WaterSEED · Social, entrepreneurial and excelling doctors for water technology

Social, entrepreneurial and excelling doctors for water technology

WaterSEED stands for Societal Entrepreneurs and Excelling Doctors in water technology. The objective of the WaterSEED project is to provide a doctoral program to excellent early stage researchers (ESRs) that want to develop their skills and contribute to the development of breakthrough technologies for water related challenges. Wetsus aims to offer a breeding place for innovate breakthrough processes by bringing together innovative companies and creative scientists to jointly operate a pioneering multi-disciplinary research program aiming at original solutions. The role of the creative scientists is to come up with ideas and to ensure the scientific quality of the research. To bring these innovative breakthrough processes into practice, companies are needed to further develop, produce and distribute these solutions. The role of companies is thus to ensure commercial relevance and to bring the new ideas to real applications. Not only new solutions are needed, but also new minds that can develop and bring such solutions further are a necessity. Therefore, the core of the research program is a PhD program that brings PhD researchers from various disciplines together in one research lab. This gives the PhD researcher a unique possibility to work in a multidisciplinary environment, see figure 1 for the overview of the main disciplines relevant for water technology. Wetsus research takes place where different research disciplines have significant overlap. The WaterSEED project aimed to further expand and strengthen the research program by attracting 45 international, excellent young researchers to the program. It will also strengthen the European connection of the program by increasing the number of researchers from other countries than the host organization to over 70%. These new PhD fellows are recruited within the WaterSEED project via the WaterSEED recruitment procedure. The candidates go through a three-step procedure, where the first step is an evaluation of CV and motivation letter, the second an oral interview, and for the third step, the so-called WaterSEED Recruitment Challenge, the selected candidates are invited to come to Wetsus. On that day they have a job interview and also presentation and communication skills are assessed. In all steps, both the university and Wetsus are involved in the assessment. In addition, an experienced researcher from the so-called expert committee performs an independent assessment. Personal development is necessary to equip the PhD researchers with the soft skills and competences needed to thrive in their working life after the PhD program. Therefore, a PhD training program has been set up. This program is additional to the training provided to the PhD students from the different research schools and focuses on “soft skills”. The training program covers the full PhD research period and is schematically depicted in the figure attached (uploaded). The recruitment of PhDs was organized twice a year. A total of 12 calls was organized within the WaterSEED project, with 4-21 positions per call. A total of 68 early stage researchers (ESRs) were recruited of which 35 were assigned as Marie Curie PhD fellows. The percentage of international PhD’s at Wetsus increased from 51% to 84%.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз