Final Report Summary - AGREENSKILLSPLUS (AgreenSkills+)
The COFUND AgreenSkills+ programme (5 May 2014 - 4 May 2019) was an international postdoctoral mobility programme designed to support inventive, promising postdoctoral young researchers with up to 10 years postdoctoral experience who wished to carry out challenging basic or targeted research projects in the fields of agriculture, food technology, nutrition and environmental sciences.
AgreenSkills+ was coordinated by INRA (http://www.inra.fr/) the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in collaboration with its consortium partner, Agreenium-IAVFF (https://www.agreenium.fr/) the French Agricultural, Veterinary and Forestry Institute that includes 17 French research organisations and higher education institutions.
• Supporting innovative projects from promising researchers
As part of the European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, AgreenSkills+ (2014-2019), like its precursor AgreenSkills (2012-2017), aimed to increase the research potential of scientists and laboratories alike, through the provision of international mobility and capacity building opportunities. The main objective of these two successive programmes was to enhance learning and networking prospects of young researchers on a worldwide scale with a view to better address key global environmental and societal challenges in the fields of agriculture, food and environment.
AgreenSkills+ has enhanced the capabilities of the AgreenSkills program with broader eligibility criteria (researchers with postdoctoral research experience of up to ten years), the possibility of longer mobility stays (up to three years) and a broader range of engaged institutions and potential receptor laboratories. In accordance to the principles set out by the EU for human resources development in research and innovation, the spirit of AgreenSkills+ was based on principles of openness, fairness and transparency, with high standards and flexibility, and much attention paid to the individual professional tracks and personal situation.
Since its launch in May 2014, AgreenSkills+ programme supported 126 talented post-doctorate researchers from all disciplines and from all over the world.
• Two types of fellowships
· ‘Incoming fellowships’ (duration 1 to 3 years), for researchers coming from all countries and from all disciplines, to develop basic, applied or targeted research projects in one of Agreenium’ s laboratories in France and its overseas departments and territories (260 labs, 900 research groups).
· ‘Outgoing fellowships’ (duration 6 months to 2 years), for researchers employed by one of the Agreenium’s institutions, to develop their research project in laboratories worldwide, outside France.
• A selective selection process
The selection of AgreenSkills+ fellows was conducted through a selective and fully international evaluation process with two selection rounds per year. The calls were broadly announced on the AgreenSkills website and on international web based scientific journals and academic job platforms.
· 9 selection rounds were held from September 2014 to February 2018, which have led to the evaluation of 346 applications.
· 139 applications were selected by the Scientific committee and the Steering committee after the evaluation process.
· 126 candidates accept the position and were thus awarded an AgreenSkills+ fellowship (83 incoming and 43 outgoing), including 26 independent researchers (from 7 to 10 years of experience in research post PhD) and 100 young experienced researchers (with up to 7 years of experience in research post PhD).
• A great openness and flexibility
AgreenSkills+ has been open to a large diversity of research themes and disciplines, with no particular requirements regarding neither academic discipline nor research approach. The selection focused on the excellence of the candidate curriculum as well as of the quality of the research project and hosting conditions. The specific situation of each candidate and her/his personal career, including career breaks and maternity leaves, were taken into account, as well as specific constraints regarding lecturer-researchers.
The AgreenSkills+ programme was also wide open in terms of mobility, with a large diversity of countries of origin of the incoming selected candidates and of countries of destination of the outgoing fellows. Regarding incoming fellows, this included mainly EU countries, followed by USA, Canada and Latin American countries, and with researchers coming from Asia, Oceania, North Africa and non-UE/EFTA countries in Europe.
Visit the AgreenSkills’ website and browse through the individual profiles of the AgreenSkills+ fellows and their research projects: https://www.agreenskills.eu/Fellows-Labs/Fellows-Alumni2.
• Training and networking opportunities
AgreenSkills programmes contributed to enhance the innovative potential of young and experienced researchers, by allowing them to broaden and diversify their experience and scientific or transversal skills through advanced training and knowledge-exchange opportunities.
