INECSE · Early stage research training in integrated energy conversion for a sustainable environment

Final Activity Report Summary - INECSE (Early stage research training in integrated energy conversion for a sustainable environment)

The Project 'Integrated energy conversion for a sustainable environment (INECSE) was funded during 2006 and 2010 by the European Commission within the Marie Curie actions, with the main objective of contributing to the creation of a new European class of researchers in the field of energy and environmental technologies. The project was organised and managed by five European Universities, namely Aabo Akademi University, Finland, Cardiff University, United Kingdom, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, University of Stuttgart and Technical University of Munich, Germany, and by three applied research institutes, namely ENEL Ingegneria e Innovazione, Italy, Instytut Energetyki, Poland and Istituto Ricerche sulla Combustione CNR, Italy. Fellows selected within the INECSE project were trained for periods of two to three years, using a unique training scheme which included experimental research activities and participating to a wide range of complementary activities, including attendance at scientific and managerial courses, technical workshops and visits to test facilities and industrial sites, in a plurality of European countries different from that of their origin. Recruitment of Fellows was very successful, as more than 12 000 contacts were registered in the section of the European mobility portal dedicated to the INECSE Project and 98 applicants from all over the world contacted the managing Institutions sending their curriculums for selection. Following a two-step selection, 16 fellows were appointed. Of these, six came from Eastern European countries and two from non-European states, i.e. Sri-Lanka and Serbia. 13 Fellows were PhD students. The project was successful not only from the scientific point of view but also in providing great opportunities of professional growth to fellows, in view of their possible future career in Universities or in the applied energy research sector. Major scientific and technical achievements were obtained by INECSE fellows in areas particularly critical for the advent of future energy technologies, such as the integration of renewables in high efficiency systems, the production and utilisation of sustainable fuels and the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). At the end of the project, while 14 papers were published by fellows in international scientific journals, almost 59 papers were presented at international conferences with one of these being awarded as best conference paper'. INECSE fellows also discussed 25 papers and 33 posters at international workshops. The above-mentioned results were the logical consequence of the intensive collaboration between managing institutions in providing the fellows with the highest levels of teaching, research supervision and complementary non-technical experiences that were rarely found in training projects and that, in the case of INECSE, created an innovation oriented highly stimulating environment. Fellows greatly appreciated the possibility to spend some periods at different research institutions. Fifteen15 secondments of several months were carried out within the project and these experiences helped them in better interacting with experts of different cultures and in better evaluating the results of their activities. Secondments were also useful for the managing Institutions in strengthening old collaborations or creating new ones and, more generally, in acting together in training future European researchers with a true multidisciplinary approach and an effective interaction between the academia and industry.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union