Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NESSC (Local training network: Netherlands Earth System Science Centre: “NESSC”)
Período documentado: 2021-04-01 hasta 2024-03-31
Within NESSC researchers work together in the domain of climate dynamics, paleoclimatology and biogeosciences. NESSC addresses one of the Grand Challenges our society faces today: Climate Change. NESSC focusses on research questions dealing with past, present and future interactions between the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and atmosphere. The multidisciplinary program brings together various experts – in order to create synergistic insights. NESSC research significantly improves our understanding and provides a more quantitative framework for Earth System functioning in the future. NESSC hosted many young researchers, both PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, who play a fundamental role in performing the research in the centre under the guidance of the PIs.
Through COFUND we were able to expand our successful PhD research program internationally. To ensure the success of the program we secured the commitment of partner organisations to provide additional research, training components, secondments and career development opportunities.
NESSC objectives summarised:
• Establish a training program that integrates physics, earth sciences, ecology, and mathematics of climate research with non-academic aspects. Providing a jump-start for early-career scientists by giving them the skills and competencies needed to operate effectively in multidisciplinary teams in- and outside academia;
• Offer working and training conditions for bright young researchers worldwide to take part in a highly innovative training-through-research program in Climate Research with high-quality supervision, a unique multidisciplinary training program, including transferable skills, and meaningful interactions with partners;
• Significantly advance our understanding of the Earth System and greatly improve future climate projections by using emerging knowledge about past climates.
Through open recruitment, NESSC attracted talented researchers (PhD students) and selected the best candidates through a fair, transparent, merit-based and impartial selection procedure.
Through COFUND we were able to expand our successful PhD research program internationally. To ensure the success of the program we secured the commitment of partner organisations to provide additional research, training components, secondments and career development opportunities.
NESSC objectives summarised:
• Establish a training program that integrates physics, earth sciences, ecology, and mathematics of climate research with non-academic aspects. Providing a jump-start for early-career scientists by giving them the skills and competencies needed to operate effectively in multidisciplinary teams in- and outside academia;
• Offer working and training conditions for bright young researchers worldwide to take part in a highly innovative training-through-research program in Climate Research with high-quality supervision, a unique multidisciplinary training program, including transferable skills, and meaningful interactions with partners;
• Significantly advance our understanding of the Earth System and greatly improve future climate projections by using emerging knowledge about past climates.
Through open recruitment, NESSC attracted talented researchers (PhD students) and selected the best candidates through a fair, transparent, merit-based and impartial selection procedure.
For the project we appointed, through two recruitment calls 17 COFUND candidates: 13 female and 4 male candidates. Unfortunately during the project three candidates dropped out, two because of COVID related issues (e.g. away from family (support) and one candidate proved not to be sufficiently qualified for the position). All projects were checked for potential ethical issues, issues were identified in the following domains: third countries, health and safety and the environment.
In month 12 of the project the COVID pandemic hit and we adjusted our original plans. Changes made: we changed to online meetings, we increased the number of meetings and organised additional online lectures to ensure maximum interaction within the consortium. The lectures provided an unique opportunity to invite top international researchers, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to visit the Netherlands. These lectures and additional meetings proved to be a great source of inspiration.
All PhD students were enrolled in local Graduate Schools and profited from their trainings. Additional trainings were offered by NESSC. The PhD students played a large role in their own development and were consulted on their (training) needs. The majority of the PhD students used the opportunity to apply for a grant through the NESSC exchange (or workshop) program and gained their first experience in grant writing.
Some fieldworks that were originally postponed (e.g. China) due to COVID could still be executed. One of the projects for which fieldwork was planned decided a different course - they brought the field in the laboratory (see technical report).
We managed to secure additional funds to extend individual employment contracts, providing the PhD candidates the chance to finish their studies without additional stress. Due to the extensions the final dates of the majority of projects now fall beyond the COFUND end date. Currently one PhD students has successfully completed her studies and defended her thesis, one other student will defend shortly. Some students have handed in their thesis and are waiting for approval of the reading committee, the majority of the students are in the final stages of finishing their thesis (see technical report). Currently, various students have already found new jobs, both scientific positions as well as at research institutes.
Exploitation and dissemination overview:
Used platforms: NESSC website (NESSC.nl) TPA website (www.tippingpointahead.nl/) Twitter/X, LinkedIn, newsletters/websites of hosting institutions
Our main dissemination effort is our program Tippingpointahead, where we provide low key information for secondary school students and teaching materials and events for their teachers. The scientific results of NESSC provide the base for all information on tippingpointahead.nl highlight of the dissemination activities :
-Climate change workshop for secondary school teachers
-Information stand and short lecture at secondary school teacher event
-Teach the (secondary school) teacher in collaboration with the KNAW (Dutch Royal Society of Sciences) (hybrid meeting)
-Climate change workshop for secondary school teachers
Through the enthusiasm for this program NESSC also participated in:
-Lecturers without borders one PhD student was one of the lecturers on Climate Change
Other activities include:
-Blogs of various PhD students sharing experiences on working at home and coping with the pandemic
-Blogs of two PhD students of their field trips
-Sponsoring of Urbino (2019, 2022, 2023) and Karthaus summerschool (2019, 2022, 2023)
-Symposium at the Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW)
-NESSC Christmas lectures at the Dutch Science Museum
- Miocene climate dynamics (MioMEET2023) in Doorn, NL
-Workshops of submarine weathering of siliciclastic sediments in the Earth system was organized in Utrecht by a COFUND PhD student
- 2nd international GDGT workshop, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
In month 12 of the project the COVID pandemic hit and we adjusted our original plans. Changes made: we changed to online meetings, we increased the number of meetings and organised additional online lectures to ensure maximum interaction within the consortium. The lectures provided an unique opportunity to invite top international researchers, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to visit the Netherlands. These lectures and additional meetings proved to be a great source of inspiration.
