Lifelong Health European Talent Academy for Post Docs and Fellows

Call to participate in European Talent Academy Networking and Training opportunity with the Technische Universität München (TUM) and Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi)

Apply via our online form.  Application deadline extended to 9:00 a.m. on 30 January 2023 

This programme provides newly appointed group leaders at Imperial, TUM and PoliMi working on thematic areas relevant to convergence science for Lifelong Health  to meet each other across disciplines, to make international research connections, and to participate in a series of online and in-person training sessions, focused on both individual career development (eg abstract and impact, proposal writing, policy-influencing) and collaborative research skills (eg understanding UK and EU research funding and policy landscapes). 

The programme will bring together emerging health and med-tech researchers working in multidisciplinary fields across natural and social sciences, engineering, medicine and business.

The programme focuses on newly appointed lecturers and independent research fellows who are within 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD.

These periods exclude any career break, for example due to:
family care, health reasons,or reasons related to COVID-19 such as home schooling or increased teaching load.

Newly appointed group leaders as defined above are eligible to apply if their research connects to the theme/challenge of 'Striving for life-long health in Europe: Strategies and technologies for a healthier society.’'

Participation offers the opportunity to:

Connect with other Imperial, Poli Milano, and TUM group leaders doing work in complementary research areas and form important networks for future collaboration.

Attend training and gain information about research funding available to support UK-EU research collaborations.

Meet policy-makers and others connected to EU research funding and gain insights into how funding decisions are made.

Receive training to communicate effectively with policymakers.

Start thinking early in careers about accessing research funding to support career and research goals.

Seed potential Horizon Europe and other funding proposals.

 
Each institution will pay for the costs of its selected ECRs to participate in the programme, including travel for in-person sessions.  We anticipate having 5-8 participants from each institution, Maximum 20-21 participants total.

Background

Imperial and TUM formed a strategic partnership in 2018.  TUM and PoliMi formed a strategic partnership in 2022.  As entrepreneurial universities focused on science and technology and with strong connections to industry, the three universities are well-positioned to collaborate.  All three universities are committed to supporting early career researchers in establishing UK-EU networks for research and innovation. 

TUM launched the European Talent Academy in 2020-21, and the programme has thus far had over 40 ECRs participate from the three institutions.  Previous themes were the EU Green Deal, and AI.

Theme for 2022-23

To guarantee that the participants have a thematic research link and that the presented funding instruments are tailored to their needs and interests, the European Talent Academy will be based on an annual challenge / topic. This also will give the possibility to integrate match-making sessions at the end of the Talent Academy to already explore collaboration and joint projects.

The theme for 2022-23 is: ‘Striving for life-long health in Europe: Strategies and technologies for a healthier society.’  Eligible ECRS working on this topic from any disciplinary area are encouraged to apply.  At Imperial we welcome applications from across our four faculties, as long as the research connects to the programme’s theme.

Key words: ageing society, healthy life, welfare diseases, well-being, prevention, health gaming, healthy cities and communities, non-communicable diseases, chronic diseases, child obesity, mental health, nutrition, UN SDG 3 good health and well-being, life-course health, health technologies, imaging technologies, data and health, affordable healthcare, innovation for healthcare, wearables, product design, healthcare management, healthcare systems, robotics, one health, prosthetics, convergent science, data management, statistics, climate and health.’

Programme and Timeline

The programme takes place March - October 2023.  Participants must commit to attending all of the following mandatory sessions, which are:

·       In-person - 29-31 March in Milan at PoliMi (programme will include lab visits, facilitated networking, short research pitches, introduction to programme)

·       Virtual - Week commencing 14 April – virtual training session on abstract writing

·       In-person - An exploratory research visit to TUM or PoliMi between 31 March and 31 July

·       Virtual - Week commencing 22 May Project idea clinic

·       In-person – 18-20 October in Brussels (programme will include presentations of collaborative research project ideas/groups that have formed, UK and EU research policy and frameworks)

In addition to the above required modules, participants will be offered optional virtual training sessions.  A minimum of 5 participants will need to register for an optional session for us to run them. Optional sessions will include proposal writing, EU and non-EU funding, policy-influencing, persuasive writing in academia, visualisation, and a writing retreat.
 
How to Apply and Who is Eligible

Applicants must be newly appointed lecturers and independent fellows who are within 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD.

These periods exclude any career break, for example due to:
family care, health reasons, reasons related to COVID-19 such as home schooling or increased teaching load.

Applicants’ contracts with Imperial must be active until December 2023, and their research must connect to the theme for this year.

Applicants must have a commitment to exploring EU research collaboration and funding opportunities.

Applicants should ideally discuss their intent to participate in this programme with their research leads or line managers.

The deadline has been extended to 9 am on 30 January 2023.  Apply by submitting an online application form.

Notes:
The PFDC and the International Relations Office will be monitoring the expressions of interest. In order to offer the opportunity to a wide range of people if you have been put forward for previous programs (eg. World Economic Forum, Wilbe Ventures course, Broadening horizons) you will not be eligible to apply.


Workshop Funding

·       Up to 7-8 Imperial participants will be selected for this programme to participate with TUM and Poli Milano counterparts.

·       Imperial will pay for train and air travel, meals and accommodation (according to College guidance on overseas travel rates) for Imperial participants to attend in-person workshops and research visits.  £500 per Imperial researcher is allocated for the in-person exploratory research visits, for use within College travel guidelines.

·       Imperial, PoliMi, and TUM are all contributing equally to the costs of delivering the training and networking sessions, both online and in-person.  At Imperial, funding is made possible for this programme via the Research England Policy Support Fund.