CCIMC (Coordination Chemistry Inspires Molecular Catalysis) project coordinated by the CNRS and funded by the European Commission has just started with its Kick-Off Meeting in March 2020.
The CCIMC project is an Innovative Training Network of the “European Joint Doctorate” type funded by the European Commission that addresses the current lack of coordinated doctoral training at the European level on molecular catalysis. It aims to push the frontiers of knowledge in ligand design, coordination chemistry, precatalyst development, catalyst recovery and catalytic process implementation, while also offering full scale training in professional and personal transferable skills. Beside scientific objectives, one important challenge is to prepare a new generation of junior scientists able to meet the economic and societal challenges of the chemical industry in the 21st century.
The Kick-Off Meeting of the CCIMC project was held in the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena on March 09-10th. All 9 beneficiaries were present along with industrial partners and one Advisory Board member. This first project meeting was a great opportunity to gather together all stakeholders in order to exchange about the research works, objectives and opportunities of the CCIMC network.
The aim of the first day meeting was to take stock of the overall coordination of the project as well as the financial, legal and training aspects, and also to familiarize all participants with the required procedures and obligations.
The second day focused on the presentation of all research projects by the PhD supervising teams. In total 15 PhD students – Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) – will be recruited to carry out these research projects during 3 years under the supervision of two academic institutions (the recruiting institution and a second host institution), one industrial mentor (secondment) and in some cases a third institution (other secondment).
At the end of the meeting the representatives of the Partner institutions and the Advisory Board member provided feedback about the project implementation and advice.