MARLENE · MeAsuRements by LasEr techNiquEs

Final Activity Report Summary - MARLENE (Measurements by laser techniques)

During the four years of the project 8 events were organised within the Series: 2 Conferences and 6 Short Courses. With respect to the events indicated in the project proposal, 2 new Short Courses were added: Event n.6, Short Course on Vibration Measurements by Laser Techniques, 19 June 2006, and of Event n. 8, Short Course on Shearography, 5 October 2007. The decision to include the two events in the Series was motivated by the fact that the topics dealt with were complementary to those of the other events. Therefore by adding these two new courses to the project, it was possible to offer a wider and more complete overview of the laser based measurement techniques presented in the Series. All the events organised registered a higher participation than originally expected. Both the number of funded participants and the number of total participants were higher than the figures provided in the project proposal. More in details, the total number of funded participants reached throughout the project is 389 instead of the 250 initially foreseen, while the total number of participants is 547, instead of 350. As a consequence, the breakdown of funded researchers is different from the one initially provided. We registered the participation of 249 attendees for Group 1 (four times the number indicated in the project proposal), 139 for Group 2, 1 for Group 3. The great participation particularly of researchers belonging to Group 1 confirmed that young researchers are undoubtedly more prone and willing to enter new technology fields and more motivated to deepen and increase their knowledge through short courses. We feel that this change in the breakdown is fully in the spirit of Marie Curie, because it favours particularly young researchers. With regards to the participation of women, all the eligible applications for funding received by female researchers were accepted. Of course we made sure that the international balance was guaranteed. Therefore for each event no more than 30% of the funded researchers were nationals of third countries collectively and no more than 30% of the total number of researchers was nationals of the same Member State or Associated State, or nationals of third countries collectively. Of the 197 researchers who benefited from the EU funds throughout the four years of the project, only 54 (27%) participated in only one event. The majority of funded researchers, in fact, took part in two or more events (e.g. 63% participated in two events). This important achievement was obtained also thanks to the choice to organise the events in pairs on adjacent days, which concurred to determine also a saving in travel costs of the funded participants. The fact that most funded researchers attended two or more events confirms that the events actually formed a coherent series. Amongst all the events organised the most successful in terms of participation were undoubtedly the Short Courses. From our experience, this is due also to the fact that one day intense courses are more effective and practical because their short duration allows participants to take only maximum three days off work, including travel, to attend the event. Of course the greater participation registered determined a rise in the costs for Living and Travel of the researchers, but also in the expenses for Research/Training/ transfer of knowledge with respect to the original financial planning of the project. On the other hand, the participation fees actually charged to the participants are significantly lower than the fees taken into consideration when writing the project proposal; therefore not all the funds available for this particular cost category have been used. For the reasons above shifts from the various cost categories were made throughout the duration of the project and the financial planning of the project had to be updated.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union