Project description
Helping researchers respond to society’s needs
Globally, a growing population is increasingly demanding for food and energy while humankind has already left the safe operating space of the planetary boundaries. Therefore, the RESPONSE Doctoral Programme 'RESPONSE - to society and policy needs through plant, food and energy sciences' addresses challenges in the fields of sustainable food system, sustainable transitions in the energy sector and sustainable land use decisions. A group of 35 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will contribute through highly innovative, inter-sectoral research to European coordinated efforts for stewardship in transformation of these systems. ESRs will attend the PhD Program Science and Policy which will empower them to interact with stakeholders, policy-makers and the public to make sure that research is responsive to the needs of society.
Objective
35 new ESRs will contribute through their inter-sectoral research to European coordinated efforts for stewardship in transformation to sustainable food systems, sustainable energy systems and to ensure sustainable land use. RESPONSE DP combines research with empowerment of ESRs to interact with stakeholders, policy-makers and the public to make sure that research is responsive to the needs of society. RESPONSE DP is unique: ESRs can choose a collaboration with a Partner Organisation at the science, -policy, -society interface or with private enterprises to take out their mandatory 1-12 months secondment. Co-supervision is provided during the fellowship through academic and non-academic partners. All ESRs will be enrolled in the curriculum of the existing and forefront PSC Doctoral Programme “Science and Policy”. Each ESR will contribute to one Stakeholder Meeting and one Citizen Consensus Conference. As part of the research process they learn how to address the values, needs and expectations of societal actors and how to co-create knowledge. In this new Doctoral Programme, ESRs will benefit from the research environments of 3 world-leading universities (ETH Zürich – beneficiary, Universities of Zurich and Basel – recruiting Partner Organisation) represented by their international renown centers: Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center (PSC, joint research center of ETH, UZH and UNIBAS), the World Food System Center (WFSC, ETH) and Energy Science Center (ESC, ETH) and of 15 non-academic Partner Organisation (9 EU public, 5 EU private, 1 non-EU public). RESPONSE DP will integrate 16 further non-recruiting Partner Organisations with proven co-supervision & secondment capacities in M1. RESPONSE DP implements the triple “i” dimension of doctoral training: international mobility of ESRs, inter-sectorial opportunities and the contribution to interdisciplinary research areas.
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-COFUND-DP - Doctoral programmesCoordinator
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland