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Page 1: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

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Cofunding of Regional National and International Programmes (COFUND) Workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes

29-30 April 2019 Brussels

Organised by the Research Executive Agency Unit A4 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Researchersrsquo Night and Individual Fellowships Global

4

Foreword

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support researchers at all stages of their careers regardless of age and nationality

Collaboration and sharing of ideas are at the core of MSCA The actions back initiatives that break down barriers between academia industry and business and reach out to the Public with events that promote the value and fun side of Science By encouraging individuals to work in other countries the MSCA make the whole world a learning environ-ment

In this spirit the Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a two-day workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes with the aim of exchanging practices identifying points for further programme development and bringing network-ing opportunities to projects working in the similar areas Over 70 representatives of COFUND Doctoral Programmes and MSCA National Contact Points answered our call We really thank you for that

The success of the event was the result of the commitment and effort from several REA and European Com-mission colleagues who spearheaded the overall organisation as well as all the participants who thoroughly engaged themselves in every single session

This report is a snapshot of the outcomes and conversations that took place during these days The feed-back from participants was invariably positive People were reassured to know that REA and the European Commission are open to working in these innovative and participatory ways Some of them were inspired as to take the approach home with them and apply it in their own project and organisational context

I hope that this report brings you as much value for your current and future endeavours as it has brought the REA and the European Commission and that it helps you understand the value of working collabora-tively on challenging and multi-stakeholder issues

Alessandra LUCHETTI

Head of Department AExcellent ScienceResearch Executive Agency (REA)

5

ldquoGreat opportunity to meet others in the same role identify similarities potential

improvements and reinforcementrdquo

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 2: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

2

3

Cofunding of Regional National and International Programmes (COFUND) Workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes

29-30 April 2019 Brussels

Organised by the Research Executive Agency Unit A4 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Researchersrsquo Night and Individual Fellowships Global

4

Foreword

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support researchers at all stages of their careers regardless of age and nationality

Collaboration and sharing of ideas are at the core of MSCA The actions back initiatives that break down barriers between academia industry and business and reach out to the Public with events that promote the value and fun side of Science By encouraging individuals to work in other countries the MSCA make the whole world a learning environ-ment

In this spirit the Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a two-day workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes with the aim of exchanging practices identifying points for further programme development and bringing network-ing opportunities to projects working in the similar areas Over 70 representatives of COFUND Doctoral Programmes and MSCA National Contact Points answered our call We really thank you for that

The success of the event was the result of the commitment and effort from several REA and European Com-mission colleagues who spearheaded the overall organisation as well as all the participants who thoroughly engaged themselves in every single session

This report is a snapshot of the outcomes and conversations that took place during these days The feed-back from participants was invariably positive People were reassured to know that REA and the European Commission are open to working in these innovative and participatory ways Some of them were inspired as to take the approach home with them and apply it in their own project and organisational context

I hope that this report brings you as much value for your current and future endeavours as it has brought the REA and the European Commission and that it helps you understand the value of working collabora-tively on challenging and multi-stakeholder issues

Alessandra LUCHETTI

Head of Department AExcellent ScienceResearch Executive Agency (REA)

5

ldquoGreat opportunity to meet others in the same role identify similarities potential

improvements and reinforcementrdquo

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 3: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

3

Cofunding of Regional National and International Programmes (COFUND) Workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes

29-30 April 2019 Brussels

Organised by the Research Executive Agency Unit A4 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Researchersrsquo Night and Individual Fellowships Global

4

Foreword

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support researchers at all stages of their careers regardless of age and nationality

Collaboration and sharing of ideas are at the core of MSCA The actions back initiatives that break down barriers between academia industry and business and reach out to the Public with events that promote the value and fun side of Science By encouraging individuals to work in other countries the MSCA make the whole world a learning environ-ment

In this spirit the Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a two-day workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes with the aim of exchanging practices identifying points for further programme development and bringing network-ing opportunities to projects working in the similar areas Over 70 representatives of COFUND Doctoral Programmes and MSCA National Contact Points answered our call We really thank you for that

The success of the event was the result of the commitment and effort from several REA and European Com-mission colleagues who spearheaded the overall organisation as well as all the participants who thoroughly engaged themselves in every single session

This report is a snapshot of the outcomes and conversations that took place during these days The feed-back from participants was invariably positive People were reassured to know that REA and the European Commission are open to working in these innovative and participatory ways Some of them were inspired as to take the approach home with them and apply it in their own project and organisational context

I hope that this report brings you as much value for your current and future endeavours as it has brought the REA and the European Commission and that it helps you understand the value of working collabora-tively on challenging and multi-stakeholder issues

Alessandra LUCHETTI

Head of Department AExcellent ScienceResearch Executive Agency (REA)

5

ldquoGreat opportunity to meet others in the same role identify similarities potential

improvements and reinforcementrdquo

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 4: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

4

Foreword

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) support researchers at all stages of their careers regardless of age and nationality

Collaboration and sharing of ideas are at the core of MSCA The actions back initiatives that break down barriers between academia industry and business and reach out to the Public with events that promote the value and fun side of Science By encouraging individuals to work in other countries the MSCA make the whole world a learning environ-ment

In this spirit the Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a two-day workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes with the aim of exchanging practices identifying points for further programme development and bringing network-ing opportunities to projects working in the similar areas Over 70 representatives of COFUND Doctoral Programmes and MSCA National Contact Points answered our call We really thank you for that

The success of the event was the result of the commitment and effort from several REA and European Com-mission colleagues who spearheaded the overall organisation as well as all the participants who thoroughly engaged themselves in every single session

This report is a snapshot of the outcomes and conversations that took place during these days The feed-back from participants was invariably positive People were reassured to know that REA and the European Commission are open to working in these innovative and participatory ways Some of them were inspired as to take the approach home with them and apply it in their own project and organisational context

I hope that this report brings you as much value for your current and future endeavours as it has brought the REA and the European Commission and that it helps you understand the value of working collabora-tively on challenging and multi-stakeholder issues

Alessandra LUCHETTI

Head of Department AExcellent ScienceResearch Executive Agency (REA)

5

ldquoGreat opportunity to meet others in the same role identify similarities potential

improvements and reinforcementrdquo

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 5: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

5

ldquoGreat opportunity to meet others in the same role identify similarities potential

improvements and reinforcementrdquo

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 6: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

6

Introduction

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon 2020

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions aim to support the career development and training of researchers ndash with a focus on research and innovation skills ndash in all scientific disciplines through international and inter-sectoral mobility

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are expected to finance around 65 000 researchers between 2014 and 2020 EUR 1046 billion ie almost 10 of the overall budget for 2020 of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 are allocated to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) This represents the biggest annual budget MSCA has ever had to fund international intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training and mobility

