Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DOC2AMU (International, inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary Doctoral Training Programme to Aix-Marseille University)

Teaser

DOC2AMU raised out of the willpower of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur key regional actors in Research and Innovation to offer to the most promising early stage researchers (ESRs) an international, inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary innovative doctoral training programme...

Summary

DOC2AMU raised out of the willpower of the Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur key regional actors in Research and Innovation to offer to the most promising early stage researchers (ESRs) an international, inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary innovative doctoral training programme. The excellence is ensured not only by the research ecosystem of Aix- Marseille University but also through the open, transparent, merit-based, impartial and equitable selection process set up to assess the perfect match between the proposed doctoral projects and the ESRs. Further to ensure the best career development and perspectives after ESRs’ graduation, DOC2AMU set up an original training programme offering a training scheme combining options of the 3 international/inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary dimensions, including a comprehensive package of transferable skills training, along with a specific mentoring scheme involving an academic Supervisor, a non-academic and/or international tutor(s) and a Scientific & Training Supervisory Committee. Beyond the recruitment of 30 ESRs, it is expected that DOC2AMU will:
• enhance skills of AMU ESRs including transferrable ones;
• upgrade AMU doctorate’s curriculum, by generalizing the innovative Doctorate Principles as a standard for all Doctoral training in AMU;
• reinforce AMU capacities to host talented international researchers in high standard working and improved employment conditions;
• intensify the cooperation and the alignment of AMU Human Resources practices between key regional academic and non-academic research and innovation players;
• develop new synergies on the regional territory;
• Strengthen the innovative and international aspects of the existing Regional Doctoral programme by systematically implementing “3I” Doctorates and spreading HR and training good practices in other Universities and Research organisations in PACA;
• Prioritize research projects focusing on the regional Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialization strategies to create a regional leverage in terms of knowledge and innovation.

Work performed

\"The period covered by this report has seen the completion of the project’s three milestones: the publications of the three calls for applicants. As a result, all 30 ESRs have been recruited and are currently undertaking their doctoral thesis at AMU. It should be noted that the period covered by this report will not have seen the conclusion of any of the thesis projects supported by DOC2AMU. The first thesis defences are expected by end of 2019. The measurable results and milestones therefore pertain mostly to the evaluation of submitted research projects and applications and selection processes.
Objective #1, “Reinforcing scientific Excellence of AMU on the selected interdisciplinary research topics, namely ‘Imaging’; ‘Nano-Health’; ‘Big data’; ‘Network’, ‘Climate change’ and ‘Globalization’”, has been partly attained: the selected thesis projects all fall under one of the thematic axes, except for the “Globalisation” axis for which very few projects were submitted and which were not retained at the end of the selection process.
Objective #2, “Attracting young talented international ESRs in Aix-Marseille willing to follow a high standard interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme”, has been fully attained with the recruitment of the 30 ESRs among which 27 are international.
Objective #3, “Enhancing skills of ESR including transferrable ones to maximise their professional integration either in academic or non-academic sectors”, has been attained: the training scheme is finalized but has not yet been fully implemented, as the 2017 and 2018 are in their second and first year of the thesis, respectively.
Objective #4, “Upgrading AMU Doctorate’s curriculum, aiming at generalizing the innovative Doctorate Principles set up in DOC2AMU as a standard for all Doctoral training in AMU” and Objective #5 “Reinforcing AMU capacities to host talented international researchers in high standard working and improved employment conditions”, have been fully attained.
Objective #7, “Develop new synergies and new public/private partnerships in the regional territory”, has also been fully attained. DOC2AMU thesis projects have permitted the creation of 15 new partnerships between AMU research teams and non-academic actors.
Objectives #6, #8 and #9 have not yet been attained as the tasks related to these objectives are set to begin by M47.
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Final results

DOC2AMU funds 30 thesis projects in varied disciplines, both in basic and applied research. 41% of the thesis projects fall in the Imaging axis, 32% in Climate change, 13% in Nano-health, 9% in Networks and 5% in Big data. Seven ESRs have begun their doctoral thesis in 2016, twelve in 2017, and 11 in 2018. As such, their scientific impact is diverse, and at different stages.
In terms of impact, the 3i dimensions of the programme bring an important contribution both to the ESRs’ individual career and to society in a wider sense. The interdisciplinary aspects of the thesis projects help produce excellent science in research axis identified as significant in AMU’s research environment, and in concertation with the regional Smart Specialisation Strategies. The intersectoral features of the thesis projects create new partnerships and configurations between AMU research teams and non-academic partners, while training ESRs to work outside academia. The programme is developing new synergies and public/private partnerships in the regional territory to ensure both the production of excellent science and the development of pivotal career skills for the recruited ESRs. Finally, the international components of the thesis projects serve both to bring young, talented international researchers in the PACA region, and to facilitate international mobility and training for these ESRs.

Website & more info

More info: http://doc2amu.univ-amu.fr.