Newsletter
Dear MCAA Members,
We hope you had a nice and relaxing summer.
This issue of the MCAA Newsletter focuses on some of the activities that took place in the last few months.
We welcome new colleagues in the Operational Team: Administrative Assistants Ketevan Jangulashvili and Laura Sirabella, Communications Assistant Viktoriya Zoriy, and Survey Officer Maruf Sanni.
The policy paper entitled “Empowering Innovation: MCAA's Recommendations for the MSCA in FP10” was recently published in response to the EU’s call for consultation on the future direction of the Marie SkłodowskaCurie Actions (MSCA). The paper aims to enhance the effectiveness, inclusiveness, and impact of the MSCA, ensuring its continuity as a programme of excellence and innovation in the EU research landscape while defining the strategic direction of the upcoming new Framework Programme, FP10.
Another important news is that the MCAA Annual Conference 2025 will be held in Krakow (Poland) on 21-22 March 2025, with satellite events taking place on 20 March. The conference theme is “Research and innovation in a rapidly evolving world” and the call for session proposals is now open. We look forward to exciting topics. If you wish to volunteer to the event organisation, please email contact@mariecuriealumni.eu.
The first official meeting of the new Board took place last July. It was held online and was also attended by the C&WGs Chairs and the representative of the EC as exofficio participants. During the meeting, Board Chair Gian Maria and the other Board members presented the Board contact points for the different areas, updated on the design progress of the new website, and the MCAA Training programme. Gian Maria also announced the recent establishment of a new General Interest Group (GIG) on Artificial Intelligence (AI). During the meeting, the Board approved the transformation of the GIG on Sustainability into a full-fledged WG. The WG Chair, Alexandra Dubini, introduced the GIG, which was born thanks to the shared interest between the MCAA and the MSCA Unit and has counted 59 members since its creation during the last Annual Conference in Milan.
We are happy to announce that the election process for the renewal of C&WGs Chairs is now completed. The MCAA Board gives a warm welcome to 22 new Chairs of 18 Chapters and 4 WGs who started their 2-year mandate on 1 September 2024. Speaking of C&WGs Chairs, a brand new activity launched by this Board is an inperson training for Chairs. Designed to run annually, the first training event took place on 21-22 September 2024 in Athens (Greece). It was a unique opportunity to gather together, get to know each other, and brainstorm on C&WGs management, for budget and activity planning, and event organisations/collaborations. The MCAA lives and thrives thanks to the effort that volunteers generously offer, therefore we express our gratitude to everyone for their active participation. We encourage C&WGs to organise events and activities, essential to member engagement and to support the bottom up shaping of the MCAA, to stimulate cooperation and collaboration with the scientific and non-scientific communities to promote common growth.
Over the past months, the MCAA was represented by members of the Board and the Operational Team in several events. On 30 August, Virginia spoke at the infosession on MSCA/MCAA held during the Argentina Chapter Networking and Annual Meeting in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Joaquin joined the MEDNIGHT Exhibition opening on 6 September in Alicante (Spain). On 17 September, Ornela, Pavlo, and Joaquin joined the 2024 Campus Iberus Postdoctoral Days Conference in Jaca (Spain). In Brussels (Belgium), Hakim joined the Research Management WG meeting (16-17 September), as well as the meeting organised by the MSCA Unit announcing the outcome of the consultation on MSCA future orientations (17 September) with Maria Magdalena. She also joined day 1 of the European Research Area conference (18 September), while the following day, on 19 September, Farah represented the MCAA at the Science Summit in Hamburg (Germany). Pooja participated in the online “TRAINING–for Researchers participating in MEDNIGHT” on 10 September, contributed with her story to a panel discussion during “Postdoc appreciation week 2024” in Manchester (UK) on 16 September, and she attended the Vitae conference on 23- 24 September in Birmingham (UK). Finally, on 25 September, Ornela joined the "AI Mission Moment: Interactive Panel Discussion” within the “Exploring Generative AI in Education and Research Practice” event co-organised by the UK and Ireland Chapters.
Last but not least, we are pleased to share that the MCAA has been selected as a finalist for Coursera's 2024 Outstanding Achievement Award in the EMEA region. We are looking forward to the final outcome of this contest, nevertheless we consider it a great achievement already.
These past six months of activity of the newly elected MCAA Board have been exciting and intense for all of us. We wish you a pleasant reading with the great articles prepared for you by the Newsletter Editorial Board.
On behalf of the MCAA Board,
Corinne Portioli
Vice Chair of the MCAA
corinne.portioli@mariecuriealumni.eu
@corinneportioli
Virginia Helena Albarracín
Board Member of the MCAA
virginia.albarracin@mariecuriealumni.eu
@virkinal