THE EUTOPIA-SIF 3rd Cohort is Launched!

From October 21st to 23rd, 2024, the latest cohort of SIF fellows gathered at Warwick's Venice centre, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, for a kick-off meeting jointly organised by CY Cergy Paris University and the University of Warwick. This picturesque venue served as an ideal setting to launch an ambitious academic journey for the fellows, focused on fostering collaboration and essential research training.

Eighteen new fellows met with 24 current fellows through flash presentations and poster sessions, setting a dynamic tone for future interactions. The coordination and management teams, led by George Christou, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Europe at Warwick, and Yann Giraud, the EUTOPIA-SIF programme director, opened the event.

Structured training sessions spanned key topics crucial for developing researchers: Silvia Zabeo and Deborah Nadal from Università Ca' Foscari Venezia covered Ethics, Sergeja Masten from the University of Ljubljana presented on Data Management, Emma Roberts and Grace Prewet from the University of Warwick addressed Impact. Among the highlights was a keynote from Tofik Shifa of the EUTOPIA Young Leader Academy on his own research pathway. A roundtable featuring perspectives from Barbara Da Roit, Katarina Šimunović, Alessandro Angelini, and Giancarmelo Stamilla provided invaluable insights into how researchers can transition into innovators.

The event seemed to create an opportunity for a stimulating and collaborative research trajectory, potentially positioning these fellows to grow as leaders in their fields.

EUTOPIA-SIF is the alliance’s international post-doctoral fellowship programme funded by the Horizon 2020 MSCA-COFUND scheme alongside six EUTOPIA partner institutions. It aims to cultivate the next generation of outstanding scientists, offering exceptional recruitment conditions within a collaborative, interdisciplinary European environment. Each fellowship entails a two-year contract, competitive salary, and invaluable mobility and professional development opportunities, all designed to foster impactful research addressing significant social challenges.

The fellows are granted full academic freedom to pursue their research projects in the state-of-the-art infrastructures of EUTOPIA research centres and a stimulating interdisciplinary and international academic community. They perform international and inter-sectoral mobility through secondment periods at the fellow’s EUTOPIA-SIF co-host university and with an external secondment host (international academic institution or non-academic partner). They benefit from extensive training, including transferable skills development, such as academic leadership and active career mentoring by senior academic supervisors.