The Actions address several objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy including the Innovation Union flagship initiative This states that the EU will need at least one million new research jobs if it is to reach the target of spending 3 of EU GDP on research and development by 2020

By funding excellent research and providing attractive working conditions the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Ac-tions offer high-quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age nationality or discipline The 2014 - 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are

o Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Innovative doctoral-level training providing a range of skills in order to maximise employabilityo Individual Fellowships (IF) Support for experienced researchers undertaking mobility between coun-tries and also to the non-academic sectoro Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) International and intersectoral collaboration through the exchange of research and innovation staffo Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND) Co-financing high-qual-ity fellowship or doctoral programmes with transnational mobility

In addition there are several Coordination and Support Actions such as European Researchersrsquo Night to support the four main actions

Cofunding of regional national and international programmes (COFUND)

COFUND provides organisations in all research areas with additional financial support for their own re-searcher training and career development programmes This extra funds are available for new or existing schemes for training researchers abroad and across various sectors

COFUND supports doctoral programmes for PhD candidates It also supports fellowship programmes for experienced researchers but this is not the topic of this report

Doctoral candidates apply directly to the relevant funding organisation through vacancies for cofunded programmes on both Euraxess which is a European Commission jobs portal for researchers and other appropriate publications

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 7: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

7

Participating organisations receive a fixed amount for each supported researcher as a contribution to their living allowance and to the programmersquos management costs Selected programmes can receive cofunding for up to five years for a maximum amount of EUR 10 million Further information about COFUND can be found at the MSCA webpage

Between 2014 and 2017 in the doctoral programme 190 proposals were submitted and 53 selected for funding across 12 countries and 47 institutions

1 COFUND httpseceuropaeuresearchmariecurieactionsactionsco-funding-programmes_en2 In the 2018 call 14 additional doctoral programmes were selected for funding

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 8: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

8

The event

The Research Executive Agency with the participation of the Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture organised a workshop on MSCA COFUND Doctoral Programmes on 29-30 April 2019 in Brus-sels

The event brought together more than 70 representatives of nearly all the 53 funded projects selected under the 2014-2017 calls as well as representatives of the MSCA national contact points

The aim was twofold to enable beneficiaries to exchange their experiences in order to identify and share good practices on different aspects of doctoral programmes and to identify points for improvement of Doc-toral Programmes which could feed into our monitoring practices and into the preparation of the next CO-FUND Guide for Applicants Moreover the conclusions will inform the next call for proposals to be launched in 2020 and the preparation of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions in Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos forthcoming research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027

The topics for the working groups were established in cooperation with participants and covered implemen-tation challenges in the various COFUND project phases such as communication and dissemination the evaluation and selection of PhD candidates quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision and the project management

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 9: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

9

ldquoLoved the interactive sessions and short sharp input on topicsrdquo

ldquoI think the format was really suitable for the purpose of the sessions and I invite the European Commission and other Agencies to do it in

other programsrdquo

ldquoBeing able to contribute rather than simply listen was extremely moti-vating Making it a point to stick to the time limit meant that although

there were some things that went unsaid we didnrsquot veer too much from the focus of the discussion this usually makes the discussions very

tedious to followrdquo

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 10: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

10

Extracts from Marc Tacheletrsquos welcome address Director Research Executive Agency

We are pleased about the positive echo that our invitation to this event has found REArsquos colleagues are aware from our experience in monitoring your projects that many beneficiaries faced very often the same issues and challenges Hence our idea to provide you with a platform for networking and exchange This event is part of the overall agency strategy to promote networking and exchanges between beneficiaries and to set up cluster meetings that bring together projects working in the same area The four MSCA units within REA will organise in 2019 more than 10 cluster events which will either bring together projects work-ing on the same research topic or projects working in the framework of the same programme component (as is the case for this particular workshop for the COFUND Doctoral Programmes) With this REA intends to reinforce the feedback that we give to the European Commission on the implementation of the projects under our responsibility We thus want to support the Commission in its policy-making activities

With this event we want to take stock of the experience made so far and of lessons learned in order to improve the current and future programmes The COFUND Doctoral Programmes have a strong inter-disci-plinary inter-sectoral and international dimension We expect projects to have a broader impact at the level of the involved institutions and to have a structuring effect at a wider level

Itrsquos a perfect time for our gathering The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have just reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe which is the EUrsquos new research and innovation programme covering the period 2021 to 2027 At the same time our colleagues from the European Com-missionrsquos Directorate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture are preparing the architecture and the areas of intervention of the future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

I would like to thank you for the success that you have made out of the COFUND Doctoral Programmes so far Thank you for your investment and for all your efforts I would like to encourage all of you to contribute actively to the discussions today and tomorrow Use the event to establish networks that you will be able to draw upon in the future

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 11: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

11

Extracts from Claire Morelrsquos keynote speech Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Directorate General Education Youth Sport and Culture

I would like to congratulate all the participants on your success to be beneficiaries of a MSCA It was a very tough competition and you made it

Europe needs highly-skilled talents in research and innovation that can easily adapt to and find solutions for current and future challenges such as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals It is estimated that the EU will need to train and employ at least one million new researchers by 2027 and this need is partic-ularly acute in the non-academic sector The EU must reinforce its efforts to entice more young women and men to embark on a career in research to attract researchers from third countries retain its own research-ers and reintegrate European researchers working elsewhere back to Europe

MSCA are the main instrument at EU-level to do so and your projects are vital in this respect Over the past twenty-three years the MSCA have evolved from a researcher mobility programme into the main European programme for doctoral education and postdoctoral training contributing to excellent research and boost-ing jobs growth and investment

Today with a budget of more than EUR 6 billion for the period 2014-2020 the MSCA support the career development training and skills of researchers at any career stage from basic research up to market up-take and innovation services and through trans-national cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility The MSCA thrive by being open to all domains of research and innovation chosen freely by the applicants in a fully bottom-up manner

The MSCA are known for their very high quality and it is for this reason that the programme is widely sup-ported by policy makers academia and industry

The principles of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Re-searchers promoting open merit-based and transparent recruitment and attractive working and employ-ment conditions are a cornerstone of the MSCA and all funded host organisations must apply them so also you

Today more than ever researchers need skills in addition to those necessary from the narrow scientific point of view This is why we expect that doctoral programmes (both ITNs and COFUND-DPs) will provide researchers with training on a wide variety of transferable skills experiencing what is happening in sectors other than their own I speak for example about training in management of intellectual property rights open science proposal writing public relations ethics gender issues research integrity standardisation

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 12: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

