The impact of the project is divided into two categories: scientific, and in terms of the career of the researcher. The project has had major impacts on the future career of the researcher.
Enhancing the future career prospects of the researcher after the fellowship
The main career goal of the PI, after completion of the fellowship, was ‘to apply for a permanent position in France ‘. Such positions are highly competitive, with a typical 3-4 % success rate for applicants per field of research every year. The position allows the researcher to focus on his/her research activities, with or without teaching duties depending on the position.
The PI had been applying to Junior researcher positions in CNRS, associate teacher positions and tenure track positions. She has been ranked two times (7 for 5 positions in 2020, 7 for 6 positions in 2023, still waiting for the admission results) for CNRS and was ranked first for Junior Chair position in 2022, a date concomitant with the fellowship. The Marie-Curie Sklodowska fellowship is a prestigious fellowship recognized throughout Europe, and the PI firmly believes that the MSCA fellowship strongly contributed to obtaining this position. The PI is now a full member of the Photonics and Matters team, and part of the PULS group. She is therefore collaborating with.E. Freysz (supervisor of the MSCA fellowship) on a daily basis, on the topic of THz and nonlinear optics and J. Degert (collaborator), both other members of the PULS group. Importantly, the MSCA fellowship allowed the PI to start her own research activity and group. Financial support of the MSCA allowed her to purchase necessary optomechanical components to build an optical setup from scratch, on a dedicated optical table.
As previously explained, the PI also answered several grant applications throughout the duration of SAInTHz. The next career step of the researcher is now to fully secure a Region Aquitaine grant (approx. 170 k€), in order to increase human resources for her group and warranty financial autonomy and support for the next 5 years. In addition to this, the PI aims at applying for the ‘Habilitation à diriger les recherches’, a necessary qualification in France to have the right to supervise PhD thesis and further apply to the position of Professor. As such, no particular innovation activities were launched during this fellowship. Thanks to positive and constructive reviews obtained from his ERC starting grant application, the PI is also willing to resubmit her application for an ERC consolidator grant during the next five years (eligibility period).
From a scientific point of view, this fellowship has also had its benefits. Indeed, it constituted for the PI a novel experience to work on Terahertz and discover some of the related challenges. The researcher was able to extend her skills in optics.
All these points show that this MSCA postdoctoral fellowship has certainly enhanced the career prospects of the researcher.
Impact on the European research and economy competitivity and dissemination
Due to its highly fundamental aspect, the project is not expected to enhance innovation capacity, strengthen competitiveness and growth of companies in the short term. It is neither expected to address issues related to climate change or industrial/societal needs at regional or bring benefits for society. The work does not contribute towards European policy objectives and strategies and has no impact on policy making.
The dissemination strategy detailed in the proposal was altered according to the circumstances. Indeed, with the international situation and the advancement of the project, publications and conference contributions were not as abundant as planned.