All PhD students were enrolled in local Graduate Schools and profited from their trainings. Additional trainings were offered by NESSC. The PhD students played a large role in their own development and were consulted on their (training) needs. The majority of the PhD students used the opportunity to apply for a grant through the NESSC exchange (or workshop) program and gained their first experience in grant writing.
Some fieldworks that were originally postponed (e.g. China) due to COVID could still be executed. One of the projects for which fieldwork was planned decided a different course - they brought the field in the laboratory (see technical report).
We managed to secure additional funds to extend individual employment contracts, providing the PhD candidates the chance to finish their studies without additional stress. Due to the extensions the final dates of the majority of projects now fall beyond the COFUND end date. Currently one PhD students has successfully completed her studies and defended her thesis, one other student will defend shortly. Some students have handed in their thesis and are waiting for approval of the reading committee, the majority of the students are in the final stages of finishing their thesis (see technical report). Currently, various students have already found new jobs, both scientific positions as well as at research institutes.
Exploitation and dissemination overview:
Used platforms: NESSC website (NESSC.nl) TPA website (www.tippingpointahead.nl/) Twitter/X, LinkedIn, newsletters/websites of hosting institutions
Our main dissemination effort is our program Tippingpointahead, where we provide low key information for secondary school students and teaching materials and events for their teachers. The scientific results of NESSC provide the base for all information on tippingpointahead.nl highlight of the dissemination activities :
-Climate change workshop for secondary school teachers
-Information stand and short lecture at secondary school teacher event
-Teach the (secondary school) teacher in collaboration with the KNAW (Dutch Royal Society of Sciences) (hybrid meeting)
-Climate change workshop for secondary school teachers
Through the enthusiasm for this program NESSC also participated in:
-Lecturers without borders one PhD student was one of the lecturers on Climate Change
Other activities include:
-Blogs of various PhD students sharing experiences on working at home and coping with the pandemic
-Blogs of two PhD students of their field trips
-Sponsoring of Urbino (2019, 2022, 2023) and Karthaus summerschool (2019, 2022, 2023)
-Symposium at the Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW)
-NESSC Christmas lectures at the Dutch Science Museum
- Miocene climate dynamics (MioMEET2023) in Doorn, NL
-Workshops of submarine weathering of siliciclastic sediments in the Earth system was organized in Utrecht by a COFUND PhD student
- 2nd international GDGT workshop, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
-Through connecting COFUND with the existing NESSC program, we managed to increase and improve the international component of the NESSC program, ensuring a wide network, benefiting the whole research community
-Delivery of 14 PhD candidates, who completed/followed a multidisciplinary research program. Two PhD candidates have now successfully defended their thesis, some are awaiting their final approval of their thesis before defending and some students are in the final stages of completing their thesis. All students were offered a contract extension because of the COVID pandemic.
-Secondments and research visits of the students nationally and internationally.
-We have equipped our students with a range of transferable skills, through local graduate schools and through NESSC training activities.
-A successful outreach program.
-Successful delivery of a number of scientific papers.
An important spin off, which we can attribute partly to the NESSC COFUND research:
NESSC research has advanced our understanding of the Earth System, however, it has also made clear there are still gaps in our understanding. NESSC is very proud to report that a follow up funding request was recently awarded (13/5/2024), currently this news is under embargo (until 24/5/2024), we were selected as one of five excellence centers in the Netherlands and awarded 30.5M€ for further research in climate dynamics.
-Delivery of 14 PhD candidates, who completed/followed a multidisciplinary research program. Two PhD candidates have now successfully defended their thesis, some are awaiting their final approval of their thesis before defending and some students are in the final stages of completing their thesis. All students were offered a contract extension because of the COVID pandemic.
-Secondments and research visits of the students nationally and internationally.
-We have equipped our students with a range of transferable skills, through local graduate schools and through NESSC training activities.
-A successful outreach program.
-Successful delivery of a number of scientific papers.
An important spin off, which we can attribute partly to the NESSC COFUND research:
NESSC research has advanced our understanding of the Earth System, however, it has also made clear there are still gaps in our understanding. NESSC is very proud to report that a follow up funding request was recently awarded (13/5/2024), currently this news is under embargo (until 24/5/2024), we were selected as one of five excellence centers in the Netherlands and awarded 30.5M€ for further research in climate dynamics.