12

management entrepreneurship and start-up creation and other areas

But MSC Actions are not only about supporting individual top researchers Very importantly the MSCA have a pronounced structuring impact on universities research centres and other entities way beyond academia such as business (including SMEs) government hospitals non-profit or charitable organisations (NGOs trusts foundations) cultural institutions international organisations etc They do so by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality doctoral programmes and researcherrsquos training not only across the European Research Area (ERA) but worldwideThe positive structuring effects on organisations and systems include

bull improving human resources practices and procedures and providing fairer and more attractive working conditions for researchers

bull increasing the quality of (doctoral) training offered and consequently the attractiveness of the participating organisations towards talented researchers

bull ideally the feedback of research results into teaching and education

bull strengthening the research and innovation capacity (eg ability to attract funding) and output

bull building new and sustainable international inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships and networks that will reinforce the organisationrsquos position visibility and reputation at a global level but also at a regionalnational level by helping them become key actors and partners in the local socio-economic ecosystems

bull better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines

As beneficiaries of an MSCA-COFUND project let me highlight the important role you play one of the main aims of COFUND is to introduce these structuring effects on nationallyregionally funded researcher train-ing programmes across the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area COFUND programmes should comply with the MSCArsquos high standards for researcher training international intersec-toral and interdisciplinary mobility and career development And these programmes should exchange good practices and foster excellence The doctoral programmes should be sustainable the positive impact should continue after EU cofunding ends I am sure that the discussions and exchanges during this workshop or-ganised by my colleagues in REA will positively contribute to these goals and I am personally very much interested to hear your plans for the programmes beyond their funding through the MSCA

We are confident that the MSCA in general and particularly the doctoral programmes are a great success and we would like to continue them in the next framework programme for research and innovation ndash Hori-zon Europe

Building on the success of the programme the Commission proposal for the MSCA 2021-2027 is one of continuity with some improvements the MSCA will remain a bottom-up competition-based research pro-gramme investing in the next generation of researchers fostering mobility across borders sectors and dis-ciplines demanding research entities to provide professional education and training for researchers and to comply with the principles of equality diversity and inclusion and offering sustainable doctoral programmes

On behalf of the European Commission I thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions and exchange of best practices during next two days

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 13: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

13

Testimonials

1 Talent by louise thers nielsen faculty of science research amp innovation university of Copenhagen

The TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Programme aims to leverage the intersectoral and international opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty of Science University of Copenhagen in order to produce a cohort of graduates with the skills and expertise needed to meet the growing demand for highly educated human resources within the natural and technical sciences in Europe

The Communication and Dissemination phase of this project has been very successful so far The main in-gredient for this success has been the crystal clear publicity on salary working conditions and other benefits thanks to detailed explanatory notes in the guide for applicants

The dissemination tools included pop science videos blogs and interviews (video capsules) with fellows explaining their work and societal impact The communication strategy also included two way interaction sessions Among the challenges the projects encountered was a proper implementation of GDPR consent with the fellows and this was discussed with the audience during the plenary session

Furthermore the project has used very effective channels for dissemination of the call such as

- University Job portal including the 11 science department websites twitter LinkedIn Euraxess and its offices outside Europe using as well social media Net4Mobility+ among others All of them are free of charge

- Associations and networks such as The Euro League for Life Sciences (ELLS) The League of European Research Universities (LERU) The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) The Network of Universities from Capitals of Europe (UNICA)

- Major career players such as Nature Careers Expos Nature and Science Careers websites

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 14: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

14

Find the whole Presentation hereRead about the TALENT project in Cordis

2 Doc2amu by talby mossadek aix-marseille university

DOC2AMU is an innovative H2020-MSCA-COFUND doctoral programme that has allowed 30 promising doc-toral researchers to undertake their PhD at Aix-Marseille University The project aims to upgrade the AMU doctoral curriculum by generalising its principles to the entire University as a standard for doctoral training

The project has intensified cooperation within the University and aligned AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and between innovation players to develop new synergies on the regional territory

They have set up a three-level support and monitoring framework that has allowed them to create an en-vironment of excellence underpinned by the 3i principles

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 15: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

15

The 3i based Doctoral Programme included skills training some of which were elective as well as others which were compulsory These trainings were available to all fellows no matter which country or discipline they came from

Find the whole case study power point presentation hereRead about the DOC2AMU project in Cordis

3 Prebist by Maria Yubero Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

PREBIST is an ambitious programme of 28 four-year fellowships for multidisciplinary pre-doctoral research at BISTacutes constituent research centres and associated partner institutions (hospitals private companies technology centres and other academic institutions) which are providing secondments training network-ing activities and other actions to complement the research activities and professional development of the fellows selected

The PREBIST proposal is a major initiative by which BIST aims to leverage the combined capacities of the constituent centres in a manner which none of them could do on their own and help achieve the strategic objectives of BIST The COFUND programme has been a very good example on how to carry out an evalu-ation and selection process that is open transparent and with involvement of external experts Each of the PREBIST selection panels are composed of three members Their major challenge have been recruiting high quality evaluators due to the limited availability in time diversity space and research areas

Each Selection panel was provided with a participation agreement a guide for evaluators and a stan-dardised evaluation form for each step and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers The project improved the evaluation and selection procedure with 4 main items Slideroom software standards evaluation interview criteria and external evaluators

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 16: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

16

Read about the PREBIST project in Cordis

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 17: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

17

Working groups discussions

1 Communication and dissemination of a cofund doctoral programme and its calls

Introduction

Excellent Science needs effective communication and dissemination Bringing research and its outcomes to the attention of non-scientific audiences scientific peers potential business partners or policymakers fosters collaboration and innovation

Strategic communication and dissemination will help to explain the wider societal relevance of science and the projects build support for future research and innovation funding ensure uptake of results within the scientific community and open up potential opportunities

The beneficiaries must promote the action and its results by providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) in a strategic and effective manner and possibly engaging in a two-way exchange (Communication Article 38 of the model grant agreement)

Dissemination means sharing research results with potential users - peers in the research field industry other commercial players and policymakers) By sharing your research results with the rest of the scientific community you are contributing to the progress of science in general Whereas exploitation is the use of results for commercial purposes or in public policymaking

During the workshop participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details address-ing four questions previously identified by the REA on the publication and dissemination of the recruitment calls and the communication and dissemination of programmeresearch results Q1When to publish the first call and the remaining planned calls and for how long should the calls stay open What is the key information to be published What information is to be published with regard to the salary package (including information on taxation) working conditions and other benefits Any other infor-mation which could be usefulQ2What communication channels proved most effective when disseminating the calls and what is the corresponding financial investment Which communication channels are successful to reach potential can-didates outside EuropeQ3 How do you best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of projects results both for individual re-search projects and for the COFUND PhD programme a whole

