Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ENLIGHTEN (ENhanced PhD Fellowship Programme in the Sciences of LIGHT)
Période du rapport: 2022-07-01 au 2025-11-30
ENLIGHTEN (GA847517) –ICFO’s ENhanced PhD Fellowship Program in the Sciences of LIGHT– is a 65-month MCSA COFUND doctoral program, proposed in the scope of the Europaimed at recruiting 20 outstanding early stage researchers (ESRs) to carry out an ambitious PhD-project at ICFO at the forefront of the photonic sciences. It finally offered 19 highly competitive fellowships of 36 months duration to outstanding international candidates, and equipped them with unique capabilities to become future leaders in the academic and industrial worlds.
ICFO is an independent research center created in 2002, with the mission of becoming a world-leading center for research and training in the Photonic Sciences. It has since grown significantly in size, scope and impact and has now reached critical mass hosting 450+ researchers and students drawn from over 60 countries worldwide. The center has established itself as a reputed global research institution, consistently given a leading position in the international rankings relative to its size, and attracted a remarkable share of the world’s top talent: its 25 Group Leaders have collectively secured 50 ERC grants (including 12 Starting, 7 Consolidated, 14 Advanced, 1 Synergy and 16 Proof-of-Concept grants).
ICFO has had exceptional impact for an institution of its size, with ongoing research collaborations in more than 50 industrial projects with local and international industrial partners, and a portfolio of more than 140 patent families. ICFO hosts industrial laboratories supported by Corning, Leica and Nikon, and Quside, four endowed research chairs supported by SPIE, AXA, Corning and Fundacion Catalunya- la Pedrera, and has helped create 14 spin-off companies, with a few more in incubation. The center has been independently evaluated and recognized four times with the highest possible award (Excelencia Severo Ochoa) for its scientific and institutional excellence by the Spanish Government, and secured outstanding support from industrial and philanthropic organizations, including several donations that in total constitute one of the largest ever received by a scientific institution in Spain. It is a member of local research networks of excellence BIST, CERCA and HUBC, and plays a prominent role with the European Flagship programs on Graphene and Quantum Technologies leading a number of work packages, and the corresponding regional Smart Specialization Strategy.
The specific objectives of ENLIGHTEN are:
• Provide exceptional training to outstanding international Early-Stage Researchers in the Photonic Sciences through cutting-edge research projects supervised by world-leading scientists, and a training program tailored to the needs of future employers;
• Embed a commitment to Open Science, Scientific Ethics, and the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation within ICFO and selected Fellows;
• Establish an international benchmark in supervision, mentoring and career development of ESRs; and
• Ensure equal opportunity in the recruitment and training of ESRs from under-represented and diverse international backgrounds, with particular attention paid to women in science.
ICFO is an independent research center created in 2002, with the mission of becoming a world-leading center for research and training in the Photonic Sciences. It has since grown significantly in size, scope and impact and has now reached critical mass hosting 450+ researchers and students drawn from over 60 countries worldwide. The center has established itself as a reputed global research institution, consistently given a leading position in the international rankings relative to its size, and attracted a remarkable share of the world’s top talent: its 25 Group Leaders have collectively secured 50 ERC grants (including 12 Starting, 7 Consolidated, 14 Advanced, 1 Synergy and 16 Proof-of-Concept grants).
ICFO has had exceptional impact for an institution of its size, with ongoing research collaborations in more than 50 industrial projects with local and international industrial partners, and a portfolio of more than 140 patent families. ICFO hosts industrial laboratories supported by Corning, Leica and Nikon, and Quside, four endowed research chairs supported by SPIE, AXA, Corning and Fundacion Catalunya- la Pedrera, and has helped create 14 spin-off companies, with a few more in incubation. The center has been independently evaluated and recognized four times with the highest possible award (Excelencia Severo Ochoa) for its scientific and institutional excellence by the Spanish Government, and secured outstanding support from industrial and philanthropic organizations, including several donations that in total constitute one of the largest ever received by a scientific institution in Spain. It is a member of local research networks of excellence BIST, CERCA and HUBC, and plays a prominent role with the European Flagship programs on Graphene and Quantum Technologies leading a number of work packages, and the corresponding regional Smart Specialization Strategy.
The specific objectives of ENLIGHTEN are:
• Provide exceptional training to outstanding international Early-Stage Researchers in the Photonic Sciences through cutting-edge research projects supervised by world-leading scientists, and a training program tailored to the needs of future employers;
• Embed a commitment to Open Science, Scientific Ethics, and the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation within ICFO and selected Fellows;
• Establish an international benchmark in supervision, mentoring and career development of ESRs; and
• Ensure equal opportunity in the recruitment and training of ESRs from under-represented and diverse international backgrounds, with particular attention paid to women in science.
