Newsletter
Dear MCAA members,
Like every year, the September-October issue of the MCAA Newsletter opens a new academic year and a breath of fresh air after a hot summer vacation. I like to call it a wave of change. This time, the change is reflected not only in the ongoing transition to autumn in nature, but also in the MCAA itself.
First, biennial elections for the MCAA Chapter and Working Groups (WG) have just taken place. On behalf of the entire editorial team, I would like to welcome and congratulate all newly elected chairmen. In the next issue, you'll have a chance to learn more about the vision they have for the MCAA and where they want to take us over the next two years. As a newsletter, we look forward to writing about the activities they will be working on and the milestones they will achieve during the term.
The MCAA Newsletter is an intrinsic part of the Communications Working Group: the leaders of the WG and the editorial team work closely together every day, spreading the news to the MCAA community. We would therefore like to thank Ruben Riosa and Nicoleta Spinu, former chairman and vice-chairman of the Communication WG, for all the work they have done and their continued contribution to the newsletter. Even at the very end of their tenure, they still had enough energy to guest edit the June 2023 special issue of the Large Language Models newsletter, which ended up being a big success. At the same time, we would like to welcome Ashish Avasthi, the new chairman, on board. If you are curious about Ruben's journey with the MCAA over the past five years and the vision Ashish has for the Communications working group, go straight to the farewell and welcome letters.
For ten years, the MCAA has grown rapidly and transformed into a strong international network for current and former MSCA fellows. I joined it myself about 8 years ago, just after completing the PhD project, and was fortunate to see how it has evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of the community. Therefore, I am very proud to see that even now we are seeing that the MCAA is starting new and highly anticipated projects. Over the years we have observed in the newsletter that there are several topics that particularly resonate with the community and have come up very often in our articles. These are the need for mentorship in a highly competitive academic environment and the need for a safe space to communicate your concerns, a safe place to express one’s opinion. That's why we are very proud to see that the MCAA has launched two very important channels in the summer of 2023, namely the mentoring initiative and the whistleblowing channel. We would like to introduce these initiatives to you through the people behind them. If you want to learn more, go directly to “The new MCAA mentoring initiative” and “Giving a voice to researchers: Introducing the MCAA Whistleblowing Channel”.
As mentioned above, the MCAA is approaching its tenth anniversary. Ten years and several thousand members, hundreds of networking activities and micro-grants awarded every year, annual conferences and general meetings, which became important forums for science diplomacy, strong representation within the European academic communities, and even an ongoing transition towards financial independence of the association. As one can imagine, the 10 year anniversary will not just pass by, but will be greatly celebrated by the community. In this issue of the MCAA newsletter we are already starting to discuss events and activities that will take place in Milan, host city of the AC 2024. If you are interested, there are many ways in which you can get involved with the organization of the AC, or simply get inspired to attend the event. The Italian Chapter of the MCAA, kindly organizing the event, is giving a glimpse at their plans in “10 years of MCAA: Come to share stories, come to celebrate and to envision together the future ahead”, yet more details will follow in the December issue of the MCAA Newsletter.
At last, just as usual, the editorial team prepared a great overview of past and upcoming activities organized by the MCAA, as well as an overview of ongoing initiatives one can get involved in. We are inviting you to read about these activities and thanking all the authors that have contributed to the newsletter.
Enjoy the issue!
Oleksandra (Sasha) Ivashchenko
Editor-in-chief of the MCAA Newsletter
On behalf of the editorial team
newsletter.editor@mariecuriealumni.eu
Twitter: @OleksandraIvas3