3 Relevant Resources on this topic mentioned during the working group

- Communicating EU Research and Innovation httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergmh2020-guide-comm_enpdf

- Social media guide for EU funded RampI projects httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdatarefh2020othergrants_manualamgasoc-med-guide_enpdf

- Communicating your project httpeceuropaeuresearchparticipantsdocsh2020-funding-guidegrantsgrant-managementcommunication_enhtm

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 18: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

18

Q4 How would you define a success story within your COFUND PhD programme and how would you com-municate on it

Emerging key ideas during the session

Participants brought to the discussion issues such as the minimum necessary information on the recruit-ment calls (and whether applicants read them or not) taxation visa and other related permits procedures working relations with colleagues (eg supervisors) and diversity at the workplace A good number of proj-ects shared difficulties in getting the engagement of industry partners They agreed that there is no need to identify a single approach to communication and dissemination as the environments differ greatly from one institution to another However it would be very useful to clarify the understanding of both concepts and provide examples on how to develop effective strategies under COFUND Among the communication channels mentioned to publish the call andor other project results were

bull Euraxess (local offices especially outside EU)

bull Networks ndash University and Researcher Embassies and Technical Attacheacutes

bull Well managed and professional use of Social Networks (LinkedIn Twitter Instagram and Facebook Groups being the most effective among these tools)

bull University website (project website) Professional websites (cost implication eg findaphdcom)

bull Erasmus Mundus students networks

bull Job fairs

bull The less effective have been scientific journals and printed media Outreach activities mentioned practices including Poster presentations video capsules hosted on web participation in European Researchersrsquo Night citizen sciences researcherrsquos involvement in school activities It was unanimously agreed that the communication related to the recruitment call should be done well in advance (even up to a year before) and stay open as long as possible (between 2 and 3 months) despite most of the applications arriving a few days before the deadline closes Another important aspect discussed was open access From one side industries are not fully aware that all the project publications will be open access and on the other side it appears that researchers lack the knowledge on how to implement open access and manage the data generated by their research Furthermore as we are still in the early days for the doctoral programmes projects many projects are facing difficulties on defining success stories for communication and dissemination Moreover the dissem-ination and exploitation for the project results and those of the research were extensively discussed On the institutional side aspects such as internationalisation of the environment and implementation of good practices that resulted from the COFUND implementation On the individual side aspects such as career development PhD awards number of publications prizes partnersnetworking opportunities and patents were key in order to maximise the individual researcherrsquos success

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 19: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

19

Challenges and proposed solutions

Special attention should be given to the communication dissemination and exploitation of results as bene-ficiaries and individuals have difficulties themselves in distinguishing between the terms Some researchers may require training in order to disseminate the successful results of their individual projects and this should be envisaged from the very beginning of the project

Even though beneficiaries acknowledged that the use of dissemination channels should not be limited they also have recognised that some of them have a high cost and therefore require a larger financial invest-ment therefore it is important to be aware of what works best for the different disciplines as well as of the cost implications of the chosen channels Participants spent an average budget of between 1000 and 3000 Euro on publishing their recruitment calls

Fellowsrsquo and supervisorsrsquo personal networks were underlined as an effective way to attract a high quantity number of applicants However the practice raised concerns with regard to equal opportunities policies Many of the participants agreed that including specific messages to promote diversity were necessary In order to achieve appropriate gender balance aspects such as maternity leave parental leave and any avail-able childcare facilities should be clearly specified

Industry Partners are still very sceptical about open access Therefore it is crucial to have clear commu-nication from the beginning that publications are open Information on the benefits of open access should be provided for industry partners together with guidelines on patents additionally researchers might also require training on how to manage their research data

Project officers asked the beneficiaries to communicate any potential news of a project that would be worth promoting as a success story

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Applicants should receive detailed information on the salary package (net vs gross salary taxation) that they would receive if they are recruited and on accommodation and social benefits to manage expectations correctly (eg Clear FAQrsquos and guides in the website contacts of other organisations helping researchers or international students integrating in the host country)bull Provide information about visa procedures to ease this phase during the implementationbull Build networks and connections with other projectsbull Take time to draft good protocols on Open access Patenting and exploitation of research resultsbull Calls should be disseminated using a wide variety of communication channels

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 20: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

20

Recommendations to the EU

bull Proposed criteria to help identify success stories bull Strengthen the difference among Communication and Dissemination

2 Evaluation and selection of phd fellows

Introduction

Contractual obligations in COFUND are specified under Grant Agreement Art 1511 and explained in the H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement page 474-478 Researchers must be selected following an open trans-parent merit-based impartial and equitable selection procedure as described in Annex 1 Independent evaluators with no conflict of interest must be involved at all stages of the selection process a good balance between experts related to the beneficiary and independent experts must be ensured The call planning (timing and number of calls) should be clearly explained in Part B of the proposal This plan will become contractually binding for successful proposals and researchers can only be appointed through a call The call(s) must also specify the minimum gross salary offered to the researcher as set out in the COFUND proposal

Vacancies must be internationally advertised and published (including on the websites requested by the Agency) The beneficiarypartner organisation must publish vacancies as widely as possible at international level and on websites requested by the Agency (eg on EURAXESS Jobs)

During the working group participants were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previously identified by the REA

Q1 What should the involvement be of external andor international experts in the evaluation and selection process to guarantee open transparent merit based impartial and equitable selection procedure Q2 In what way is the (future) scientific coordinator involved in the evaluation and selection process if any If yes how do you avoid bias and potential conflicts of interest Q3What are the main challenges in recruiting high quality evaluators (at national and international level) Q4 Which are the most appropriate methods of assessing the efficiency and the quality of the evaluation and selection process How do you ensure a continuous improvement in the evaluation and selection of fellows

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that selection procedures vary by academic discipline and institutional culture However all programmes have a multi-step selection process structure eligibility check matching projects against existing labsPIsresearch groups in various order (eg including experts from the beginning of the process whereas others use their internal PIs project managers HR departments project officers as a first step)

Some programmes have a database with list of experts while other make an ad hoc selection of external experts based on existing networks and potential candidatesrsquo topics Moreover all the beneficiaries con-firmed that they have selection committeesboards involved in coordinating the evaluation and selection process The practices were so diverse that it was impossible for the rapporteur to give a detailed account

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 21: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

21

during the plenary sessions Beneficiaries suggested developing further collaboration with high quality eval-uators in addition to the evaluation process (eg discussion of common projects participation in seminars giving lectures)

Supervisors also have an important role but they should not dominate the selection procedure The super-visor should not have the final say in the decision making process as transparency fair and merit-based selection must be guaranteed Heshe should work along with the selection committee or in parallelRegardless of the method used it was agreed that the projects should increase the selection of internation-al and intersectoral experts for the sake of fairness and transparency and to avoid any conflict of interest Currently the EC grant access to their expertrsquos database under request although the process takes about 4 months

