Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IberusTalent (International Doctoral Programme for Talent Attraction to the Campus of International Excellence of the Ebro Valley)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2018-09-01 do 2020-08-31
The IberusTalent Doctoral Programme for Talent Attraction to the Campus of International Excellence of the Ebro Valley aims at boosting highly skilled human resources and R&I capacity of the four public universities in the consortium of Campus Iberus. The IberusTalent programme’s first goal is to attract 36 talented researchers at early stages of their careers to develop their PhD projects at any of the Campus Iberus four universities: University of Zaragoza, Public University of Navarre, University of Lleida and University of La Rioja.
The ultimate goal is to enhance the excellence and international dimension of the research community in the Ebro Valley. Thanks to this MSCA Cofund programme a significant number of PhDs students will become scientists and that will happen in the Ebro Valley regions of Campus Iberus, connected by a river, well-known internationally, and now becoming a driving force for science and knowledge in Agrofood and Nutrition and in Health Technologies.
To definitely make an impact on the society, the programme expects to reach the following specific objectives:
- To attract 36 talented researchers to the Ebro Valley regions to become PhDs and future scientists that will shape the progress of the R&I ecosystem.
- To build an interconnected, multicultural and international researchers’ community working on interdisciplinary projects of excellence in Agrofood and Nutrition and Health Technologies.
- To support the career development of the recruited researchers by being trained and exposed to as many collaborators as possible from different sectors and countries.
- To reinforce the international visibility of Campus Iberus as the International Campus of Excellence of the Ebro Valle.
- To challenge and modernise the current institutional structures and services to manage an expanding and long lasting international research community growing at the Universities of Campus Iberus.
- To disseminate science and become active social actors and role models to others to promote a knowledge based society.
The ultimate goal is to enhance the excellence and international dimension of the research community in the Ebro Valley. Thanks to this MSCA Cofund programme a significant number of PhDs students will become scientists and that will happen in the Ebro Valley regions of Campus Iberus, connected by a river, well-known internationally, and now becoming a driving force for science and knowledge in Agrofood and Nutrition and in Health Technologies.
To definitely make an impact on the society, the programme expects to reach the following specific objectives:
- To attract 36 talented researchers to the Ebro Valley regions to become PhDs and future scientists that will shape the progress of the R&I ecosystem.
- To build an interconnected, multicultural and international researchers’ community working on interdisciplinary projects of excellence in Agrofood and Nutrition and Health Technologies.
- To support the career development of the recruited researchers by being trained and exposed to as many collaborators as possible from different sectors and countries.
- To reinforce the international visibility of Campus Iberus as the International Campus of Excellence of the Ebro Valle.
- To challenge and modernise the current institutional structures and services to manage an expanding and long lasting international research community growing at the Universities of Campus Iberus.
- To disseminate science and become active social actors and role models to others to promote a knowledge based society.
From the beginning of the IberusTalent programme in September 2018, the first 24-month period has been committed to the recruitment of talented early stage researchers to the Ebro Valley. To that end, two calls were launched in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which were open for 3 months to candidates applying for any of the research lines offered in the fields of Agrofood and Nutrition and Health Technologies. In order to increase the applicant’s choices, candidates were given the opportunity to apply for multiple research lines and to participate in more than one selection process.
In total numbers, over 600 applications were received counting the first and second call results by applicants coming from 61 different countries worldwide. The selection process involved more than 200 experts, some from renowned international organisations across the world. Eventually, the selected candidates come from 21 different nationalities and are in perfect gender balance. All in all, the recruitment of these early stage researchers has made a substantial impact on the international PhD community of the Campus Iberus universities.
Work in progress is on different activities contributing to enhance the researcher’s career opportunities and their impact on the scientific community and the overall society.
Researchers recruited in the first call are about to end their first year of PhD. Their PhD Plans have been evaluated resulting in a favourable assessment in all cases.
ESRs are being trained in both research and transferable skills and have either an industrial mentor or a working collaboration with non-academic R&I actors to ensure a relevant exposure to other sectors. Most are part of the Campus Iberus Research Clusters, which are interdisciplinary teams of researchers from the four universities interconnected with regional R&I drivers to work collaboratively on strategic areas. Secondments and short stays are planned to be carried out at the facilities of key regional collaborators in the Ebro Valley and/or at the national or international level.
Scientific outputs are being increased as the programme runs in time. Most researchers have already took part in national and international conferences, workshops or gatherings. Additionally, some have participated in outreach events to communicate their projects to the society.
