Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ARISE (Career Accelerator for Research Infrastructure Scientists)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-05-01 bis 2025-04-30
The ARISE Fellowships programme is implemented by EMBL, to train and develop Europe’s next generation of leadership for life science Research Infrastructures (RI) – facilities, resources and related services used by the scientific community to conduct top level research. The importance of research infrastructures in advancing scientific innovation only continues to grow. They remain essential for providing access to cutting-edge detection, imaging, computational tools, and other advanced research methodologies at scale. In the past 4 years, ARISE has made strong progress training and preparing our fellows in the interdisciplinary skills they will need to fill to take on roles in RI management, and service delivery. Skills that are still overlooked in many of the traditional training routes available to researchers.
The programme is running from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2027 and is co-funded by EMBL and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Action (MSCA) of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.
The major goals of ARISE programme are to:
-support career development of researchers interested in development of novel technologies and specialising in the roles in RI, their mobility and intersectoral exposure
-recruit up to 62 fellows for the >40 groups and teams at EMBL who are participating in ARISE program
-foster multidisciplinarity and development of life sciences Europe-wide, on its transition to data and technology driven science.
-promote development of novel technologies which will speed up discoveries in various fields of life sciences (drug discovery, environmental research, literature services, cancer research and others).
To achieve these goals, ARISE management, EMBL Research groups/teams, and EMBL administration work together to deliver the programme, these activities are structured around three interconnected pillars:
1. organisation of recruitment rounds
2. supervision and integration of the fellows
3. training of the fellows in competencies specific to the roles in RIs, and in scientific and technology and method development skills.
The programme is running from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2027 and is co-funded by EMBL and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Action (MSCA) of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.
The major goals of ARISE programme are to:
-support career development of researchers interested in development of novel technologies and specialising in the roles in RI, their mobility and intersectoral exposure
-recruit up to 62 fellows for the >40 groups and teams at EMBL who are participating in ARISE program
-foster multidisciplinarity and development of life sciences Europe-wide, on its transition to data and technology driven science.
-promote development of novel technologies which will speed up discoveries in various fields of life sciences (drug discovery, environmental research, literature services, cancer research and others).
To achieve these goals, ARISE management, EMBL Research groups/teams, and EMBL administration work together to deliver the programme, these activities are structured around three interconnected pillars:
1. organisation of recruitment rounds
2. supervision and integration of the fellows
3. training of the fellows in competencies specific to the roles in RIs, and in scientific and technology and method development skills.
Since the launch of ARISE on 1 May 2021, we have conducted four open recruitment calls for future RI scientists, resulting in the hiring of 40 fellows. These fellows are working in diverse fields including data and computational engineering, molecular biotechnology, imaging and optical engineering, and mechanical engineering. They are developing innovative technologies and methods that will be integrated into EMBL’s research infrastructure service offerings and beyond.
Our fellows represent 19 countries and bring experience from 11 distinct scientific backgrounds.
We have developed a unique training programme that equips fellows with essential skills to run services, manage teams, support users, lead projects, and promote innovation. This training is delivered through 35 separate courses conducted over Zoom, along with a one-week, in-person summer school. The programme is spread across three years.
In addition to professional skills, fellows enhance their technology development capabilities by working on individual projects, attending scientific courses and conferences, and undertaking secondments at EMBL and partner organisations. They build transferable skills through a variety of training opportunities provided by EMBL’s HR career services. Courses are delivered by EMBL staff and experts from partner institutions.
To deliver this program and support the fellows we have created a management and supervision structure to provide input and guidance for all aspects required for delivering such a program. These include EMBL teams, recruitment, HR, legal, finance and budget, training, international relations, strategy, communications, and public engagment
- established all management and supervision bodies of ARISE program
- established all process required for the delivery of open and fair recruitment calls.
- established a document system to record and allow the program manager to monitor fellows progress, including their training progression
- developed reporting documents and templates which are used by the fellows to report to the program about their key activities (progress reports, meetings with the supervisor, secondments etc)
- developed legal documentation needed for the hiring of the fellows
- deveolpled and contunily reviewd the legal documents required to enable fellows to undertake their long secondments, and short visits with our partner organizations
- established regular interactions with the fellows and their supervisors
- established clear and regular communications channels to diseminate the work of the program and fellows
Our fellows represent 19 countries and bring experience from 11 distinct scientific backgrounds.
We have developed a unique training programme that equips fellows with essential skills to run services, manage teams, support users, lead projects, and promote innovation. This training is delivered through 35 separate courses conducted over Zoom, along with a one-week, in-person summer school. The programme is spread across three years.
