MSCA FIRE output well developed researchers able to work across discipline boundaries and national borders: global scientific citizens with the confidence and tools to work anywhere and the knowledge to make a difference through excellent research outputs.
A full complement of 20 fellows (13 countries, 50:50 male:female) were registered for their PhDs and 18 of them completed it successfully. Research projects had industrial partners, 5 journal papers have been published and 25 conference presentations made. The interaction with partners has been particularly beneficial as illustrated by 2 examples:
1. Chemicals from biowaste
Vicky de Groof worked with Geneco/Wessex Water researching the use of anaerobic mixed cultures for bio-waste valorization. She accessed samples from wastewater plants and Geneco implemented such technologies. Early results from this project have been presented: V. De Groof, et al., Food waste as substrate to obtain two different enriched microbiomes for model development, 5th YWP Benelux Conference 2017, Ghent, Belgium.
2. An interactive sketch-based modelling platform
Thu Nguyen Phuoc worked with Lambda Labs (LL), a company that specializes in deep learning solutions. She spent one month at LL in Palo Alto, US to further develop a solution for robust 3D reconstruction from images and hand-drawn sketches - useful in developing virtual/augmented reality products. Working with industry provided access to further computational infrastructure, greatly improving the algorithm development and testing process. Thu worked with LL to prepare a submission for the European Conference on Computer Vision, March 2018.
Fellows participated in a wide range of “engagement activities”. These included the development of complementary skills, public engagement and community building via events open to external participants. Complementary skills development was enabled by formal training courses and opportunities to engage the public at science festivals.
Fellows led the following:
i. Inclusiveness & Community Building
ii. Public Engagement
iii. Entrepreneurship & Business Skills
By giving fellows responsibility for these portfolios, they engaged, developed new skills, and brought their own ideas and innovation to bear. This, in turn, encouraged broader participation with many events held with the much larger groups of Doctoral candidates associated with CSCT and CDE (>120) and beyond.
