Periodic Reporting for period 2 - iMED (International Doctoral Programme in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease)
Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2024-03-31
The International Doctoral Programme in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (iMED), based at Biotech Research and Innovation Centre, University of Copenhagen, recruited and trained 23 early-stage researchers from 13 nationalities. The programme provided researchers not only with excellent scientific training in basic biomedical research in cancer, metabolism, stem cells and brain development, but also enhanced training in transferable skills and offered peer and career mentoring, as well as career development activities.
In order to innovatively address the increasing complexity of societal challenges, there is a growing need for researchers to enter interdisciplinary collaborations and to communicate and exploit their research. Traditionally, research training in academic institutions focuses on solid core scientific training and does not always meet such diverse needs. With the International Doctoral Programme in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (iMED), our OVERALL OBJECTIVE was to create an international doctoral training programme providing a next generation of researchers with abilities to perform and connect excellent science to exploitation and value for the surrounding society.
Overall, iMED provided a structural and intellectual framework for the fellows to develop strong research skills, diligence, ambition and creativity. All fellows worked on interdisciplinary projects within biomedicine, providing new knowledge of important biological processes and disease mechanisms. iMED contributed to implementation of the EU Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training and the Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers and promoted international mobility both in the project and after, as some fellows remained in Denmark, some returned to the country of origin and some moved on to new global locations.
In order to innovatively address the increasing complexity of societal challenges, there is a growing need for researchers to enter interdisciplinary collaborations and to communicate and exploit their research. Traditionally, research training in academic institutions focuses on solid core scientific training and does not always meet such diverse needs. With the International Doctoral Programme in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (iMED), our OVERALL OBJECTIVE was to create an international doctoral training programme providing a next generation of researchers with abilities to perform and connect excellent science to exploitation and value for the surrounding society.
Overall, iMED provided a structural and intellectual framework for the fellows to develop strong research skills, diligence, ambition and creativity. All fellows worked on interdisciplinary projects within biomedicine, providing new knowledge of important biological processes and disease mechanisms. iMED contributed to implementation of the EU Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training and the Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers and promoted international mobility both in the project and after, as some fellows remained in Denmark, some returned to the country of origin and some moved on to new global locations.
During the first two years of the project, iMED successfully recruited 23 international young talented PhD-fellows, who performed their research projects in biomedical sciences. They received training in research and specific techniques, to secure research at a specialized level and to secure progression of their scientific projects, complemented by timely expert supervision. As part of the training fellows went through training in research governance, including ethics, responsible conduct of research and data management. Additionally, they engaged in transferable skills training which was relevant for their development as researchers during their fellowship and for their further career goals. Fellows were also exposed to opportunities for networking and scientific exchange, both locally and internationally. Despite challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the fellows were able to conduct secondments abroad and also disseminated their research at national and international meetings and conferences.
iMED fellows all developed personalized career development plans to secure progression towards their desired career goals. The plans were monitored and updated during the course of their fellowship. iMED further implemented peer mentoring groups for all fellows and career mentoring within the last year of their fellowship.
Main results of the project are:
• To date, research of iMED fellows resulted in 28 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, and more are in press.
• Research of two iMED fellows has led to patent applications, which are currently being reviewed.
Besides scientific results, the iMED project impacted a number of changes of practice at both center level and at university level:
• At University level, a MSCA-COFUND employment contract template was developed and learnings from handling applications in cohorts were made jointly with iMED management and university HR.
• At BRIC level, there have been several lasting changes, based on the iMED project: i) transparent recruitment process using clear criteria and predefined scoring scales, have now been implemented also for faculty recruitment, ii) learnings provided a more structured framework for the PhD education, iii) the internal focus on data management and ethics in research has been enhanced significantly, vi) career mentoring is now offered for all PhDs at BRIC in their last enrolment year and v) special attention has been paid to overall wellbeing of PhD fellows.
The results of iMED project have been disseminated broadly, although COVID-19 pandemic did not allow to disseminate the results to full extend.
Dissemination has taken place at two levels: The individual fellow research projects and at the programme level. Fellow profiles, their project descriptions and publications were disseminated on iMED website https://imed.ku.dk/. The fellows disseminated their scientific results at conferences, seminars and scientific meetings in Denmark and abroad. Outreach activities by the fellows included stories about their research, popular science articles, as well as engaging in teaching schoolchildren. Press releases by BRIC and its social media channels were covering achievements of the fellows and project updates. Additionally, iMED was mentioned in a press release by the Danish Ministry of Higher education and science. iMED management and members of Programme committee disseminated best practices from the programme locally (at the University’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences), nationally through a webinar organized by the Danish MSCA National Contact Points, and internationally through BRIC’s membership in EU-LIFE alliance counting 15 European research institutes, and at the 2023-yearly gathering of all MSCA national contact points. In addition, the iMED management team is currently working on a shared publication with two other H2020-MSCA-COFUND funded projects, sharing the 10 most important lessons learned from our projects.
iMED fellows all developed personalized career development plans to secure progression towards their desired career goals. The plans were monitored and updated during the course of their fellowship. iMED further implemented peer mentoring groups for all fellows and career mentoring within the last year of their fellowship.
