-innovation interface (ESR 5). This experience provided “... valuable insight to cultures, organisational systems, and language, which will be precious in future careers.” (ESR 1). By a Delphi study, which was conducted to evaluate success factors and barriers of secondments for fellowships within the PhD program “Bridging Plant Science & Policy”, the opportunity to practice science-policy dialogue was named as one of the most important outcomes of the secondment. Moreover, the support in transferring analytical skills to real-world problems and complementarity of expertise was ranked as one of the most important inputs of the PSC internship.
IDP BRIDGES trained the ESRs with skills needed at the science-innovation interface by access to targeted mentoring with IDP BRIDGES Angels (OBJECTIVE 5): Starting a company based on research offered by Gunter Festel (Festel Capital) / Woman in Science offered by Hilde Janssens and Gerlinde Wallon / Green business offered by Philipp Winteler (venturelab). Moreover, ESRs were exposed to further employment sectors by industry visits (e.g. KWS Saat AG, DE, ESR 1, 6), a secondment with an industry partner (AP, ESR 5) or by attending career mentoring courses (e.g. Careers in science and policy, or both?, ESR 1, 2).
For more information, visit: www.plantsciences.uzh.ch/en/research/fellowships/idpbridges.html General contact address: idpbridges@ethz.ch
The novel training scheme in IDP BRIGES with two transition phases enabled ESRs to generate policy impact in their research projects, empowering them to become independent researchers, taking responsibility at an early stage for the scope, direction and progress of their projects. All ESRs were jointly supervised (Tandem PhD) by at least two supervisors based in at least two different organizations, one from the plant sciences and one from an organization at the interface of science-policy or science and innovation (=Associated Partners, APs), respectively. TRANSITION 1: The ESRs participated in the European unique PhD Program Science and Policy (12 ECTS) and had access to network-wide Policy Training for understanding the processes of generating policy relevance and policy impact in plant sciences. TRANSITION 2: Tandem supervision of the ESRs in the organizations of the APs s facilitated the transfer of research results in policy outcomes that were defined together with the policy organizations. Targeted secondments at the AP further broadened the scope of the PhDs, allowing students to experience a policy environment. Integrated mentoring schemes facilitated the ESRs development.
IDP BRIDGES combined three major pillars
IDP BRIDGES ESRs conducted groundbreaking research covering two thematic areas “Maintaining plant production for food through the advanced use of technologies” and “Ensuring sustainable land use and environmental protection” within research environments in plant sciences at the three world-leading universities (ETH, ranked 19th; UZH, 58th; UNIBAS, 95th, based on the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017). They have been able to access state of the art knowledge and facilities by working on technical and social innovations and solutions tackling eminent global challenges.
Second, IDP BRIDGES ESRs were co-supervised by representatives of the APs. The collaborating 15 APs were based in 6 EU Member States and 7 Third Countries and were from sectors such as industry (1), non-profit organizations (2), academia (6), governmental organizations (5) and national associations (1)). ESRs were able to experience hands-on training through secondments to their Associated Partners (APs). As part of their project, 11 out of 14 ESR completed a 1 to 8 month secondment. All collaborators are extremely strong in their own right, and promoting a high level of interaction and transnational mobility. Mobility for ESRs was increased by the integration of 3 new APs depending project and ESR needs.
Third, all IDP BRIDGES ESRs completed the structured and certified PhD Program Science and Policy (12 ECTS). They attended a diverse training programme in policy-work and policy-implementation as well as technical and transferrable skills carried out by +25 national and international lecturers and experts. In total, ESRs attended 15 science and policy training workshops and 1 summer school aiming at the transfer of skills to improve the effectiveness of the future generation of plant scientists in responding to emerging political and societal topics. Throughout these workshops, ESRs got hands-on experience on processes and related skills at the science-policy interface. For example, (1) Understanding the policy cycle (2) Recognition of the importance of policy making to research and the importance of research to policy making (3) Communication of scientific and policy-relevant findings in a format accessible by policy-makers, the public or the media (4) Engaging dialogue with stakeholders; and (5) Production of research that can add to evidence-based policies and an improved uptake of sciences by policy-implementers. From the 15 science and policy training workshops offered, 14 courses were highly appreciated by the participants. 80 to 100% of these participants would recommend these courses to others. One ESR who already started a job stated the following: “... as part of my new job ... I have appreciated much of the knowledge I developed over the duration of the fellowship, .... The stakeholder engagement and science-policy training were also useful given that I am now engaging on public policy topics and participating in stakeholder engagement.” Moreover, all ESRs attended +30 courses, seminars, summer schools combining training in technical and complementary skills in addition to the science and policy training workshops, some of these organized also as IDP-wide trainings.
