Future Leadership in ICT Standards in Europe “ELITE-S”

Project Information

ELITE-S

Grant agreement ID: 801522

DOI

10.3030/801522

Project closed

EC signature date 19 April 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 30 September 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 2 265 600,00

EU contribution

€ 1 132 800,00

Coordinated by

DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ELITE-S (Future Leadership in ICT Standards in Europe “ELITE-S”)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Elite-s was a postdoctoral fellowship programme for intersectoral training, career development and mobility. It offered fellowships in technology and standards development addressing subject domains in AI (4), Data analytics (2), Cybersecurity (1), Future Networks/Cloud (1) and Semantic Web (2) that are relevant and impactful on societal issues and concerns. ICT standardisation research is of particular relevance to the EU’s Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation, underpinning a single digital market and is very important to the economic growth of the ERA and ELITE-S provided the required research and leadership skills for our fellows to take on leadership roles in industry or academia in the Standardisation sphere.
Fellows recruited under ELITE-S were of different nationalities across the globe, ensuring mobility of researchers and during their fellowships they could enhance their qualifications and develop their competencies by completing a research project in one of the 7 host institutions in Ireland. All 10 fellows addressed 5 of the 14 priority areas identified by the Irish state, those are: AI, Data analytics, Cybersecurity , Future Networks/Cloud, and Semantic Web. During all calls we followed the European Charter & Code for Researchers which is a set of general principles and requirements which specifies the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers as well as of employers and/or funders of researchers. This standard was applied throughout the ELITE-S evaluation and selection process, guided by the principles of Excellence, Transparency, Fairness and Impartiality, and equitable selection procedure and underpinned by international peer review. The objectives of the programme were to: Provide a state of the art research environment in the area of ICT standardisation related to the programme’s core research areas that will stimulate and challenge researchers while developing them as research leaders of the future, provide with industry-specific training and secondments in priorities sectors including 5G, Internet of Things, Cloud computing, cybersecurity and data technology.

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 in October 2018 and ended in September 2024. At the end of the project, we recruited 10 postdoctoral researchers into Ireland. The recruitment of these postdocs took place through 3 calls for proposals that lasted 6 months (3 months for application and 3 months for evaluation and selection). All candidates highlighted their area of expertise and interest by following a rigorous application process and submitted a project proposal that was reviewed by different independent international experts. Following an induction, our fellows followed the path outlined in the project and in their personal career development plans and received advanced training in research-specific topics as well as transferrable skills such as identifying and protecting IP, gender in research, research integrity and much more. All 10 fellows received an affiliation with the ADAPT Centre and took part in interdisciplinary events with different research groups within the Centre, participated in industry events organized by the ADAPT Commercialisation team and took advantage of a strong network of 250+ researchers to collaborate with. This network was imperative for the success of the project, the postdocs' training in advanced research and increased their employability in the EU.
The project was so successful that a number of our fellows received awards from National Standards Authority in Ireland and abroad for their work in standardisation; they sat at national and international standards committees in their area of expertise; published in high quality journals and publications, and moved on to greater challenges professionally. Some have moved to work in academia (both in Ireland and abroad), other postdoc positions, or in an industry setting. Throughout the life cycle of the project, the team ensured the implementation of a transparent evaluation and selection process for recruitment and provided an attractive and supportive working environment for fellows where they are truly integrated into ADAPT and their academic host. The fellows ensured that their research papers were delivered to the open source platform to ensure that more people are aware of current societal research is being performed.

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)

The progress beyond the state of the art in ELITE-S was achieved by recruiting Fellows into the programme and enhancing their set of skills to allow them to conduct high-value, highly interdisciplinary research. It resulted in a cohort of 10 highly skilled professionals with excellent transferrable skills training that allowed them to work on their soft skills which benefited the communication of their research results to the wider audience; acquired project management knowledge and experience in managing their budgets, and writing competitive grant applications for future funding of their career needs. By the conclusion of the programme, fellows possessed a profound understanding of the entire ICT standards pipeline and were able to convey its value to stakeholders. They contributed in various domains and actively influenced and led the discussion and adoption of ICT standards in areas related to societal challenges, AI and sustainable growth. The intersectoral and interdisciplinary approach offered by the programme exposed fellows to challenges associated to business creation, which paved the way to new career opportunities in both the academic and non-academic sectors. The Elite S attracted 10 leading researchers from 7 countries to Ireland for further research and training, showing the diversity and impact of the Elite S program globally.

An example of what the EliteS program delivered for the fellows is connections and networks within the standards community by signing an MOU with StandICT.eu which has been operating since 2018. This was an excellent opportunity to attend standards training via this project. The Anti Bullying Unit in DCU worked with one fellow where they developed a series of workshops on cyberbullying, their topic of research. Also, exposing them to wider networks to collaborate on a publication with Italy, Australia, and the UK with the standards body of IEEE. Also, as part of the training programme, Adapt ran a Pathways to funding - articulating Impact, how to address impact in your funding proposal as part of the learning curriculum for Elite S Fellows. Further informaiton about the programme can be found in the ADAPT centre website.

ELITE-S Breakfast Seminar in Trinity College on April 12 2019.