During the session participants also agreed that the work of the evaluators should be facilitated by prepar-ing detailed guidelines standard evaluation criteria questions and answers providing them with a briefing and also by organising their trip if onsite presence is required Currently most projects have an internal evaluation of the selection process some also have external evaluationaudit checks eg external advisory board A redress procedure should be in place to ensure that all candidates have the right to appeal

Challenges and proposed solutions

Many beneficiaries expressed the need for continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved Surveys have been suggested as the appropriate method for collecting the feedback particularly from experts beyond academia

Conscious and subconscious bias should be addressed in training for evaluators and PIs which should be included as part of the selection process

Most beneficiaries mentioned the time consuming process necessary to hire high quality evaluators at a national and international level having said that they also are aware of the importance of having diverse backgrounds disciplines and intersectoral profiles in their pool An exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to create a network around specific domains could be useful at both the national and international level

Quality control on the information sent to the applicants is not always as good as it should be In order to improve this process it was suggested a chair is appointed for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candidates

Beneficiaries have also expressed their concern with low quality applicants In order to improve this it was suggested to use webinars to clarify the possible research options during the application phase The use of an online toolplatform was highly encouraged in order to automate processes and improve functionalities This can save time and all applicants have to provide standard information which allows for comparison of applications and for checking mobility and research experience

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 22: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

22

Recommendations to the Beneficiaries

bull Continuous monitoring of the evaluation and selection process by all parties involved (including feedback surveys)

bull Expert panels mixing academic and industry representatives to ensure candidates receive feed-back on both academic skills and potential of their research projects beyond academia

bull Clear and detailed guidelines for experts candidates and committees involved in the multi-step evaluation and selection process so everybody knows what to do and how to do it

bull Training addressing conscious and subconscious bias for evaluators and PIs should be included as part of the evaluation and selection process

bull Use of an online toolplatform for receiving applications and evaluating them automate processes and improve functionalities in order to save time and have standard information on all applicants (allow comparison of applications check mobility research experience)

bull Increase the selection of international and intersectoral experts for fairness and transparency and to avoid conflict of interest

bull More involvement of international experts has proven to have a positive impact on the quality of the fellows selected It has also improved the overall evaluation process

bull Request early access if needed to the European Commission expertsrsquo database since this is a long process

bull Quality control measures such as a chair for every evaluation board to improve feedback to candi-dates anonymous ESR data during the evaluation process webinar to clarify the possible research options during the application phase resulting in better quality applications

bull Allocate enough time for the evaluation of candidates (peer review interviews)

bull Consider cultural differences in the evaluation and selection methods and communication

bull Have enough candidates on a reserve list to avoid additional calls for applicants

bull Recommendations to the EU

bull Study the possibility to create an exchange of experts among COFUND beneficiaries in order to cre-ate a network around specific domains It could be useful both at national and international level

bull Simplify the procedure and time needed to access the EC expert database

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 23: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

23

3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international phd fellows

Introduction As the Bologna Process has developed universities have put great effort into professionalising their qual-ity assurance as well as their doctoral education albeit often in separate processes Doctoral education is being managed more professionally by giving more attention to accountability and quality enhancement including the supervision of international PhD fellowsThe quality of the doctoral training and the quality of supervision are key elements for a successful doctoral programme Furthermore supervision and guidance is even more important in the case of international PhD fellows Participants were invited to introduce briefly their projects and share details addressing four questions pre-viously identified by the REA on the quality of the Doctoral Training and of the Supervision of International PhD Fellows Discussions

Q1 What are the challenges of proposing harmonised curriculumrequirements for the doctoral training when working with several doctoral schoolshost institutions in the same country or different countries

Q2 How do you establish a good balance between scientific training (practical research work scientific courses) and transferable skills courses Moreover should a proportion of these be compulsory

Q3 What supervisionmentoring structure(s)arrangements proved the most successful How do you define and ensure quality supervision for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training

Q4 What are the practical challenges from the management and PhD fellowsrsquo perspective in the implemen-tation of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

Emerging key ideas during the session

During the working group participants underlined that the proposed curriculumrequirements for the doctoral train-ing vary per country per scientific discipline and institution and even per doctoral school These variations include

- required number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) creditshours (eg scientific training from 5-12 ECTS to 60 ECTS per year depending on the research area trans- ferable skills training from few days to 15 days per year distributed either in courses or summer schools)

- balance between scientific trainingresearch and transferable skills training

- COFUND cohort specific training versus training by disciplineinstitution

- some COFUND doctoral programmes have established a compulsory list of trainings while other have proposed flexible arrangements based on individual needs

Among the different practices several beneficiaries have set a minimum number of ECTS credits for sci-entific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis specifically for the COFUND doctoral programme regardless of which doctoral schools they are affiliated to Other beneficiaries have different requirements according the doctoral schools even within the same COFUND doctoral programmes but with a certain degree of flexibility These sets followed three main formulas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 24: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

24

- List of courses offered by the Doctoral School complemented by specific courses organised by the COFUND doctoral programme

- Summer schools organised once a year for 1-2 weeks

- External trainings either in the same country or abroad

The training is provided either in-house by the beneficiary or together with some external partners (industryacademy)

The transferable skills training offer for Doctoral programmes is rich Among the mentioned examples

bull CV preparation and job interview preparation

bull Funding opportunities for researchers

bull Project Management (applied to the Doctoral Thesis time finances team leadership etc)

bull Ethics in Research

bull Open Access Data Management Plan Open Science

bull Innovation (entrepreneurship IPR Research to market)

bull Communication

bull Local Cultural and Languages Overall the beneficiaries stressed that the doctoral fellows must focus on their research project and have to defend a thesis by the end of the contract period (this is basis for the success of the programme) Therefore they need to focus on their research At the same time training in transferable skills have a direct impact into the doctoral fellowrsquos employability and are a key component of COFUND doctoral programmes For this reason it is essential for all actors involved to agree and strive to reach a balance between the time spent for training and research

There is a tool that beneficiaries may put on place the Career Development Plan It allows fellows to de-velop a personalised training focusing on career goals to discuss with supervisors and the school training coordinator on a yearly basis

There is a wide variety of approaches to implementing the principles of interdisciplinarity intersectorality and international perspective (3I)

In some COFUND programmes interdisciplinary is designed or a requirement However for many COFUND projects interdisciplinary is embedded in the nature of the project due to the research topics or the partners involved

Intersectorality represents a bigger challenge The beneficiaries agreed that finding non-academic partners (from industry in particular) for secondments proved to be difficult particularly when they were not defined from the start of the projects or for fields where private partnerships are not evident Nevertheless many projects involve non-academic partners in delivering components of training programme (eg delivery of courses on innovation IP etc) andor engaged them in career development activities (eg round table dis-cussions regarding career options)