Furthermore, the programme’s website www.iberustalent.com has been redesigned to show their public profiles, including biosketches connected to their professional networks, and their PhD projects and results in brief.
In total numbers, over 600 applications were received counting the first and second call results by applicants coming from 61 different countries worldwide. The selection process involved more than 200 experts, some from renowned international organisations across the world. Eventually, the selected candidates come from 21 different nationalities and are in perfect gender balance. All in all, the recruitment of these early stage researchers has made a substantial impact on the international PhD community of the Campus Iberus universities.
Work in progress is on different activities contributing to enhance the researcher’s career opportunities and their impact on the scientific community and the overall society.
Researchers recruited in the first call are about to end their first year of PhD. Their PhD Plans have been evaluated resulting in a favourable assessment in all cases.
ESRs are being trained in both research and transferable skills and have either an industrial mentor or a working collaboration with non-academic R&I actors to ensure a relevant exposure to other sectors. Most are part of the Campus Iberus Research Clusters, which are interdisciplinary teams of researchers from the four universities interconnected with regional R&I drivers to work collaboratively on strategic areas. Secondments and short stays are planned to be carried out at the facilities of key regional collaborators in the Ebro Valley and/or at the national or international level.
Scientific outputs are being increased as the programme runs in time. Most researchers have already took part in national and international conferences, workshops or gatherings. Additionally, some have participated in outreach events to communicate their projects to the society.
Furthermore, the programme’s website www.iberustalent.com has been redesigned to show their public profiles, including biosketches connected to their professional networks, and their PhD projects and results in brief.
The IberusTalent Programme implies the international recruitment of 36 talented researchers to progress research on two strategic areas for Campus Iberus and the R&I ecosystem of the Ebro Valley regions: Agrofood and Nutrition and Health Technologies. Research and Innovation on these areas is in line with the RIS3 economic development priorities of the four regions involved: Aragon, Navarre, Lleida (Catalonia) and La Rioja.
The IberusTalent Programme is based on the scientific and technological capabilities of the four public universities located in those regions, which are aggregated under the consortium of Campus Iberus to make the best use of their research resources. The programme has an undeniable impact on building highly skilled professionals, which will deliver outstanding results to progress the state of the art in the specific research fields of the programme. The interdisciplinary and intersectorial approach to research is supported by a wide network of collaborators: international universities, research centers and other non-academic R&I drivers (spin-offs, start-ups, industry, research centres, hospitals...). They bring expertise in different angles to research and offer career enhancing opportunities, such as hosting the PhDs for secondments, short stays and trainings. All in all, the IberusTalent Programme guarantees an attractive ecosystem for the incoming researchers and their exposure to other relevant actors beyond academia, including the society at large. Nurturing this knowledge-based ecosystem is the key for the sustainable economic growth of the modern societies.
Additionally, and increasingly, the perception of science and the expectation from citizens is that it should be the producer of truths. That is considered to be the most important socio-economic impact of the programme. IberusTalent fellows will develop research and transferable skills and ethical principles to become truthful scientists as well as responsible involved citizens. They will exercise the open access publication and production of unbiased scientific results following international methods and standards. But also researchers will be encouraged to exploit their creativity to transform knowledge into products and solutions or to disseminate and communicate them broadly.
The IberusTalent Programme is based on the scientific and technological capabilities of the four public universities located in those regions, which are aggregated under the consortium of Campus Iberus to make the best use of their research resources. The programme has an undeniable impact on building highly skilled professionals, which will deliver outstanding results to progress the state of the art in the specific research fields of the programme. The interdisciplinary and intersectorial approach to research is supported by a wide network of collaborators: international universities, research centers and other non-academic R&I drivers (spin-offs, start-ups, industry, research centres, hospitals...). They bring expertise in different angles to research and offer career enhancing opportunities, such as hosting the PhDs for secondments, short stays and trainings. All in all, the IberusTalent Programme guarantees an attractive ecosystem for the incoming researchers and their exposure to other relevant actors beyond academia, including the society at large. Nurturing this knowledge-based ecosystem is the key for the sustainable economic growth of the modern societies.
Additionally, and increasingly, the perception of science and the expectation from citizens is that it should be the producer of truths. That is considered to be the most important socio-economic impact of the programme. IberusTalent fellows will develop research and transferable skills and ethical principles to become truthful scientists as well as responsible involved citizens. They will exercise the open access publication and production of unbiased scientific results following international methods and standards. But also researchers will be encouraged to exploit their creativity to transform knowledge into products and solutions or to disseminate and communicate them broadly.