European Talent Academy

Call to participate in UK-EU networking and training opportunity with the Technische Universität München (TUM) and Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi)

2025 theme: Water and Food for Healthy and Resilient Societies

Application deadline: 10 February 2025 Time: 18:00 (CET) - 05:00 PM (GMT)

This programme provides newly appointed group leaders at Imperial, TUM and PoliMi working in the areas of food, water, healthy and resilient societies to meet each other across disciplines, to make international research connections, and to participate in a series of online and in-person training sessions, focused on both individual career development (e.g. leadership and communication, proposal writing, policy-influencing) and collaborative research skills (e.g. understanding UK and EU research funding and policy landscapes). The programme also aims to help researchers develop interdisciplinary project teams and develop proposals for further research collaboration.

Newly appointed lecturers and independent research fellows who are within 2-7 years of experience since completion of PhD*, from any of the faculties, who are working on topics that fit into the larger theme of food, water, healthy and resilient societies.

Participation offers the opportunity to:

• Connect with other Imperial, Poli Milano, and TUM group leaders doing work in complementary research areas and form important networks for future collaboration.
• Attend training and gain information about research funding available to support UK-EU research collaborations.
• Start thinking early in careers about accessing research funding to support career and research goals.
• Start building a portfolio of collaborative applications and funding for future Horizon Europe and other funding proposal calls.

Each institution will pay for the costs of its selected early career researchers to participate in the programme, including travel for in-person sessions. We anticipate having 5-8 participants from each institution, maximum 24 participants total. 

Background

Imperial and TUM formed a strategic partnership in 2018.  TUM and PoliMi formed a strategic partnership in 2022. As entrepreneurial universities focused on science and technology and with strong connections to industry, the three universities are well-positioned to collaborate. All three universities are committed to supporting early career researchers in establishing UK-EU networks for research and innovation. 

TUM launched the European Talent Academy in 2020-21, and the programme has thus far had over 87 ECRs participate from the three institutions. 

Previous themes were the EU Green Deal, Trustworthy AI, Lifelong Health and Climate, Energy and Mobility.

Theme for 2025

To guarantee that the participants have a thematic research link and that the presented funding instruments are tailored to their needs and interests, the European Talent Academy will be based on an annual topic.

The theme for 2025 is: Water and Food for Healthy and Resilient Societies Eligible researchers working on this topic from any disciplinary area are encouraged to apply.  At Imperial, this means we welcome applications from across our four faculties, as long as the research connects to the programme’s theme.

Key words: Sustainable agriculture, bioeconomy, circular economy, agricultural sustainability, food security, green economy, biomass utilization, eco-friendly farming practices, agroecology, climate smart agriculture, water management in agriculture, natural resource management, bio-based products, agroforestry, carbon footprint in agriculture, biodegradable products, sustainable food systems, resources efficiency in agriculture, food waste reduction, biodiversity and agriculture, food chain sustainability, agricultural innovations, land use and conservation, agro-industrial waste, ecological footprint, environmental policy in agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, agri-food system transition, safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, water quality, wastewater treatment, water-use efficiency, integrated water resources management, water-related ecosystems, sustainable water management, access to sanitation, water purification, water infrastructure, transboundary water cooperation, agricultural water management, water for food production, crop water productivity, water footprint of food, drought-resistant crops, water-related ecosystems, soil moisture management, biodiversity protection, sustainable fisheries, fish habitat protection, water pollution control, Water management for agriculture, Resilient food systems, Sustainable water use in agriculture, Water scarcity and food production, Water-efficient agriculture techniques, Resilient societies and sustainable agriculture, Water pollution and food safety, Climate-resilient food systems, water and food sustainability.