Hosting conditions were fixed in an AgreenSkills Hosting Charter. The Scientific mentor and host lab brought scientific and technological support, advised the fellow throughout the research project and facilitated networking opportunities. Host institutions and labs were also committed to providing training opportunities. In addition, AgreenSkills+ programme launched a permanent call to support specific training requests from fellows and alumni by financially assisting them in the cost of courses that would help develop their transferrable skills.
Training sessions and opportunities of networking were organized at annual meetings. Five Annual meetings were held in Toulouse in 2014, Barcelona in 2015, Paris in 2017, Edinburgh in 2018 and Brussels in 2019.) They provided the AgreenSkills+ fellows and alumni with great opportunities to present their projects, attend scientific conferences and training sessions, and to meet the members of the governance committees. Each annual meeting comprises several sessions including:
• Speed presentations by the fellows, to briefly introduce themselves and their project (almost all fellows participated to the meeting with 173 speed presentations for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Poster sessions with posters from all the fellows and alumni participants, to discuss the projects more in depth and share experience;
• Lectures provided by recognized researchers on cutting edge scientific topics, to increase knowledge and provoke vivid scientific exchanges (n=33 for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Training sessions, to provide key tools that are useful for young researchers and generate reflection on research practices (n=54 talks for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Special sessions on Ethics & integrity in research with time for open discussion, for fellow’s questioning and experience sharing.
All conferences and talks were recorded and were published on the AgreenSkills website under a Creative Commons non-commercial, non-derivative license (BY-NC-ND) for a diffusion and consultation as wide as possible. They still can be find on the AgreenSkills+ website at the section “Annual Meetings”(https://www.agreenskills.eu/Annual-Meetings-Training/Annual-Meetings).
• An unwavering involvement of the Scientific committee and Ethics commission, which greatly contributed to AgreenSkills+ outputs.
The AgreenSkills Scientific committee was involved in most steps of the implementation of the programme as well as in its improvement and evolution. He was in charge of the evaluation of the mobility projects, based on a review by international experts, and guarantees the quality of the whole process. He was also deeply involved in the chairing of the AgreenSkills annual meetings that are very special occasions to meet and exchange with the fellows about the implementation of their project and further scientific career perspectives.
The Ethics Commission action contributed to raise young researchers' awareness of ethical issues and ensure that these issues are properly addressed in their research projects. The Ethics Commission has been instrumental in setting up an Ethics session at each AgreenSkills annual meetings.
• A rigorous monitoring and overall evaluation of the programme.
Surveys were conducted towards the fellows and hosting labs to gather their feedback on the programme. This notably helped to learn about hosting conditions and to better meet the fellows’ expectations.
All fellows were required to submit a final scientific report at the end of their fellowship. This report was intended to provide a valuable account of the objectives, methodology, processes and results of their mobility research projects, as well as their perspective on the added value of the mobility component of their fellowship.
An in-depth analysis of these fellows’ final scientific reports as well as an overall assessment of AgreenSkills+ was established by the Scientific Committee at the end of the programme, early 2019.
Here below a few summary conclusions, as stated by the AgreenSkills+ Scientific Committee:
• The Scientific Committee was mostly impressed by the high quality of submissions to the scheme;
• The large majority of funded projects achieved their scientific goal and led to high quality research outputs and other impacts;
• Typically fellows were able to acquire new skills and experience and develop new research collaborations and networks. Many cited the benefits of working in inter-disciplinary teams and were appreciative of the opportunities for involvement in proposal writing;
• There is evidence that fellows acquired momentum in their careers with a healthy number finding permanent positions in universities, research institutes, industry or education. At the date of writing this final report, 32 out of the 83 incoming fellows have got a permanent position after their AgreenSkills+ fellowship. This number will increase when we will know about the future of the 21 fellows whose contracts ended the month preceding the end of the program (at 30/04 or 04/05);
• Overall, the Scientific Committee felt that AgreenSkills+ has been a very successful programme that have contributed to the development of research leaders and the building of their international profiles.
