Newsletter
Dear MCAA Members,
I hope you are all fine and everything is going well. This issue of the MCAA Newsletter focuses on what is happening/has happened recently in our community.
Utterly important news is related to a reshuffle of the MCAA Board: Corinne Portioli is currently MCAA Board Secretary and Excom member and Giulia Malaguarnera, the former Secretary, is now an ordinary Board Member until the end of the current mandate (2024). The decision was taken after reviewing the individual skills compared to the positions and the time availability. The Board decided to give Giulia the opportunity to increase the focus on Open Science and policy, freeing her from the administrative and organizational duties in which Corinne excels. In legal terms, this was based on the possibility of cooptation of board members allowed by the MCAA statutes (article 8).
In the Operational Team, we welcome newly hired staff: Stephanie Paoloni and Jake Vinnacombe-Willson as Administrative Assistants, Antonino Puglisi has joined as Community Manager, Federico Torres as Director of Internal governance, Abdallah Bahlit as Financial Accountant, Juliette Ferte as Events Organization Supporter, Fabrizio Martina as Graphic Designer, and Ruben Riosa as Communication Manager. The hiring process is still ongoing for further support positions, made possible with the support from the EU funded Coordinated Support Action, CSA, MCAA New Horizon.
We are excited to announce that the 2024 MCAA Annual Conference and General Assembly 2024 will be held in Milan, Italy, on March 14th-16th, 2024. The theme will be “10 years of MCAA: Past, Present & Future''. Satellite events will be planned on March 14th, while the core of the conference will be on March 15th-16th, 2024, so block the week to fully enjoy the event! Last July, MCAA Secretary Corinne Portioli and MCAA ordinary Board Member Gian Maria Greco joined the Italy Chapter Annual Meeting, organized at the Università Bicocca in Milan, where the main topics discussed were the chapter’s activities and the organization plan for the 2024 Annual Conference. The Call for Session Proposals for the 2024 Annual Conference is now open and we look forward to exciting topics and unique sessions focused on the areas of interest of the MCAA and discuss the work and role that the MCAA has conducted as well as future paths. Importantly, 2024 will be the year for MCAA board elections: a call for applications will be launched in due time. If you feel hyper engaged with the MCAA goals, if you have free time and enthusiasm to dedicate to the community, if you feel capable of high level commitment to take on the responsibilities of driving the MCAA for the next two years - all on a volunteering basis - then keep an eye for coming announcements.
In addition to the main grant that supports the MCAA, the association is a partner in several funded projects, which help in financing the MCAA activities. Another important note, is that the MCAA has established the MCAA Whistleblowing Channel, which provides a secure and confidential platform for members to report any form of unethical behavior they have witnessed or experienced first-hand, within the MCAA itself, but also in their work environment.
Among the many opportunities and services provided by the MCAA to its members, those supporting career development are amid the most rewarding. We have recently launched our mentoring platform MCAA Academy, designed specifically for MCAA members. We call for alumni to register as mentors and/or mentees, to give and get support! The platform will also enable members to build connections and expand professional networks, at all career stages and across all fields. In addition, we recently evaluated the effectiveness of the MCAA learning program initiative as a tool for career development. Through free access to the Coursera platform, members get into a wide range of courses and specializations taught by leading academics from renowned universities worldwide. Many members described engaging, relevant, and valuable this initiative which has been pleasantly proven to be highly successful. The MCAA Training Program organizes personalized courses, developed and led by MCAA members with professional expertise on given themes. The combination of online learning, mentoring and training has proven to be a powerful support in achieving professional goals. We encourage you to take advantage of the MCAA Academy, enroll in the learning programs, attend the variety of workshops, webinars and training provided, and to continue exploring the invaluable resources available to MCAA members. The MCAA has also been working on a joint project with an international consortium of funders to launch a mentoring platform to support the implementation of narrative CV, to respond to a change in the requirements by many funders worldwide. More details will be available soon on the platform. Stay tuned!
As we know, the MCAA provides financial support to our members with the aim to contribute to their Career Development, to facilitate their participation in MCAA’s activities and the promotion of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions’ community. The MCAA supports the participation of members in external and internal events by providing financial assistance in the form of microgrants(MGs). The MCAA is currently reviewing its MG’s policy and rules, to better target member’s needs, to improve the impact of MCAA to the member’s career development, and to make simpler and more transparent the application and evaluation processes. While the new MG’s policy and rules are expected to be available in Autumn 2023, the MCAA is opening a bridge call for MGs, using a simplified and provisional set of rules.
We are happy to announce that the election process for the renewal of some Chapters and Working Group (WG)s’ Chairs is now completed. The MCAA Board gives a warm welcome to the newly elected 19 Chairs (16 Chapters & 3 WGs). Their mandate started on September 1st, 2023 and will last for two years. As you know the MCAA lives and thrives thanks to the effort that volunteers generously offer. We wish to express our gratitude to everyone for their active participation in these activities as members or candidates.
2023 in Cordoba (Spain)
As usual, the MCAA has been represented in conferences and high-level initiatives. Of note, in May 2023, Vice Chair Gledson Emidio represented the MCAA at the Workshop on Scientific Freedom, organized by UNESCO, and at the International Science Council Meeting in Paris. In May-July 2023, Chair Fernanda Bajanca joined the ERA group 7 Consultation on attractive and sustainable research careers in Horizon Europe and the ERA action 3 Workshop on lessons learnt from national activities on Research assessment, and together with Mostafa Moonir, Executive Director, joined the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance. General Assembly. Fernanda also joined the Program Committee for the MSCA Presidency Conference, while Vice Chair Alexandra Dubini joined the conference Organizing Committee. In June 2023, Treasurer Pavlo Bazilinskyy participated at the Meet the Entrepreneur one-day meeting in Namur, Belgium, where the topic was about innovation and how researchers and innovators can synergistically and successfully work together. Last July, Pavlo represented the MCAA at 2 other events in Brussels, Belgium: the OSCAR closing event and the Education and Innovation Summit. On June 14th-16th, 2023, Ruben Riosa represented the MCAA at the 2023 EUA CDE Annual meeting in Lathi, Finland, an event organized by the Council for Doctoral Education.
Of interest to many MCAA members are some of the coming events where the MCAA will be represented:
• Open Science FAIR 2023, Madrid, Spain, on September 25th-27th, 2023
• 2nd Diamond Open Access Conference, Toluca, Mexico, on October 25th-26th, 2023
• 3rd MCAA Latin America (LATAM) Conference, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on October 26th-28th, 2023
• MSCA Spanish Presidency Conference, Toledo, Spain, on November 14th-15th, 2023
Overall, this first year and a half of activity, implementing the new CSA contract, has been exciting and intense for all of us. We are getting ready to start a new academic year with the same passion and commitment to support and engage researchers in creating a global network of opportunities. We wish you a pleasant reading with the great articles prepared for you by the Newsletter team.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or to give us feedback. We look forward to continuing to support you in your career development journey.
On behalf of the MCAA Board
Giulia Malaguarnera
Current Board Member and former MCAA Secretary
giulia.malaguarnera@mariecuriealumni.eu
Corinne Portioli
ExCom Member and current MCAA Secretary
corinne.portioli@mariecuriealumni.eu