The BiOrbic and Marie Curie COFUND Talent4BBI: Developing Talent for Bio-Based Industries of Europe programme launched earlier this month on the 12th of November.
This is the first industry-led PhD/MSCA programme in Ireland and offers a unique opportunity for graduates to thrive in both industrial and academic research settings. The primary aim of Talent4BBI is to train a cohort of 11 highly skilled industry-ready Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) and equip them to lead the future of the European bio-based industry sector.
In launching the programme, Director Professor Kevin O’Connor commented that “This PhD training network provides a great opportunity for students to perform leading edge research with industry. We are delighted with the leadership demonstrated by Industry in funding early-stage researchers and the support of the European commission to make the vision of Industry ready PhD graduates a reality.
Dr John Bell, Director Healthy Planet, DG Research & Innovation at European Commission too spoke, calling to “drive transition by design using knowledge at its heart” and saying that “Research will have a new ambition in this, and education is the motor of transition”
Dirk Carrez, director of Biobased Industry Consortium, put it succinctly “What we need in the bioeconomy is young entrepreneurs to bring ideas to the next level”
Other key speakers were; Orla Feely, UCD Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact, Philippe Mental, executive director for Biobased Industries Joint Undertaking, Audrey O’Shea, head of Environmental and Sustainability Compliance in Glanbia, and Isabella Saini, MSCA Programme Officer EU.
Leading edge PhD training in bio-based industries is a critical necessity to help support the bio-based industries to produce the next generation of industry ready workers that can address the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly evolving European bioeconomy. Positions for ESRs in this prestigious Industry-European Commission co-funded PhD training network based across Europe will open on November 30th. All details can be found on the programme website here: https://biorbic.com/talent4bbi/
