Workshop 2 - Project progression
The 2nd IRMED Workshop on project progression was organized by POLYINTELL and held at Val de Reuil, France, on 2nd February 2012. The IRMED teams met for this second Workshop to discuss the status and progress of the project, plan the details of the mid-term review meeting, discuss any required scientific changes to the program, plan the secondments for the researchers and discuss the work that they will be doing. It was an opportunity for the Coordinator to explain clearly what was required for the financial reporting that will take place in July 2012 at the end of the second year and also plan for additional events. Partners reported the achievements, preliminary results and problems that have arisen since the last meeting. Work packages During the first two years of the project there has been significant progress in the scientific objectives of IRMED. This has been achieved via the work carried out by the teams including the newly recruited people as well as the secondments between the academic teams and the company. Most of the deliverables on work package 1 were achieved or are in good progress. However due to the delay in obtaining suitable results for the next stage of the project, the teams are behind schedule which has delayed the recruitment of the ER at CNRS and secondment of ESRs to POLYINTELL. The deliverables on work packages 2 have just started. Recruitment and secondment To date two ERs have been recruited by QMUL and CNRS and three ESRs from QMUL and CNRS have been seconded to POLYINTELL. It was decided than one ER from POLYINTELL would be seconded to CNRS in March 2012 for a period of three months. The PIs reflected on the quality of the training achieved by the researchers and the scientific output and found these to be very good. There was agreement that the training and secondments within IRMED certainly offered a superior environment and also a unique opportunity for transfer of knowledge between academia and industry. The secondments and recruitments within IRMED proved to be very important in terms of scientific training and personal experience in a different country. The teams examined the fellows’ reports and were satisfied with the results. Feedbacks from the Fellows on their experience were excellent and encouraging. They have consolidated their professional and personal friendship to each other and there have been a lot of exchanges at all levels. POLYINTELL was able to offer training in innovative MIP technology and materials and gave a chance to ESRs to have a working experience in industry. This work experience allowed Fellows to improve their laboratory skills and scientific skills in general as well as their language skills. During their placement, Fellows were also trained in using lots of new equipment and materials that they could not otherwise had the opportunity to do during their PhD. IRMED Events The partners gave feedback on the IRMED past schools and meetings and were satisfied with their choices of venues and activities. Feedback from Fellows confirmed that they found these IRMED events very stimulating as they were able to improve their presentation skills, present their results, have feedbacks from their peers and the opportunity to meet and talk with each other. The Mid-Term Review meeting and Scientific meetings were reviewed and confirmed. It was also confirmed that the Summer School would take place in July 2012 in London and the 3rd Workshop in January 2013. The teams discussed outreach activities and dissemination of results as well as possible joint publications between the teams and involving fellows. Management issues were discussed in particular the Mid-Term Report and 2nd year financial reports.