SPARKLE - Training Europe's Future Photonics Research Leaders

Project Information

SPARKLE

Grant agreement ID: 847652

DOI

10.3030/847652

Project closed

EC signature date 4 April 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 972 240,00

EU contribution

€ 1 986 120,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SPARKLE (SPARKLE - Training Europe's Future Photonics Research Leaders)

Reporting period: 2021-06-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Sparkle is training 27 fellows to become future research leaders in Photonics. Each fellow will gain combined skills in scientific excellence, product development and manufacturing, in order to equip them to compete at the highest international levels and will ensure that Ireland and Europe remains of the forefront in photonics technology development and exploitation. This includes rapidly emerging disruptive technologies and market opportunities, for example AR/VR that needs higher resolution and energy efficient displays, autonomous vehicles that require photonics sensors to ‘see’, guided surgical instruments that utilise light to identify cancerous versus non-cancerous tissue, all part of an industry that is growing twice as fast as the global GDP and expected to reach $780.4 billion by 2023.

On the programme each fellow has a comprehensive training plan, tailored to the career path they wish to pursue. For individuals interested in an academic career, their training includes the identification and submission to funding opportunities to enable them initiate their own research programme upon completion of the fellowship. For fellows focused on a career in industry, their training is focused on translational skills, such as fabrication and commercialisation. All fellows will be introduced to IPIC’s wide network of industry partners to build their networks, find those that best match their ambitions and explore potential collaborations for the future.

Sparkle aims to:
• Strengthen and raise the excellence and impact of Europe’s photonics research and manufacturing activities.
• Address the expanding skills shortage in the field of photonics across Europe, specifically at experienced researcher level.
• Drive the advancement of the Athena Swan Charter, good practice in recruitment, promote equality, diversity and inclusion in STEM, and increase female participation levels.
• Provide an opportunity for industry to shape the training programme and support Ireland and Europe’s growing photonics SMEs by providing them with highly skilled trainees.


Sparkle has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 847652 and from Science Foundation Ireland.

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 Sparkle programme was formally launched in 2019 and we have successfully completed three recruitment rounds. While there have been some delays in the relocation and starting timelines of the fellows due to Covid-19 restrictions, a significant number have completed their transition, on-site induction and are now progressing their research projects and training plans (including on-site lab based activities).
To date a core focus of the Sparkle team has been the recruitment of high-calibre fellows and to this end we have promoted the programme through our international networks, marketing campaigns and social platforms. Underpinning this has been the establishment of the team (including international experts panel), internal structures, processes, materials and website, which has enabled us to efficiently execute the three recruitment rounds completed to date. Of course the quality of the applications submitted is the key benchmark, and here the feedback from the selection panels and our PIs is very positive. As a result we fully expect that the fellows will deliver high quality research projects and publications, and that they will progress to build impactful careers in the photonics sector upon completion of their fellowships. The second key input to support this ambition after the recruitment process, is the development and execution of each fellow’s personalised development plan. This sets out the actions they need to complete during their 2 year fellowship in order to help them achieve their career ambitions, and to ensure that this is delivered, the Programme Manager has worked closely with the follows to ensure that they are completed before they start and also meets them routinely to track progress. The early indicators are again positive, as demonstrated by the fact that one of our first fellows has already secured the position of Senior Engineer with CNRS where he plans to progress his career.

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)

We are still at the early stages of programme execution, however to date fellows have been joining the programme, initiating their research and training plans and building their networks across IPIC and the MSCA communities. Through the regular career meetings we are tracking their progress against the expected outputs, such as high quality publications, benefits to their industrial secondment partners and opportunity for them to progress to impactful academic and industrial roles upon completion of their fellowship. As a result, as fellows complete their initial 6 month period we will pro-actively measure and record their outputs and impact, which we will share in future progress reports and use to update each fellow’s personalised development plan and the programme structures and processes. This will become the main focus for us as we complete the recruitment cycle in early 2022 and the majority of fellows join us.

Fellow Dr Chirag Patil Sparkle Testimonial