For INRA and its partner institutions, AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ programme provided a renewed source of talent and inspiration for new lines of research based on reinforced collaborations between teams at European and international level.
Contact: programme-management@agreenskills.eu
Website: https://www.agreenskills.eu/
AgreenSkills+ was coordinated by INRA (http://www.inra.fr/) the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in collaboration with its consortium partner, Agreenium-IAVFF (https://www.agreenium.fr/) the French Agricultural, Veterinary and Forestry Institute that includes 17 French research organisations and higher education institutions.
• Supporting innovative projects from promising researchers
As part of the European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, AgreenSkills+ (2014-2019), like its precursor AgreenSkills (2012-2017), aimed to increase the research potential of scientists and laboratories alike, through the provision of international mobility and capacity building opportunities. The main objective of these two successive programmes was to enhance learning and networking prospects of young researchers on a worldwide scale with a view to better address key global environmental and societal challenges in the fields of agriculture, food and environment.
AgreenSkills+ has enhanced the capabilities of the AgreenSkills program with broader eligibility criteria (researchers with postdoctoral research experience of up to ten years), the possibility of longer mobility stays (up to three years) and a broader range of engaged institutions and potential receptor laboratories. In accordance to the principles set out by the EU for human resources development in research and innovation, the spirit of AgreenSkills+ was based on principles of openness, fairness and transparency, with high standards and flexibility, and much attention paid to the individual professional tracks and personal situation.
Since its launch in May 2014, AgreenSkills+ programme supported 126 talented post-doctorate researchers from all disciplines and from all over the world.
• Two types of fellowships
· ‘Incoming fellowships’ (duration 1 to 3 years), for researchers coming from all countries and from all disciplines, to develop basic, applied or targeted research projects in one of Agreenium’ s laboratories in France and its overseas departments and territories (260 labs, 900 research groups).
· ‘Outgoing fellowships’ (duration 6 months to 2 years), for researchers employed by one of the Agreenium’s institutions, to develop their research project in laboratories worldwide, outside France.
• A selective selection process
The selection of AgreenSkills+ fellows was conducted through a selective and fully international evaluation process with two selection rounds per year. The calls were broadly announced on the AgreenSkills website and on international web based scientific journals and academic job platforms.
· 9 selection rounds were held from September 2014 to February 2018, which have led to the evaluation of 346 applications.
· 139 applications were selected by the Scientific committee and the Steering committee after the evaluation process.
· 126 candidates accept the position and were thus awarded an AgreenSkills+ fellowship (83 incoming and 43 outgoing), including 26 independent researchers (from 7 to 10 years of experience in research post PhD) and 100 young experienced researchers (with up to 7 years of experience in research post PhD).
• A great openness and flexibility
AgreenSkills+ has been open to a large diversity of research themes and disciplines, with no particular requirements regarding neither academic discipline nor research approach. The selection focused on the excellence of the candidate curriculum as well as of the quality of the research project and hosting conditions. The specific situation of each candidate and her/his personal career, including career breaks and maternity leaves, were taken into account, as well as specific constraints regarding lecturer-researchers.
The AgreenSkills+ programme was also wide open in terms of mobility, with a large diversity of countries of origin of the incoming selected candidates and of countries of destination of the outgoing fellows. Regarding incoming fellows, this included mainly EU countries, followed by USA, Canada and Latin American countries, and with researchers coming from Asia, Oceania, North Africa and non-UE/EFTA countries in Europe.
Visit the AgreenSkills’ website and browse through the individual profiles of the AgreenSkills+ fellows and their research projects: https://www.agreenskills.eu/Fellows-Labs/Fellows-Alumni2.
• Training and networking opportunities
AgreenSkills programmes contributed to enhance the innovative potential of young and experienced researchers, by allowing them to broaden and diversify their experience and scientific or transversal skills through advanced training and knowledge-exchange opportunities.
Hosting conditions were fixed in an AgreenSkills Hosting Charter. The Scientific mentor and host lab brought scientific and technological support, advised the fellow throughout the research project and facilitated networking opportunities. Host institutions and labs were also committed to providing training opportunities. In addition, AgreenSkills+ programme launched a permanent call to support specific training requests from fellows and alumni by financially assisting them in the cost of courses that would help develop their transferrable skills.
Training sessions and opportunities of networking were organized at annual meetings. Five Annual meetings were held in Toulouse in 2014, Barcelona in 2015, Paris in 2017, Edinburgh in 2018 and Brussels in 2019.) They provided the AgreenSkills+ fellows and alumni with great opportunities to present their projects, attend scientific conferences and training sessions, and to meet the members of the governance committees. Each annual meeting comprises several sessions including:
• Speed presentations by the fellows, to briefly introduce themselves and their project (almost all fellows participated to the meeting with 173 speed presentations for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Poster sessions with posters from all the fellows and alumni participants, to discuss the projects more in depth and share experience;
• Lectures provided by recognized researchers on cutting edge scientific topics, to increase knowledge and provoke vivid scientific exchanges (n=33 for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Training sessions, to provide key tools that are useful for young researchers and generate reflection on research practices (n=54 talks for AgSk and AgSk+);
• Special sessions on Ethics & integrity in research with time for open discussion, for fellow’s questioning and experience sharing.
All conferences and talks were recorded and were published on the AgreenSkills website under a Creative Commons non-commercial, non-derivative license (BY-NC-ND) for a diffusion and consultation as wide as possible. They still can be find on the AgreenSkills+ website at the section “Annual Meetings”(https://www.agreenskills.eu/Annual-Meetings-Training/Annual-Meetings).
• An unwavering involvement of the Scientific committee and Ethics commission, which greatly contributed to AgreenSkills+ outputs.
The AgreenSkills Scientific committee was involved in most steps of the implementation of the programme as well as in its improvement and evolution. He was in charge of the evaluation of the mobility projects, based on a review by international experts, and guarantees the quality of the whole process. He was also deeply involved in the chairing of the AgreenSkills annual meetings that are very special occasions to meet and exchange with the fellows about the implementation of their project and further scientific career perspectives.
The Ethics Commission action contributed to raise young researchers' awareness of ethical issues and ensure that these issues are properly addressed in their research projects. The Ethics Commission has been instrumental in setting up an Ethics session at each AgreenSkills annual meetings.
• A rigorous monitoring and overall evaluation of the programme.
Surveys were conducted towards the fellows and hosting labs to gather their feedback on the programme. This notably helped to learn about hosting conditions and to better meet the fellows’ expectations.
All fellows were required to submit a final scientific report at the end of their fellowship. This report was intended to provide a valuable account of the objectives, methodology, processes and results of their mobility research projects, as well as their perspective on the added value of the mobility component of their fellowship.
An in-depth analysis of these fellows’ final scientific reports as well as an overall assessment of AgreenSkills+ was established by the Scientific Committee at the end of the programme, early 2019.
Here below a few summary conclusions, as stated by the AgreenSkills+ Scientific Committee:
• The Scientific Committee was mostly impressed by the high quality of submissions to the scheme;
• The large majority of funded projects achieved their scientific goal and led to high quality research outputs and other impacts;
• Typically fellows were able to acquire new skills and experience and develop new research collaborations and networks. Many cited the benefits of working in inter-disciplinary teams and were appreciative of the opportunities for involvement in proposal writing;
• There is evidence that fellows acquired momentum in their careers with a healthy number finding permanent positions in universities, research institutes, industry or education. At the date of writing this final report, 32 out of the 83 incoming fellows have got a permanent position after their AgreenSkills+ fellowship. This number will increase when we will know about the future of the 21 fellows whose contracts ended the month preceding the end of the program (at 30/04 or 04/05);
• Overall, the Scientific Committee felt that AgreenSkills+ has been a very successful programme that have contributed to the development of research leaders and the building of their international profiles.
For INRA and its partner institutions, AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ programme provided a renewed source of talent and inspiration for new lines of research based on reinforced collaborations between teams at European and international level.
Contact: programme-management@agreenskills.eu
Website: https://www.agreenskills.eu/