Training through Research
Training through research is a major component of a PhD project. It is the expectation of each researcher to finish their PhD in 3 years, and all efforts will be made to support them.
All recruited researchers will be involved in at least one secondment to another partner institution, in most cases located in a different country, where they will be exposed to a different environment and they will be empowered into accessing complementary infrastructure, methods and mentors.
We emphasise learning to (a) formulate scientific questions, (b) utilise, develop, test and improve instruments, methods and/or computer codes, (c) design experiments, (d) interpret and compare scientific results, putting them in the wider context of the state-of-the art, (e) answer scientific questions critically, framing clearly the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of their findings, and (f) formulate further lines of research useful to gain additional scientific insight.
A Career Development Plan and a Research and Training Support Group (RTSG) will be established for each doctoral candidate.
Attendance of the most appropriate conferences and workshops will be supported.
Doctoral candidates will be expected to give two oral presentations at workshops, conferences or other international contexts (not counting the presentations at events within their hosting establishment, nor within the network’s schools and workshops).
Doctoral candidates will be expected to submit at least one first-author peer-reviewed research article in an international journal (but ideally two or three).
Part of the training will involve learning to write high quality scientific papers and delivering effective oral presentations.