The project ICFOstepstone has been highly successful, with the following highlights:
❖ ENLIGHTEN researchers participated in a total of 208 training actions during the course of the program within 4 different modalities:
• Scientific and Technical Training
• Transferable Skills Courses
• Business and Entrepreneurship Courses
• Resilience and Well-Being Workshops
❖ ICFO implemented and consolidated a Mentoring Program that remains active and has evolved well beyond the duration of ENLIGHTEN COFUND.
❖ Our recruitment brought together talent from ten different countries and accomplished full gender equality.
❖ A Mobility Grant Program was launched to encourage ESRs to undertake secondments by providing additional financial support. A total of seven PhD Fellows applied for and received funding under this scheme.
❖ ENLIGHTEN researchers participated in a total of 208 training actions during the course of the program within 4 different modalities:
• Scientific and Technical Training
• Transferable Skills Courses
• Business and Entrepreneurship Courses
• Resilience and Well-Being Workshops
❖ ICFO implemented and consolidated a Mentoring Program that remains active and has evolved well beyond the duration of ENLIGHTEN COFUND.
❖ Our recruitment brought together talent from ten different countries and accomplished full gender equality.
❖ A Mobility Grant Program was launched to encourage ESRs to undertake secondments by providing additional financial support. A total of seven PhD Fellows applied for and received funding under this scheme.
The objective of ENLIGHTEN was to establish a top-level European PhD program at ICFO-Barcelona, competitive with the best PhD programs in Photonic Sciences worldwide. The support provided by ENLIGHTEN enabled ICFO to continue to enhance the quality and impact of our PhD program, and maintain our ability to attract the best candidates worldwide to our program.
In terms of results and impact, ENLIGHTEN achieved the following results:
• Enhanced Research and Technical Skills and develop Key Transferrable Skills with a total of 208 training actions.
• Built Professional Networks & provide a life-long connection to the ICFO community: our Alumni network was the perfect environment to build professional relations. Also, a comparison with our broader Alumni network further highlights the ENLIGHTEN Fellows’ wider international mobility and more pronounced academic orientation.
• Embeded a commitment to Open Science and Responsible Research: ENLIGHTEN fellows co-authored a total of 58 OA publications, from which 25 were first-authored. Also, two patents were filed and registered (Apparatus for Optical Imaging & A quantum-inspired method and apparatus for integer optimization problems).
• Provided outstanding mentoring and career development: ICFO implemented and consolidated a Mentoring Program that remains active and has evolved well beyond the duration of ENLIGHTEN COFUND.
• Ensured International & Inter-sectoral exposure: ENLIGHTEN fellows actively participated in international scientific conferences and schools during the whole program. In total, they delivered 119 presentations, comprising 63 poster presentations and 56 talks in which they presented the results of their individual research projects. On the other hand, the Mobility Grant Program allowed 7 researchers to do 3-month secondments abroad.
• Ensured equal opportunity: ENLIGHTEN achieved inclusive, gender‑balanced, and globally diverse recruitment of outstanding ESR talent.
With ENLIGHTEN we significantly enhanced our PhD program and had an impact at both the regional and international levels.
In terms of results and impact, ENLIGHTEN achieved the following results:
• Enhanced Research and Technical Skills and develop Key Transferrable Skills with a total of 208 training actions.
• Built Professional Networks & provide a life-long connection to the ICFO community: our Alumni network was the perfect environment to build professional relations. Also, a comparison with our broader Alumni network further highlights the ENLIGHTEN Fellows’ wider international mobility and more pronounced academic orientation.
• Embeded a commitment to Open Science and Responsible Research: ENLIGHTEN fellows co-authored a total of 58 OA publications, from which 25 were first-authored. Also, two patents were filed and registered (Apparatus for Optical Imaging & A quantum-inspired method and apparatus for integer optimization problems).
• Provided outstanding mentoring and career development: ICFO implemented and consolidated a Mentoring Program that remains active and has evolved well beyond the duration of ENLIGHTEN COFUND.
• Ensured International & Inter-sectoral exposure: ENLIGHTEN fellows actively participated in international scientific conferences and schools during the whole program. In total, they delivered 119 presentations, comprising 63 poster presentations and 56 talks in which they presented the results of their individual research projects. On the other hand, the Mobility Grant Program allowed 7 researchers to do 3-month secondments abroad.
• Ensured equal opportunity: ENLIGHTEN achieved inclusive, gender‑balanced, and globally diverse recruitment of outstanding ESR talent.
With ENLIGHTEN we significantly enhanced our PhD program and had an impact at both the regional and international levels.