DOCtoral training programme in Functional Advanced Materials

Project Information

DOC-FAM

Grant agreement ID: 754397

DOI

10.3030/754397

Project closed

EC signature date 12 April 2017

Start date 1 September 2017

End date 28 February 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 453 120,00

EU contribution

€ 1 726 560,00

Coordinated by

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DOC-FAM (DOCtoral training programme in Functional Advanced Materials)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

DOC-FAM is the first COFUND programme from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (H2020-MSCA-DP-2016) awarded to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in its history. This excellence training programme, is coordinated by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, in collaboration with several partner research Institutions from the area: ALBA-CELLS Synchrotron (CELLS); the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2); the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) and the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC).
ICMAB is one the 22 research centres in Spain awarded with the “Severo Ochoa” label of excellence for the development of “Smart Functional Materials for Social Grand Challenges” (FUNMAT, 2016-2020). ICMAB is located in the Bellaterra Campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the best University in Spain according to several international rankings (ARWU, CWUR), providing an excellent environment for the development of the doctoral programme.
All the participating organizations in the programme have an outstanding track-record in terms of recruitment and training of doctoral researchers, and they are all endorsed to the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, ensuring the best possible conditions to enhance the potential and future career perspectives for the recruited researchers.
During the 60 months of duration of the programme, two calls were launched for the recruitment of 22 Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) during 36 months each. A dedicated interdisciplinary, intersectorial and international training programme was offered to the recruited fellows combining a full range of activities including complementary training courses, workshops, schools and secondments to other research centres or Universities. Recruited fellows were offered 3-year employment contracts in a multidisciplinary, multicultural and stimulating research training environment, with access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for personal and professional career development. An attractive salary of 33,600 €/year (including living plus mobility allowances); in addition to research, training and networking costs (6,000 €/year) and PhD tuition fees (600 €/year).

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

The project started on September 1st 2017 and ended on February 28th 2023. It was divided into 2 calls that that were launched on October 2017 and October 2018 respectively. In the first Call 10 doctoral fellowships were awarded, and in the second 12 fellows were awarded. A total of 22 fellows are part of DOC-FAM doctoral programme. The evaluation consisted of 5 steps. It was an open, transparent and merit based process, following the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researcher. Both calls were openly announced internationally, following the Communication Plan that targeted different groups. The strategy was focused on three main pillars, DOC-FAM website; Press note, leaflet and flyer; Direct contact with target groups of interest. This was complemented with the compulsory Euraxess link plus some other dissemination sites, which have been useful to promote the call.
In terms of training, A Welcome day was organized for the fellows from both calls. Moreover, one of the main training activities organized by DOC-FAM was the 1-week summer school. EMERGING2021 (https://docfam.icmab.es/oa/emerging-2021). It counted with plenary lectures of International experts in the field of advanced materials to give young researchers and students a worldwide view of the diferent and emerging applications in electronics, energy and nanomedicine. Beyond the plenary lectures, the school included technical talks, direct interactions with the lecturers, talks from the DOC-FAM fellows and poster presentations. DOC-FAM fellows enjoyed training organised by the partner organisations, including a high variety of weekly seminars, transversal skills workshops, annual meeting with the University Committee, yearly workshops, open access seminars... In addition, a Scientific Meeting of PhD students is orgnanised yearly by the DOC-FAM partners, in which 2020 and 2021 editions had DOC-FAM fellows as organisers. All fellows have also performed a secondment of at least 1 month, either in academic institutions or companies, building up the intedsiciplinarity and intersectoriality of the training programme.
DOC-FAM also counts with different supervision arrengements that allowed to have a follow-up on the progression of the PhD: a Career Development Plan (updated yearly by the fellows), a Fellow Progress Report and a Supervisor Progress Report.

During DOC-FAM period, 52 scientific papers have been published by DOC-FAM fellows . Apart from that, fellows have participated in 198 training activities and have presented their work in 73 international conferences. DOC-FAM fellows have been part of Communication activities, including the Researcher’s Night organized by the European Commission, among others.

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)

DOC-FAM is a COFUND Doctoral Programme that aimed to train 22 PhD fellows as the next-generation of scientists in the exciting field of Functional Advanced Materials, while at the same time offering a complete training experience to the recruited fellows. The designed training programme combined different types of activities that will enhance their research and personal skills, providing them with new career perspectives. All of the fellows carried on their individual projects in top research institutions, while being exposed to different environments throughout the duration of the project. The fellows were exposed to a multidisciplinary and intersectorial programme combining several research and training activities. It included secondments in top international laboratories and industries at the forefront of research, access to state-of-the-art facilities to carry out advanced experiments, and a number of training activities (schools, workshops, complementary skills, etc.).
DOC-FAM has contributed to enhance Europe competitiveness in the field of advanced functional materials, increasing the critical mass in a demanding sector of our current society. The programme has brought a huge impact on the recruited fellows and on the beneficiary and the participating organizations on several levels:
- Creation of novel synergies and collaborations and enhancing those already established between all the Partner Organisations.
- Quality education: providing the fellows with appropriate working conditions, suitable guidance &training, and the possibility to develop a future independent research career.
- Enhanced competitiveness: by aligning our practices with the principles of this innovative doctoral training, and fulfilling the principles of the Charter & Code, the beneficiary and participating organizations have increased their profile as an excellence reference research centres in the field of Material Science.

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