The main achievements of the VITRIMAT consortium over the whole project include:
- the recruitment and thorough training of eleven outstanding ESRs enrolled in high-level PhD programs. ESRs acquired a broad range of advanced and transferable skills within a unique, innovative, multidisciplinary and inter-sectoral training environment that will be crucial for their future professional careers,
- the organisation in the frame of the European Polymer Federation (EPF) of three broadly open Training Schools and one final conference. Participations of 100-300 worldwide attendees including all ESRs and consortium members have strengthened the dissemination activities of the VITRIMAT project and its impact on the advanced polymer materials community at large,
- the organisation of three workshops dedicated to transversal skills (i.e. research integrity, public speaking (for scientific community), teamwork and collective intelligence, the peer-to-peer circle: how to deal with challenging situations during a PhD Journey, productivity and time management, career planning and job search strategies, career opportunities after the PhD). The sharp variety of training topics selected by the ESRs provides them with highly beneficial skills and solid assets for job search that will facilitate their future employability,
- the development of innovative vitrimer-based materials, vitrimer composites and vitrimer nanocomposites that show potential in different industrially-relevant applications and sectors,
- the deepened understanding of vitrimer materials through the establishment and the dissemination of best practices for their characterization as well as the development of predictive theoretical models,
- more than 50 dissemination activities given by ESRs in local (10), national (3) and international (26) scientific events as well as various outreach activities including a video addressing non-expert audience that have broadly disseminated VITRIMAT results and MSCA actions to the public at large,
- currently 10 published open access articles in rank A scientific journals (average impact factor = 11.5) a special issue co-edited by VITRIMAT PIs, and 2 published patents,
- more than 40 months of ESRs’ secondments performed in academia and industry all over western Europe,
- the strengthening the European leadership on vitrimers and advanced polymer materials by active participation and combined expertise and technologies of 6 academic partners, 1 national technical centre and 7 industrial partners (including 2 beneficiaries and 1 SME) that are world leaders in the chemistry, adhesives, thermosets and composites for consumer goods, construction and automotive applications.