All beneficiaries agreed that there is no need to establish a proportion of compulsory scientific or trans-ferable skills training because of the different regulations applying to each country institution doctoral programmes and even research disciplines

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 25: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

25

Almost all doctoral programmes have between 2-3 supervisors per fellow although one of them has the primary responsibility Co-supervisors are often from other research areas or even another institution Sometimes they have a mentor eg from a partner institutionindustry for career developmentSupervision is considered crucial for the success of a doctoral programme It was agreed that procedures need to be established to ensure its quality Moreover wellbeing and career prospects should be evaluated yearly

Challenges and proposed solutions

Overall the career plan was pointed as the main tool to overcome most of the discussed challenges While you could set a core curriculum for COFUND doctoral training (minimum number of ECTS credits for scien-tific training and transferable skills training required to defend the thesis) itrsquos necessary to leave flexibility for additional training based on individual needs

Lack of motivation or value recognition of transferable skills among fellows and supervisors was identified as a challenge and some proposed solutions were discussed

bull To encourage fellows participation (not necessarily making it compulsory) by explaining training advantages

bull To offer incentives for attendance such as travel grants

bull To enhance the networking aspects

bull Further explain the training importance and relevance to the supervisors in order that they encour-age fellows to attend instead of the other way around

In addition there are several challenges to the programme implementation that emerged during the work-shop but for which solutions were not found

bull Interdisciplinarity came to the fore on two aspects from difficulties collaborating between supervisorspartners involved within the same research projects and for the doctoral fellow intensive traininglearning on areas outside hisher main expertise

bull International mobility and secondments challenges pointed out were logistics languages vi-sas sufficient funding for secondments amp travel (essential)

bull Regarding the intersectoral dimension special attention needs to be paid to man-aging funding and contractual arrangements with partners oversight of supervi-sion and training arrangements during secondments negotiation of IP agreements

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 26: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

26

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

Establish a good balance between scientific and transferable skills training by

bull Having a commonly agreed Career Development Plan that could be reviewed annually

bull Appoint a training manager who takes care of the Global Transferable Skills training including its evaluation and continuous improvement

bull Convince the supervisors of the need of the fellows to participate in Transferable Skills Training

bull Focus on competencies rather than specific courses

In order to ensure quality supervisionfollow-up for international PhD fellows throughout the entire doctoral training focus on intercultural relations wellbeing appraisal and safety at work

Recommendations for the implementation of interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral dimensions in a COFUND doctoral programme

bull Do not impose artificial requirements for interdisciplinarityintersectorality where inappropriate - make sure that these arise naturally out of needs of the research project and address these at project level

bull Discuss and agree on arrangements with partners early (inter-sectoral or international partners) eg during the proposal preparation stage including IP agreements supervision arrangements input to training programmes etc

bull For international mobility and secondments think through the practical challenges (eg visa ar-rangements funding available for travel amp secondments etc) and have a plan in place early in the project

bull Engage intersectoral partners in delivering components of training and career development activities

Recommendations to the EU

bull Enhance the focus of implementing the principles for Innovative Doctoral Training by COFUND doctoral programmes

bull Provide more guidance on the importance of training and supervision for COFUND doctoral pro-grammes

4 Management

Introduction COFUND projects encompass certain activities that may be undertaken as part of the grant agreement keeping records reporting submitting deliverables among others They might carry out a number of checks audits and reviews both during the project and after it is completed

The REA can

1) Check that the project is being properly run in compliance with the grant agreement That could mean checking documentation assessing whether work plans are being followed and searching for double-funding 2) Carry out reviews into project management including assessing deliverables and reports 3) Conduct investigations in case fraud is suspected

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 27: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

27

4) Launch audits of the MSCA project during its lifetime or up to two years after the final paymentFor detailed information on these issues the ldquoFunding amp tender opportunities Portalrdquo contains the Annotated Model Grant Agreement the Grant Management Manual and the Guide on Communication Aspects as well as all FAQs

Discussions

The beneficiaries were invited to present their projects and share details addressing four questions previ-ously identified by The Research Executive Agency on Project Management

Q1 How do you manage the collaboration among different partners through the COFUND doctoral pro-gramme What kind of difficulties did you encounter in managing partners

Q2 What could make the reporting easy but meaningful Are the current work packages (and corresponding deliverables) for reporting proposed during the GAP relevant and sufficient Which work packages would you add and why Current work packages are 1) Management 2) Evaluation and selection 3) Dissemination of the Pro-gramme and its Calls 4) Ethics Issues

Q3What are the challenges of matching the EU contribution with other sources of financing for COFUND doctoral programme

Q4What is the impactbenefit of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and how could this experience improve existing standardsorganisational practices at the coordinator part-ner institutions and beyond

4 Website httpseceuropaeuinfofunding-tendersopportunitiesportalscreenhome

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 28: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

28

Emerging key ideas during the session

Most beneficiaries agreed that communication is the key to ensure a good collaboration among different partners throughout the COFUND doctoral programme They stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication open with partners to ensure a common understanding of the objectives and means to achieve them by

bull Organising a kick-off meeting with all partners to agree on roles management structure ob-jectives expected results evaluation selection procedures timeline and budget among others

bull Inviting all partners to any appropriate meeting

bull Involving partners within the evaluation panels or appropriate working groups

bull Keeping partners informed on the progress of the COFUND doctoral programme

bull Actively engaging partners in the communication of the doctoral programme and on the dis-seminating of its results

Most sources of cofunding for COFUND doctoral programmes were either external partners local govern-mentsregion national government national research funding agency orand internal funds Attracting and securing co-financing from nationalregional level has proved to be easier than combining Horizon 2020 funds with European structural and investment funds The only case of the use of the European Social Fund ldquoRep-Eatrdquo at the University of Teramo Italy is complex in terms of management and financial report-ing

The level of EU contribution is considered as relatively low despite the EU paying an average of 40 total programme cost There was a consensus on the importance of keeping management costs but some ben-eficiaries proposed reflecting on the introduction of a country coefficient for the living allowance

Beneficiaries pointed out that the majority of COFUND doctoral programmes are de facto multi-beneficia-ry projects with several partners making a financial contribution multiple host institutions (academic and non-academic) and partners providing training or secondments The design of COFUND as single beneficiary poses difficulties in the management of programme and its partners such as

bull legal responsibility towards the EU lies with the formal lsquobeneficiaryrsquo only

bull it is challenging to convince all partners to comply with obligations of the grant agreement since they did not to sign it

bull it is difficult to keep all partners involved throughout a 5-year programme

bull it is sometimes difficult to keep the cofunding from some partners for the entire duration of the doctoral programme

