Training
ESR Training
A 3-dimensional training concept is proposed for all ESRs consisting of
- an innovative research programme [local training]
- training schools aiming to extend scientific and entrepreneurial skills [network- wide training and industrial secondments]
- communication and dissemination activities targeting the scientific community, targeted intermediary and the general public [local and network-wide training].
This concept goes beyond a “classical” PhD education because industry and academia will work closely together with communications and engagement experts to transfer specific knowledge and skills and develop the competence and confidence required for the future careers of ESRs.
The overall concept of the training plan is that recruiting partners, 2nd supervisors and mentors deliver the necessary skills to all ESRs to complete the highly demanding research and provide them with the necessary transferable industry-focused and impact-oriented skills. These will allow ESRs to acquire personalised portfolio, an asset for their future career in academia, industry or policy settings. The training objectives are clustered around 4 classes of distinct skills:
Research training will take place at the host institutions and focus on specific research skills and courses needed for each individual ESR research project (hypothesis-driven research, scientific concepts, research methods, techniques, statistics, software, languages, writing manuscripts towards a PhD degree, research seminars). Each ESR will have one main supervisor, one co-supervisor and one mentor.
The network-wide training will deliver the basic understanding and appreciation of issues relevant to each research topic and facilitate the development of problem-solving expertise. To promote such interdisciplinary approaches, scientific workshops will cover key topics and techniques from WP1, WP2 & WP3 and enable ESRs to link results from their own PhD projects to the findings of other ESRs.
ESRs will learn basic and advanced concepts and techniques used in pig and poultry disciplines in MonoGutHealth. This will foster additional interdisciplinary and intersectoral research joint experiments and data analysis. The present ESR projects are already set-up to facilitate inter-institutional collaboration through the joint supervision of academic and non-academic beneficiaries and the coordinated experiments in joint research programmes. The goal is to encourage the ESRs to study common samples for joint data analysis and publication as well as to develop competences for new applications. This will enhance their understanding of the importance and added value of international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration.
To give the ESRs the required knowledge for their future careers in academia, industry and other sectors, training in transferable skills will be part of the network-wide training. These courses suitable for academic and non- academic careers will be provided by the Rennes School of Business, ESCI, UTP, FBN and the Graduate Academy of UoR. Examples of courses to be provided are: work-life balance; time management; surviving the PhD; assertiveness training; managing conflict; project and Intellectual Property Rights management; supervising others; team working; internal and external communication including outreach and social media; financing research.
To put the transferable skills into action and test them wider, the challenging Training for Industry I & II (ULiège/UTP) and 1 challenging event – Agri-Innovations’ Den – will give ESRs opportunity to outreach to business and citizens stakeholders with their innovative ideas, address constructive criticism and build further upon realistic capacities.
To ensure continuous improvement in dissemination and presentation skills, ESRs will receive feedback on their dissemination skills describing strengths, weaknesses and/or improvements.
Each ESR will receive meaningful industry and/or non-academic sector exposure and training in interdisciplinary research through secondments. Each ESR will also benefit from secondments in 1 or 2 other countries, which will provide additional mobility training and promote multi-cultural awareness.