GOT ENERGY TALENT. Attracting Talented Researchers within the Spanish Campus of International Excellence ‘Smart Energy’ and the region of Madrid.

Project Information

GOT ENERGY

Grant agreement ID: 754382

DOI

10.3030/754382

Project closed

EC signature date 26 April 2017

Start date 1 September 2017

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 4 814 400,00

EU contribution

€ 2 407 200,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD DE ALCALA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - GOT ENERGY (GOT ENERGY TALENT. Attracting Talented Researchers within the Spanish Campus of International Excellence ‘Smart Energy’ and the region of Madrid.)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Got Energy Talent (GET) is a fellowship programme co-funded by the EU as part of the H2020-MSCA-COFUND programme (Grant Agreement number 754382). GET is run by the University of Alcalá (UAH) as beneficiary of the Action hand in hand with Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC). Both institutions contribute to the Action in equal parts.

Got Energy Talent will offer a total of 34 fellowships for experienced researchers to develop a 24-month stay through 2 open calls at international level. The two academic host institutions, the UAH and the URJC, will hire 17 fellows each over the lifetime of the fellowship programme.

The fellowships will provide an opportunity for experienced researchers from around the world to spend two years in Madrid, developing an independent research project and undertaking training that will help them develop into the next generation of research leaders. Fellows can decide whether to carry out a 24-month advanced research project at the academic host institution (UAH or URJC) or, under certain research lines, to carry out a 12-month advanced research project at the academic host institution followed by a 12-month period devoted to applied research in one of the partner host institutions from the non-academic sector. GET partner host institutions include major players in the energy and related fields at both national and international level. http://gotenergytalent.uah.es/partner-host-institutions/

Research proposals and research lines offered fall all within the topic of Smart Energy. Got Energy Talent is a step forward in the International Excellence Campus “Smart Energy” project. In 2011, UAH and URJC joined forces to put in place the International Campus of Excellence “Smart Energy” project (ICE “Smart Energy” ). ICE “Smart Energy” is a multidisciplinary, internationally-oriented campus that focuses on the generation and transfer of knowledge in two main fields: a) clean energy technologies and b) smart infrastructures and smart cities. ICE “Smart Energy” combines study, research, teaching, and transfer of knowledge activities in the fields of clean energy technologies and smart infrastructures. The ICE “Smart Energy” does this with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life and public services, and engendering new urban models. In this context, GET research lines and research projects are aligned with these priorities.

GET is also meant to be a demand-driven fellowship programme and to respond to the priorities of the region of Madrid. Key players in the region, including at institutional level, are involved in GET as partner organisations. The complete list of partner organisations can be found on GET’s website. Smart Energy represents one of the key priorities of the region. The relation of the research project proposal with the priorities of the region was part of the evaluation criteria and received a score.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

GET started in September 2017 and, by March 2021, the Programme already launched and closed the two planned calls for fellowships. The selection process is closed. The first call opened on 2 July 2018 and closed on 1 October 2018. The final results of the first call, after the redress process, were published on 4 March 2019. The second call opened on 3 April 2019 and closed on 2 July 2019. The final results of the second call, after the redress process, were published on 4 February 2020. As of March 2021, there are 31 fellowships ongoing. Some fellows selected under the first call will finish their 2-year contract during the third quarter of 2020.

All GET fellows have a public profile on GET's website, including an abstract of their projects as well as summary of their CVs: http://gotenergytalent.uah.es/researchers/.

Applicants of all nationalities were eligible to apply (as far as candidates complied with MSCA mobility rule). It is worth noting that 62% of GET MSCA-Cofund fellows come from non-European countries and from a total of 16 different countries, proving the success of the fellowship programme as an internationalisation tool for both universities. The variety of countries of origin proves also that the call had a good international outreach and that the fellowship conditions attracted solid international candidacies.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GET expects its researchers to be able to capitalise on the knolwedge, expertise and support of a comprehensive network of partnering organisations, particularly the 15 partner host institutions from the non-academic sector offering secondment opportunities. Moreover, GET lies on a comprehensive monitoring and support structure for both the Programme and its fellows. Indeed, addition to their mentor, GET fellows will have the support of the AB (Advisory Board), made of experts in the research fields of the Programme as well as of experts in technology transfer and research management. In addition to this, GET is facilitating and fostering the acquisition of intersectoral transversal skills for its fellows. GET designed an ad-hoc training agenda based of their preferences and career perspectives, including training activities on the following topics: open access in science and research, preparing and submitting proposals under the ERC (European Research Council), preparing research and innovation proposals under Horizon 2020, patents and IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights).

get-logo-versiones-03.jpg