The beneficiaries stressed that reporting (reports work packages and deliverables) do not sufficiently reflect the objectives of the COFUND Programme For example communication of the programme and its results and training are missing Communication should figure clearly in the Dissemination work package Currently in this work package there is too much focus on the dissemination of the calls for applicants

Some impactbenefits of implementing a COFUND doctoral programme at the organisation level and be-yond mentioned by the beneficiaries were

Early stage researchers recruited under COFUND doctoral programmes act as catalysts for new scientific collaborations between various actors and therefore enrich the international scientific network of the ben-eficiarypartners

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 29: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

29

- Learning opportunity for administrative departments (use of English HR processes) and eventual- ly good practices in HR- Production of many reusable outputs (transferable skills training schemes English documents)- Boosting the standing and visibility of young Universities and of young staff involved in supervision - Strengthening networks with funding organisations

Challenges and proposed solutions

There is a strong need for a common definition of partner organisation Currently the term is used referring to beneficiary andor host institution In order to close the gap between the sources of cofundingrsquos expectations (in terms of timing expectations eligibility criteria financial management) and the obligations to implement a MSCA COFUND doctoral pro-gramme the involvement of financing partners from the beginning of the Grant Agreement Preparation is recommended

One main challenge related to the fact that MSCA COFUND is a mono-beneficiary grant is co-financing partners pulling out of the project because they were not direct beneficiaries in the grant agreement but only a partner Beneficiaries suggested as a recommendation to reduce this risk by allowing COFUND pro-grammes to become multi-beneficiary

Recommendations to the beneficiaries

bull Have a clear definition of a partner and the roles of partners (specifically the involvement of companies and the industry)

bull agreement negotiated at the beginning of the project

Recommendations to the EU

bull Inclusion of the elements of training in a work package bull Further Guidance on the content expectations for reporting deliverables bull To study the possibility of adopting the country coefficient for living allowance bull To study the possibility of having MSCA COFUND grants become multibeneficiary

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 30: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

30

Concluding remarks

During the closing of the workshop the European Commission took the opportunity to present their propos-al for Horizon Europe an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020 and some of the new elements that are under discussion for MSCA The direction of this process is an evolution rather than a revolution

Klaus HAUPT Head of Unit of the COFUND team closed the meeting by thanking all the participants and reassuring them that all the recommendations put forward during the sessions will be duly analysed and documented He pointed out that of equal importance to the recommendations and challenges underlined during these two days the event was useful to create feedback of the impact that COFUND projects are having across beneficiaries and beyond institutions Finally he asked beneficiaries to think beyond their grants by beginning to reflect on how to ensure sustainability of the actions beyond the grant time and funding

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 31: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

31

ldquoI think the programme where I am involved in can improve in terms of dissemination of the call thanks to this workshoprdquo

ldquoWent back with good ideas to improve processesrdquo

ldquoWe took lots of new ideas to improve or current project and for

future proposalsrdquo

ldquoIt was a very useful exercise and made me realise I was far from being the only one with issues apparently unsolvableSharing those experiences was the perfect boost to help us launch our

program with confidencerdquo

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 32: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

32

Conclusions

In exploring how the COFUND Doctoral Programmes can be developed further the participants identified a number of recommendations to all COFUND beneficiaries and to the Research Executive Agency Overall further impetus could be given to the Programme by considering them The workshop evaluation and feedback prove that the initiative was very successful and answered a real need among beneficiaries Most of the projects sent two beneficiaries and the evaluation scores rated on average 43 out of 5 points in the survey circulated after the event In addition participants proposed to repeat the experience in a regular basis each two years The main benefits underlined by participants were sharing experiences understanding the big picture of the programme and its organisation feeling listened to and understood by the EU and other participants learning about good practices gathering ideas on improving the implementation of their projects and net-working with the other beneficiaries not only for future collaborations

REA thanks every participant for their engagement and collaboration Having the opportunity to meet face to face with beneficiaries listening and conversing about their concerns and proposals has been enriching and valuable for its staff

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 33: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

33

29 April 20191300 ndash 1400 Welcome coffee and light lunch1400-1430 Welcome address

Marc TACHELET Director of the Research Executive AgencyClaire MOREL Head of Unit Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

1430-1445 MSCA COFUND Doctoral programmes in numbersAlan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Executive Agency

1445-1500 Format of the Working GroupsCristina PADUCEA Project Officer MSCA COFUND Research Executive Agency

1500 ndash 1530 Coffee break1530-1655 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG1 Communication and dissemination of a COFUND doctoral programme and its callsWG2 Evaluation and selection of PhD fellows

1655 ndash 1705 Short break1705- 1745 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG1 to participants from WG2

(Auditorium 415) and of WG2 to participants from WG1 (Auditorium 426) -parallel sessionsQampA

1745-1845 Networking opportunity for all participants- optional (Lounge room-3rd floor)

For rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG1-46 WG2-45)

1930 DinnerIl Convivio Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 35 1000 BRUXELLES 1920 Meeting point to leave for the restaurant in front of the REA main en-trance on place Rogier

ANNEX I - PROGRAMME

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 34: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

34

30 April 20190900-0930 Plenary Session Testimonials on MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes

Louise Thers Nielsen TALENT Faculty of Science Research amp Innovation University of CopenhagenTalby Mossadek DOC2AMU Aix-Marseille University Maria Yubero PREBIST Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology

0930 ndash 1000 Coffee break1000-1125 Working Groups - parallel sessions

WG3 Quality of the doctoral training and of the supervision of international PhD fellowsWG4 Management of a COFUND doctoral programme

1125 ndash 1135 Short break1135-1215 Wrap-up sessions to present the conclusions of WG3 to participants from WG4

(Auditorium 415) and WG4 to participants from WG3 (Auditorium 426)-par-allel sessionsQampA

1215-1345 Working lunch for rapporteurschairs Preparation of the conclusions per WG for the plenary (WG3-46 WG4-45)

1215 ndash 1345 Lunch break1345-1515 Plenary Session Presentation of Working Groupsrsquo outcomes by the rapporteurs

followed by open discussion Moderator Alan CRAIG Head of Sector lsquoMSCA COFUNDrsquo Research Execu-tive Agency

1515- 1545 Coffee break1545-1615 MSCA doctoral training in Horizon Europe

Manuel GOMEZ HERRERO Policy officer MSCA COFUND Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture QampA

1615-1630 Closing remarksKlaus HAUPT Head of Unit Research Executive Agency

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 35: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