Main results of the project are:
• To date, research of iMED fellows resulted in 28 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, and more are in press.
• Research of two iMED fellows has led to patent applications, which are currently being reviewed.
Besides scientific results, the iMED project impacted a number of changes of practice at both center level and at university level:
• At University level, a MSCA-COFUND employment contract template was developed and learnings from handling applications in cohorts were made jointly with iMED management and university HR.
• At BRIC level, there have been several lasting changes, based on the iMED project: i) transparent recruitment process using clear criteria and predefined scoring scales, have now been implemented also for faculty recruitment, ii) learnings provided a more structured framework for the PhD education, iii) the internal focus on data management and ethics in research has been enhanced significantly, vi) career mentoring is now offered for all PhDs at BRIC in their last enrolment year and v) special attention has been paid to overall wellbeing of PhD fellows.
The results of iMED project have been disseminated broadly, although COVID-19 pandemic did not allow to disseminate the results to full extend.
Dissemination has taken place at two levels: The individual fellow research projects and at the programme level. Fellow profiles, their project descriptions and publications were disseminated on iMED website https://imed.ku.dk/. The fellows disseminated their scientific results at conferences, seminars and scientific meetings in Denmark and abroad. Outreach activities by the fellows included stories about their research, popular science articles, as well as engaging in teaching schoolchildren. Press releases by BRIC and its social media channels were covering achievements of the fellows and project updates. Additionally, iMED was mentioned in a press release by the Danish Ministry of Higher education and science. iMED management and members of Programme committee disseminated best practices from the programme locally (at the University’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences), nationally through a webinar organized by the Danish MSCA National Contact Points, and internationally through BRIC’s membership in EU-LIFE alliance counting 15 European research institutes, and at the 2023-yearly gathering of all MSCA national contact points. In addition, the iMED management team is currently working on a shared publication with two other H2020-MSCA-COFUND funded projects, sharing the 10 most important lessons learned from our projects.
Research of iMED fellows has contributed to following impact for health and society:
1) advance our understanding of important biological processes and mechanisms that lead to disease;
2) it provided new technological solutions in the biomedical field;
3) it provided the foundation for new diagnostic tools and treatments.
Work of iMED fellows has so far resulted in twenty-eight peer-reviewed publications and thus directly contributed to advancement of the understanding of mechanisms of disease. Two pending patent applications relate to development of new technology and potential treatment of cancer. Thus, the fellows’ research holds potential to advance our scientific understanding, but also to provide optimized and new solutions to benefit the European health care sector. The well-developed iMED selection processes provide a new level of transparent and merit-based recruitment practices in research. These did not only impact the recruiting institution, but also helped contribute to the implementation of the principles set out by the EU for the human resources development in R&I, through best-practice-sharing widely across European life science research centers. The implementation of the iMED project helped build sustainable structures supporting young researchers at UCPH – for example, internal collaborations on provision of data management plan workshops, enrolment workshops and storytelling workshops. These practices are used and further developed in new COFUND projects at UCPH and also in institutes which are part of the EU-LIFE alliance, demonstrating establishment and continuation of best practices in researcher training.
1) advance our understanding of important biological processes and mechanisms that lead to disease;
2) it provided new technological solutions in the biomedical field;
3) it provided the foundation for new diagnostic tools and treatments.
Work of iMED fellows has so far resulted in twenty-eight peer-reviewed publications and thus directly contributed to advancement of the understanding of mechanisms of disease. Two pending patent applications relate to development of new technology and potential treatment of cancer. Thus, the fellows’ research holds potential to advance our scientific understanding, but also to provide optimized and new solutions to benefit the European health care sector. The well-developed iMED selection processes provide a new level of transparent and merit-based recruitment practices in research. These did not only impact the recruiting institution, but also helped contribute to the implementation of the principles set out by the EU for the human resources development in R&I, through best-practice-sharing widely across European life science research centers. The implementation of the iMED project helped build sustainable structures supporting young researchers at UCPH – for example, internal collaborations on provision of data management plan workshops, enrolment workshops and storytelling workshops. These practices are used and further developed in new COFUND projects at UCPH and also in institutes which are part of the EU-LIFE alliance, demonstrating establishment and continuation of best practices in researcher training.