ANDALUCIA TALENT HUB · Andalucía Talent Hub Fellowship Programme for the mobility of experienced researchers in connection with the Campuses of International Excellence

Andalucía Talent Hub Fellowship Programme for the mobility of experienced researchers in connection with the Campuses of International Excellence

Andalucía Talent Hub (ATH) was designed with the aim of attracting and retaining in Andalucía (Spain) excellent experience researchers, who could provide a stimulus for research institutions in the region to adopt best practices in R&D, to be more connected internationally, and above all, to produce better science and knowledge for the society. The results of the research projects funded under ATH are expected to lead to significant improvements in technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship; and desirably, in the productivity and sustainable development of Europe through the modernisation of its SMEs and traditional manufacturing industries, an issue of particular relevance in Andalucía, whose Regional Government will co-fund this project. Andalucía Talent Hub offered 50 two-year contracts to experienced researchers, under an incoming or outgoing mobility scheme. All the researchers were hired by universities and research institutions in Andalucía, and also carried out their research at other international research institutions during the outgoing phase of their fellowships. In total, the 50 researchers worked at 46 different research institutions in 14 countries. The programme offered a competitive salary, family, travel and mobility allowances, and a contribution to research costs, all under the conditions of the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. After a delay in the start of the programme, due to the financial crisis and a major government restructuring, the programme was launched in july 2014. Since then the project run on schedule and has achieved most of its objectives and technical goals for the period with relatively minor deviations: 95% of the scheduled fellow-month of the contracts have been executed. The programme included two calls of 30 and 20 fellowships. A total of 339 applications were received from over 30 countries, 199 from men and 140 from women. The calls were posted in Euraxess and other international websites, as well as published in the regional official gazette and Talentia website and the Regional Government social networks. A total of 27 independent international experts took part in the evaluation process. The total of 50 fellowships were awarded, 30 to men and 20 to women. The researchers were hired by 11 different research institutions in Andalucía, and conducted part of their research as visiting researchers at 35 different instituions in 13 countries. Institutions hiring the researchers: Universidad de Almería (1), Universidad de Cádiz (3), Universidad de Córdoba (5), Universidad de Granada (14), Universidad de Huelva (1), Universidad de Málaga (1), Universidad de Sevilla (1), Universidad Pablo de Olavide (2), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - CSIC (17), Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Investigación de Málaga en Biomedicina y Salud - FIMABIS (2) and Fundación Progreso y Salud (3). Other instituions hosting the researchers: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); Institute for Diabetes and Obesity; Universidad de Kassel; Universität des Saarlandes; University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna; University of Antwerp; Universidad de Acadia; Centro para el Desarrollo de la Nanociencia y la Nanotecnología; Technical University of Denmark; University of Copenhagen; University of California Davis; University of California San Diego; University of Maryland; Yale University; Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule: Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière; Service de Physique de l'Estat Condensé- SPEC; Université Paris Sud; Università degli Studi dell'Insubria; Università degli Studi di Milano; EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University; Universidad de Groningen; Wageningen University; Lunds Universitet; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Food and Environment Research Agency of United Kindom; Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine; University of Birmingham; University of Bristol; University of Cambridge (2); University of Oxford (2). As stated, most of of the objectives and technical goals for the period have been achieved, with relatively minor deviations. Out of 50 fellows 42 have finished their 24-month contract, and eight finished their contracts earlier, due to the urge to start other contracts that could not be further postponed. In all cases, their host institutions declared the scientific goals of their projects were achieved prior to the end of the contracts. Seven fellows took family breaks, for later returning to their positions and finishing their 24-month contracts. The research activity funded by Andalucía Talent Hub has lead to the publishing of 339 journal articles and 63 book chapters, 7 patents, 202 conferences, and contributions to 319 congresses. Fellows received a total of 74 training sessions and delivered 76. At the closing of this report, 35 fellows reported to be working as researchers, 18 of them at the same institution that hired them for Andalucía Talent Hub. Only 1 reported to be working outside the EU and 15 to be unemployed. This sets a positive expectation about the impact of the programme, as the main goal of attracting and retaining excellent researchers to the ERA, and preferably to Andalucía, is in the process to be reached with a significant rate of success. The fact that a large proportion of fellows have found permanent positions right after their fellowships, many of them at their host instutions, makes us think that the selection process was succesful, the incentives were right in order to attract and retain the researchers, and the support structure created through the host institutions has allowed them to cointinue their carreers within the ERA. All of the information about the project is published at www.becastalentia.com. In Spanish: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/economiainnovacionyciencia/talentia/?q=node/12545 And English: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/economiainnovacionyciencia/talentia/?q=node/12546

Data: CORDIS, © European Union