The PhD council

 Here are the activities linked to the PhD council : 

3.1 Co-design and implementation of Joint Master and PhD programs (WP2 and WP3)

The creation of new joint programmes that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and education for sustainability is one of the main aims of EU GREEN. In fact, in the EU GREEN proposal partners stated as a long-term goal, creating at every level of study, joint programmes aligned with each of the six Research Clusters. However, considering the complexity involved in developing joint programmes, in the first 4 years, the partners committed to develop one pilot per study cycle and to launch one of these programmes in the 4th year of the Alliance (this is a deliverable of WP 2).       
Our aim is not just to create joint programmes but rather to create joint programmes that are aligned with EU GREEN Graduates’ Attributes and Educational Frameworks. Those Graduate’s Attributes and Educational Frameworks are currently being designed by the WP2 commission that has been working on it for almost one year. They are integrated in the EU GREEN education strategy that will be officially sent to the European Commission as deliverables at the end of December 2023.
What are EU GREEN joint educational programmes ? They are educational programmes at any level (bachelor, masters or PhD) that are jointly designed and organised by at least 3 partners, which upon successful completion is certified with either one joint degree or multiple degrees. These programmes should be constructed on three pillars: research expertise at the Alliance level (anchored on the research clusters), promote sustainability through alignment with the EU GREEN graduate attributes framework and educational principles.
The selection of the pilot programmes will follow a bottom-up approach. WP2 will launch a call for proposal for new joint programmes initiatives so as to involve our academic communities in the process. The Research Clusters will of course be welcomed to propose ideas. 
What is expected from the PhD council here is to enhance and intensify the collaboration in the field of doctoral training within the Alliance and to explore the creation of an EU GREEN Graduate School and joint doctorate. It will also collect model approaches on various aspects such as recruitment, application procedures, internationalisation, interdisciplinarity, doctoral supervision as well as support for scientific activities such as publishing and conference participation for PhD students. The PhD council will show the present situation of doctoral education in our 9 universities and help to overcome the different situation that would prevent the implementation of joint doctoral programs.  

3.2 The Summer School dedicated to Young researchers 
What is expected from the PhD Council is to advise and co-construct the program and organisation of those events. 

3.3 Research career development centre

The main idea in this task is to provide our young researchers with quality careers guidance (employability support courses/seminars, etc.) and information services (job, internship, and funding opportunities) with the goal of facilitating and empowering them to manage career development and make effective career transitions - either in academia or in business.

This involves equipping them with a complete set of skills that go beyond the academic realm (e.g., soft skills) and will promote joint cooperation at the level of the Alliance and of each university. 

Some proposition emerged so far such as:

• organisation of “My thesis in 3 min” for EU GREEN PhD Students: the first alliance-wide contest will take place in 2024 
• the organisation of common workshops on career management,
• a common job and internship platform to share career opportunities on sustainability issues among PhD and postdoctoral students,
• a questionnaire on young researchers’ needs to better understand their needs to enter the professional market
• a career stories section of former PhD and postdocs
• the upscaling of dedicated incentive programs on the MSCA Post-doctoral call of proposal. Those initiatives (called “Bootcamp” in UNIPR and “Springboard toward MSCA PF” in UA) help young researchers to start their career and to obtain a prestigious MSCA PF grant.
• application to an MSCA Post-doctoral COFUND Program between the EU GREEN universities to offer postdoc positions in the frame of the 6 clusters.