Results and Achievements during IPD BRIDGES
Research excellence (OBJECTIVE 1) by M48, 12 out of 14 IDP BRIDGES projects have fully completed their research milestones for M1- M48 as laid out in Annex I, B4.2. Moreover, 7 ESRs have defended their PhD thesis by the end of 2017.
18 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published and there are more to come. The patent on “MOBILISATION OF TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS TO ENHANCE GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC VARIABILITY IN A POPULATION” was published in M46 (ESR 7), resulting in the recently launched the spin-off company Epibreed AG (by AP Etienne Bucher) as well as in the award of the renowned ERC Consolidator grant BUNGEE: Directed crop breeding using jumping genes (Project # 725701). Moreover, a quantitative non-invasive high-throughput phenotyping protocol to investigate early stress responses to salinity in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been established in collaboration with Photon Systems Instruments (PSI). This newly developed protocol can now be integrated into PSI phenomic applications, creating a marketing product which is unique.
Throughout their PhD projects, all ESRs, PIs as well as APs were constantly diminishing barriers and establishing networks between ESRs and stakeholders in the policy-implementing process (OBJECTIVE 2) by establishing a network of +56 contacts to international experts in both fields, science and policy. In this early stage of their career, ESRs were able to access large international and inter-sectorial networks at the science-policy interface and exploit their research outcomes in terms of policy relevance and policy impact.
Moreover, IDP BRIDGES and ESRs are engaged in and generated impact at the science-policy interface (OBJECTIVE 3). For example, by developing adapted management strategies based on an improved understanding of interacting effects of seasonal drought events and species phenological stages on fodder production and fodder quality in Swiss grasslands. This is highly relevant for making future fodder production more sustainable in respect of climate change (ESR4). We observed an increasing interest of plant scientists in exploiting the results of research for the benefits of sustainable development, and in interacting with non-academic users of research aiming at scientific innovation and their exploitation (see objective 1). For example, scientific results are transferred into successful innovations such as transgenic cassava resistant to viral diseases (ESR2) or by the development of a high-throughput phenotyping protocol for revealing the importance of sugars for plant performance in collaboration with industry (ESR 5).
Through joint supervisions of PhD projects, targeted secondments (OBJECTIVE 3) and sufficient mentoring schemes (OBJECTIVE 4), ESRs had the opportunity to implement policy work into their research and were exposed to several employment sectors at the interface of science-policy and science-innovation. This advanced higher education and career chances of young plant scientists. Feedback from joint supervision and secondments was that their secondment ”... represent a great opportunity to directly experience a working environment besides academia and to have contacts with people who have moved from academia to the industry.” (ESR 5). It “... enabled them to get insight into new organisations, improve networks, and get to know new technologies ...” (ESR5, 6). Moreover, they could “... improve skill such as data analysis and new collaboration, for example to jointly produce and process scientific articles ...” (ESR6, 8). They received support to translate scientific results into outcomes at the science-policy or science-innovation interface (ESR 5). This experience provided “... valuable insight to cultures, organisational systems, and language, which will be precious in future careers.” (ESR 1). By a Delphi study, which was conducted to evaluate success factors and barriers of secondments for fellowships within the PhD program “Bridging Plant Science & Policy”, the opportunity to practice science-policy dialogue was named as one of the most important outcomes of the secondment. Moreover, the support in transferring analytical skills to real-world problems and complementarity of expertise was ranked as one of the most important inputs of the PSC internship.
IDP BRIDGES trained the ESRs with skills needed at the science-innovation interface by access to targeted mentoring with IDP BRIDGES Angels (OBJECTIVE 5): Starting a company based on research offered by Gunter Festel (Festel Capital) / Woman in Science offered by Hilde Janssens and Gerlinde Wallon / Green business offered by Philipp Winteler (venturelab). Moreover, ESRs were exposed to further employment sectors by industry visits (e.g. KWS Saat AG, DE, ESR 1, 6), a secondment with an industry partner (AP, ESR 5) or by attending career mentoring courses (e.g. Careers in science and policy, or both?, ESR 1, 2).
For more information, visit: www.plantsciences.uzh.ch/en/research/fellowships/idpbridges.html General contact address: idpbridges@ethz.ch