35

Participant Affiliation Project Name

Project Id

Alcover Andres Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Barale Claudia University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Barboni Barbara University of Teramo -Italy REP-EAT 713714Barreiro Mouriz Oscar Research Executive Agency REA REABennett Heather University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Betz Charles Luxinnovation ndash Luxembourg MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPBogdan Magdalena Medical University of Bialystok

- PolandImPRESS 754432

Bosze Brigitta Research Executive Agency REA REABriani Ariela Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-

tiques de Paris - FranceMathInParis 754362

Brouwer Marieumllle Netherlands Enterprise Agency MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Cabana Laura Materials Science Institute of Bar-celona (ICMAB-CSIC) ndash Spain

DOC-FAM 754397

Capkova Zuzana Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Caracuel Leyre Institute for Research in Biomedi-cine Barcelona ndash Spain

PREBIST 754558

Cardoso Vilhena Joao Institute Curie ndash France IC-3i-PhD 666003Caro Gonzaacutelez Antonia University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Coromines Gisela La Caixa Foundatio - Spain INPhINIT 713673Costache Stefania University of Groningen - The

NetherlandsDSSC 754315

Coudreau Thomas Universiteacute Paris Diderot- France INSPIRE 665850Davies Miles Oumlrebro University- Sweden NEWBREED 754285De Vries Sieta University Medical Centre Gron-

ingen - The NetherlandsPROMINENT 754425

Di Falco Germana University of Teramo - Italy REPEAT 713714Dunn Laura University of Nottingham - UK INNOVATIVE 665468Eldridge Jennie University Alliance - UK DTA3 801604Ethier-Sawyer Sarah Protisvalor - France DOC2AMU 713750Franzen Louize Research Executive Agency REA REAFusco Francesco Research Executive Agency REA REA

ANNEX II - list of participants

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

Page 36: Cofunding of Regional, National and International ... · Cofunding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND) COFUND provides organisations in all research areas

36

GOMEZ HERRERO Man-uel

European Commission Director-ate-General for Education Youth Sport and Culture

DG EAC DG EAC

Gouin Etienne Fondation Sciences Matheacutema-tiques de Paris ndash France

MathInParis 754362

Gracia Miguel Angel Campus Iberus - Spain IBERUSTALENT 801586Gracia Perez Andrea Nayelli Universitair Medisch Centrum

Groningen - The NetherlandsPRONKJEWAIL 713660

Grillet Christian CNRS and Ecole Centrale de Lyon - France

E3I ECLAUSion 801512

Guirado Esther Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-greso y Salud - Spain

NanoMedPhD 713721

Hide Branwen UK Research Office MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Huttula Marko University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Huttunen Joanna University of Eastern Finland GenomMed 740264Inaudi Chiara University of Torino - Italy T4C 754511Johnston Ann Marie University of Aberdeen - UK POLITICO 754326Julen Delphine Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFLinnovators 754354

Kekonen Teija University of Oulu - Finland I4FUTURE 713606Koschorreck Maike University of Bremen - Germany BIGSSS-departs 713639Kuntke Philipp European centre of excellence for

sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Laitinen Teemu University of Eastern Finland BioMEP 713645Levebvre Sylvie Universiteacute Paris Diderot - France INSPIRE 665850Litborn Erik Swedenrsquos Innovation Agency MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLoda Chiara Irish Universities Association MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPLudvigsen Jonas Toft Danish Agency for Science amp

Higher EducationMSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMolina-Martinez Jorge Campus Iberus - Spain IberusTalent 801586Monaco Gabriella University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Mongirdas Viktoras Research Council of Lithuania MSCA NCP MSCA

NCPMuntildeoz Javier Almudena Fundacioacuten Puacuteblica Andaluza Pro-

greso y Salud- SpainNanoMedPhD 713721

37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

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37

Nadal Patricia La Caixa Foundation - Spain INPhINIT 713673Nae Bogdan Mihai University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Negri Cecilia University of Verona- Italy INVITE 754345Nielsen Louise Thers University of Copenhagen Faculty

of Science Research amp Innova-tion- Denmark

TALENT 801199

Oskarsson Anette Oumlrebro University - Sweden NEWBREED 754285Paducea Cristina Research Executive Agency REA REAPatuzzo Marc Research Executive Agency REA REAPetersen Poul University of Copenhagen - Den-

markiMED 8081481

Poizat Jean-Philippe Grenoble Alpes University -France GreQuE 754303Radu Daniela Research Executive Agency REA REARidruejo Victoria ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic

Sciences- SpainICFOSTEP-STONE

713729

Rossano Marilena National Research Council Italy INCIPIT 665403Rucinska Marta Nencki Institute of Experimental

Biology PAS - PolandBio4Med 665735

Ruiz Fabra Helena Research Executive Agency REA REASalvado Estivill Ignasi University of Rovira i Virgili-

SpainMFP 713679

Sarauw Lone Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain Aalborg Universit- Denmark

FRESCOCNAP 754465

Schaetzle Olivier Pasteur Institute- France PASTEURDOC 665807Schulze Marion Swiss School of Public Health

(SSPH+)GlobalP3HS 801076

Sewell Robert ICFO ndash The Institute of Photonic Sciences- Spain

ENLIGHTEN 847517

Siggs Tanja University of Nottingham UK INNOVATIVE 665468Sonne-Hansen Katrine University of Copenhagen- Den-

markiMED 801481

Sorčan Stojan Ministry of Education Science Sport - Slovenia

MSCA NCP MSCA NCP

Suresh Kumar Prashanth European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology - The Netherlands

WaterSEED 665874

Szlachta Maria Medical University of Bialystok -Poland

ImPRESS 754432

38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

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38

Tadrzak Agnieszka Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences

PD2PI 847413

Talby Mossadek University Aix-Marseille - France DOC2AMU 713750Thibault Xavier University Grenoble Alpes -France GreQuE 754303Thijssen Pieter Utrecht University- the Nether-

landsMCEC 801359

Topping Margaret Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Trysavath Anemone Curie Institute- France IC-3i-PhD 666003Uriarte Osane University of Deusto - Spain DIRS 665959Van Hunen Jeroen Ecole Polytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de

Lausanne - SwitzerlandEPFlinnovators 754354

Vastenhouw-van der Lin-den Annemarie

University Medical Center Utrecht - the Netherlands

RESCUE 801540

Ward Adele Queenrsquos University Belfast- UK SPARK 754507Wolter Aiko University of Cologne | artes

Graduate School- Germanyartes EUmanities 713600

Yancheva Rositsa Eacutecole superieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris- France

UPtoPARIS 754387

Yubero Goacutemez Maria Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology- Spain

PREBIST 754558

Zimmermann Jean-Luc Commissariat agrave lrsquoeacutenergie atom-ique et aux eacutenergies alternatives- France

NUMERICS 800945

39

40

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39

40

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40