In addition to professional skills, fellows enhance their technology development capabilities by working on individual projects, attending scientific courses and conferences, and undertaking secondments at EMBL and partner organisations. They build transferable skills through a variety of training opportunities provided by EMBL’s HR career services. Courses are delivered by EMBL staff and experts from partner institutions.
To deliver this program and support the fellows we have created a management and supervision structure to provide input and guidance for all aspects required for delivering such a program. These include EMBL teams, recruitment, HR, legal, finance and budget, training, international relations, strategy, communications, and public engagment
- established all management and supervision bodies of ARISE program
- established all process required for the delivery of open and fair recruitment calls.
- established a document system to record and allow the program manager to monitor fellows progress, including their training progression
- developed reporting documents and templates which are used by the fellows to report to the program about their key activities (progress reports, meetings with the supervisor, secondments etc)
- developed legal documentation needed for the hiring of the fellows
- deveolpled and contunily reviewd the legal documents required to enable fellows to undertake their long secondments, and short visits with our partner organizations
- established regular interactions with the fellows and their supervisors
- established clear and regular communications channels to diseminate the work of the program and fellows
Cutting edge contribution of ARISE to the broader scientific community of the researches is the development and publication of the Competencies Framework for the scientists working in the research infrastructure. Further, to support our fellows to plan their careers, we have identified the roles existing in RIs, described them and mapped the possible career progression track within this career path. This kind of information was not exiting prior ARISE and is very much appreciated by the scientific and RI community.
With ARISE we are facilitating the diversification of the expertise and profiles in the life sciences, bringing technology and method developers into life science community, where they can propose technical and methodological solutions that can speed up the work of numerous scientists and solving of variety of scientific problems. ARISE is increasing the number of technology developers (e.g. engineers, physicists, other STEM experts) at EMBL, and enabling novel technologies development and improvement of services beyond the present state-of-the-art.
With the innovative training program, ARISE fellows are becoming one of the first generations of infrastructures experts who are getting structured training on development of methods and technologies for services, operation and management of RI teams, and European strategy for RI and Open science. The excellence of the staff in RI is key to the efficient operation of the RIs and innovation driven by the needs of the scientists who are using RI. In this way, ARISE is directly contributing to the return on the investment in the RI instrumentation and building infrastructures, which amounts to 20 billion Euros in the last 20 years in the EU countries.
Following early success of the ARISE program, we have been contacted by 2 organisations interested in setting up their own version of ARISE
Establishing ARISE is further supporting career diversification in life sciences, promoting a career track to researchers who wish work in academic set up on the scientific breakthroughs across multiple scientific fields and questions, and as such do not want to focus on their own focused research question. To be able to span a wide breath of scientific topics, and link it to technology and method innovation, as well as successful management of operation of RI, we need the best and most talented researchers for these roles.
Indeed, we are proud that ARISE fellows have published 160 scientific publications and innovation, in the forms of papers, pre-prints, software solutions, instrument improvements, codes, and presentations at the conferences and workshops. Our fellows engage in public outreach and engagement activities ranging from speaking to policy makers to school children.
With ARISE we are facilitating the diversification of the expertise and profiles in the life sciences, bringing technology and method developers into life science community, where they can propose technical and methodological solutions that can speed up the work of numerous scientists and solving of variety of scientific problems. ARISE is increasing the number of technology developers (e.g. engineers, physicists, other STEM experts) at EMBL, and enabling novel technologies development and improvement of services beyond the present state-of-the-art.
With the innovative training program, ARISE fellows are becoming one of the first generations of infrastructures experts who are getting structured training on development of methods and technologies for services, operation and management of RI teams, and European strategy for RI and Open science. The excellence of the staff in RI is key to the efficient operation of the RIs and innovation driven by the needs of the scientists who are using RI. In this way, ARISE is directly contributing to the return on the investment in the RI instrumentation and building infrastructures, which amounts to 20 billion Euros in the last 20 years in the EU countries.
Following early success of the ARISE program, we have been contacted by 2 organisations interested in setting up their own version of ARISE
Establishing ARISE is further supporting career diversification in life sciences, promoting a career track to researchers who wish work in academic set up on the scientific breakthroughs across multiple scientific fields and questions, and as such do not want to focus on their own focused research question. To be able to span a wide breath of scientific topics, and link it to technology and method innovation, as well as successful management of operation of RI, we need the best and most talented researchers for these roles.
Indeed, we are proud that ARISE fellows have published 160 scientific publications and innovation, in the forms of papers, pre-prints, software solutions, instrument improvements, codes, and presentations at the conferences and workshops. Our fellows engage in public outreach and engagement activities ranging from speaking to policy makers to school children.