WP1 Project management: The Coordination Office consisted of a project manager, a project assistant and the coordinator Prof. Nico Bruns. It administrated the project and organized all network-wide activities.
WP2 Recruitment: 9 ESR positions were filled with outstanding young scientists from Germany, France, Greece, Netherlands, South Korea, and India. Two ESRs are female, seven ESRs male. All ESRs successfully completed their MSCA fellowship.
WP3 Research: Research covered diverse topics, from the genetic and developmental foundation of structure formation in plant cuticles, to the synthesis of novel bio-inspired polymeric materials and surfaces, to the physical characterization of wrinkled colloids and polymer dewetting in thin films. A summary of PlaMatSu’s research results can be found in the Impact Section below.
WP4 Training: The ESRs worked under the supervision of distinguished scientists in the field of bio-inspired materials, thereby receiving world-class training-by-research. PlaMatSu organised five training workshops, an away weekend, and a winter school on bio-inspired materials. The training included technology transfer and innovation, ethics, outreach through Wikipedia, introduction to R&D in industry, preparation for job search, outreach via an exhibition, and writing and presentation skills. The ESRs undertook secondments between the research groups and at the industry partners, which exposed them to interdisciplinary research environments, fostered collaborative teamwork across research groups, and gave them first-hand experience of R&D in companies.
WP5 Communication, dissemination, and exploitations: Apart from communication measures such as a creation of a brand logo (Figure 1), webpage, social media presence, press releases, and presentations at conferences, PlaMatSu published a special issue on bio-inspired materials in Advanced Materials (Figure 2). Moreover, 13 original research papers and reviews were published with many more in development. PlaMatSu’s ESRs reached out to the general public by organising the exhibition “Our Future is Nature Inspired” at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden in 2020 (Figure 3). A video on nature-inspired design was produced for the exhibition and is available on PlaMatSu´s webpage (Figure 4). The exhibition received TV and radio coverage and was promoted on social media.
