Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has proudly implemented the H.C. Ørsted Fellows Programme, co-funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, COFUNDFellowsDTU (grant no. 713683).
DTU is a research-based, business-oriented and internationally oriented polytechnic university. Based on technical and natural sciences, DTU strives to create sustainable value and welfare in society by developing value-adding technology for people.
The programme, launched in January 2017, is named after Hans Christian Ørsted, the world-renowned Danish physicist and chemist who discovered electromagnetism and founded DTU. The programme is based on incoming mobility and has given 66 young researchers from around the world a unique opportunity to shape their personal career perspectives by carrying out curiosity-driven, bottom-up research projects within all branches of engineering science at DTU.
The programme achieves the goals of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND by:
1) Increasing international mobility as the programme welcomed applicants world-wide
2) Increasing inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary research possibilities by encouraging applicants to include these aspects and by including this as part of the application evaluation criteria
3) Fostering excellence through research related training and promotion of transferable soft skills development, thereby enhancing the fellows career possibilities.
Fellowships have been granted by the Selection Committee following external international peer review. Throughout the implementation of the programme measures have been taken to promote equal opportunities and equity. The programme has introduced gender-blinded evaluation of applications by removing all gender-related information from the applications prior to the external evaluation. The programme has been open to candidates irrespective of sex, gender, age, nationality and ethnicity. Recruited fellows are of 24 different nationalities and 28% are female.
The fellowship at DTU is pivotal in the COFUNDFellowsDTU fellow’s future career as they have carried out innovative research, formed professional networks within ERA and industry, as well as developed their soft skills. The programme has contributed to the individual researcher’s development: broadening and deepening individual competencies through exposure to the international and multidisciplinary environment at DTU.