ttopstart submitted two high quality proposals for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks. In this article we selected 3 key lessons learned.
In the fall of this year, ttopstart had the great opportunity to collaborate with two excellent consortia and submitted two high quality proposals in November for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks, part of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. During this time, we supported two different types of doctoral networks (DN), one standard DN and one industrial DN.
About doctoral networks
The doctoral networks are projects that have as their goal to train a maximum of 10-15 doctoral candidates (PhD students) per project. The result is a next generation of scientists in their field that can solve future challenges, increase scientific impact and to improve their career prospects inside and outside of academia. The training is achieved through their individual research projects at their host facility, supported by secondment(s) at a different facility and training schools.
Difference between standard and industrial DN
In the standard DN, most of the candidates’ time is spend in academia, while for the industrial DN at least half of the candidate’s time is spent in industry, next to academia, and will have two host facilities. The secondments are selected and tailored for each student to learn complementary skills. The trainings schools (typically 3 or 4) are organized during the 3-year duration of the PhD and will compose of a research part, from introduction to advanced courses and workshops, and a transferable skill part.
3 key lessons learned
The results will be made known in April 2023, so until then we have our fingers crossed for positive results. In the meantime we look back at the proposal development stage and selected our three key lessons learned for the MSCA-DN:
1. As you all know, start on time. Preferably, come 4 months in advance to ttopstart. So:
a. We can reserve capacity for you with our consultants that have expertise in the MSCA-DN programme, and
b. This will give time for the consortium to get the needed partners on board, align on the scientific content and have several iterations before finalization.
2. Keep in mind that the training of the candidates consists of a substantial part of the project. Meaning that the research serves the training, and this should be reflected in the main challenges of the project.
3. Focus on the individual research projects of the candidates as they will be the foundation of the work packages.
Upcoming deadlines
2023 February 09 MSCA COFUND 2022
2023 November 28 MSCA Doctoral Networks 2023
2024 February 08 MSCA COFUND 2023
‘The results will be made known in April 2023, so until then we have our fingers crossed for positive results. In the meantime we look back at the proposal development stage and selected our three key lessons learned for the MSCA-DN.’
– RILANA HUIBERTS, MSC –
CONSULTANT AT TTOPSTART