Message from the Board - December 2025
Dear MCAA Members,
As we approach the end of the year, let us reflect on our shared achievements and look forward to the milestones ahead. With this letter, we wish to bring together updates that highlight the strength, growth, and dynamism of our global community.
This Special Issue is dedicated to science communication, offering considerations, best practices, and personal insights from our members. Sharing knowledge with broader audiences strengthens the relationship between science and society, building trust and fostering an open dialogue. In a rapidly changing world, researchers are continually called to adapt their communication strategies to connect with diverse communities, support informed decision-making, and inspire positive change. Among the many initiatives that support this mission, we would like to highlight the MSCA Fellow of the Month series, a joint initiative between the European Commission’s MSCA Unit, the European Research Executive Agency (REA), and the MCAA, showcasing MSCA fellows’ achievements, experiences, and societal impact every month, as well as our partnership with the Mediterranean Researchers’ Night (MEDNIGHT), a festival that gathers Mediterranean countries together to celebrate research and engage local communities. As part of this initiative, Science Speaks summer school on science communication was held in Valencia on 5–6 September, co-organised by MEDNIGHT, the MCAA Communication Working Group, and the MCAA Spain–Portugal Chapter. This two-day programme provided researchers with hands-on training to strengthen their storytelling, enhance the clarity of their messages, and engage more effectively with diverse audiences.
A new era for the MCAA
In the last quarter of 2025, we launched our new brand and website, a momentous occasion we recognise as the beginning of a new era for our Association. On behalf of the entire Board, we are proud to celebrate this milestone, one that reflects our Association’s growth and vision for the future, as encapsulated in the "Bridging minds, building futures" motto. We invite you to explore the new website and make use of its enhanced features, designed to support our members inclusively, strengthen our community, and increase our visibility.
As part of this broader transformation, the MCAA Newsletter will also evolve, transitioning to a subscription-based format distributed directly via email. Starting next year, the new format of the MCAA Newsletter will offer a combination of timely updates from across the MCAA and in-depth articles curated by our Editorial Board, which will also be featured on our new website to ensure broader visibility and easier access for all readers. The new format will be issued more frequently. We invite you to subscribe to the MCAA Newsletter to receive the latest news and activities from our community via this link.
News from our community
With the establishment of a new MCAA Chapter in Canada, the former North America Chapter has officially become the MCAA United States of America (USA) Chapter, carrying forward its long-standing commitment to regional collaboration and engagement.
Different MCAA Chapters have continued to offer their members excellent opportunities to get together and expand their professional networks. The MCAA Switzerland Chapter joined the annual Basel Postdoc Network meeting at the beginning of October; the MCAA China Chapter organised a meet-up between members based in Cambridge, the UK, at the end of October, while the MCAA Ireland Chapter held its f irst Researcher ramble, combining networking with scenic walks, on 1 November.
We are pleased to see how numerous MCAA local Chapters and Working Groups pooled resources and collaborated to develop and deliver insightful events for the community. The MCAA France Chapter and the MCAA Bridging Science and Business Working Group led a side event on the intersecting topic of career paths in industry and academia and mental health during the Australia-France Network of Doctoral Excellence (AUFRANDE) annual gathering on 3–7 November. On 6–7 November, the MCAA USA and Canada Chapters co-hosted the first MCAA North America regional meeting at the Field Museum in Chicago, and our Chair, Gian Maria Greco, was in attendance. The event commemorated the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie’s visit to Chicago and brought together members of the wider MSCA community, fostering transatlantic collaboration. On 7–8 November, the MCAA Switzerland Chapter, together with the France, Germany, and Italy Chapters and the Communication Working Group, organised the two-day “The Art of Personal Branding” workshop in Basel, Switzerland. This brought together MCAA members to explore how researchers can effectively communicate their strengths, values, and professional identity. Two different grant-writing workshops were organised by the MCAA Communication Working Group (as part of the Around the World Webinar Series) and the MCAA Italy Chapter on 14 November and 18 November, respectively; the former having a particular focus on the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant applications. Also, on 14 November, the MCAA BeNeLux Chapter joined forces with the MCAA Policy Working Group for a science diplomacy workshop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Finally, several MCAA Chapters are currently in the process of electing their new Chair and Vice-Chair, with the formal transition and handover period taking place in January 2026. This remains an excellent opportunity, which we hope many members from the selected Chapters have decided to take on to experience leadership roles and contribute to shaping the future of our Association.
Recent engagements and representations
Our MCAA Academy mentoring platform continues its activities through the General Mentoring programme and Forums, while also gathering insights from the recently concluded six-month thematic programme “Careers in the Public Sector.” Since its launch in summer 2025, this pilot initiative has supported participants in exploring career pathways toward the public sector through tailored sessions, including two online webinars held in October.
Our Peer-Exchange Platform for Narrative-Style CVs (PEP-CV) was the topic of the latest ORCID in the Wild webinar series. On 29 October, our Executive Director, Mostafa Moonir Shawrav, Board Member Irene Castellano Pellicena, and Community Manager Pooja Khurana gave an overview of the successful integration of PEP-CV mentoring activities into ORCID.
On 3–4 November, our Chair, Gian Maria Greco, and Board member Ornela Bardhi participated in the AI in Science Summit 2025 held in Copenhagen, an event dedicated to exploring the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on scientific discovery. Organised under the auspices of the Danish EU Presidency, in collaboration with the European Commission and the University of Copenhagen, the summit also marked the official launch of the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE), a new virtual institute aimed at advancing the development and application of AI across scientific domains.
On 11–12 November, Mostafa Moonir Shawrav participated in a panel discussion titled “Designing Alumni Communities: Governance, Strategy, and Connection” as part of a seminar on alumni relations, organised by the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA) at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania.
On 4 December, we held the first MCAA Policy Forum 2025 in Brussels and online, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Christian Ehler. We thank MEPs Ehler, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Ivars Ijabs, and René Repasi, as well as Minister Counsellor Jimmy Bruun Felthaus of the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Union, and Claire Morel, Head of the MSCA Unit, for their participation as speakers. The event featured the presentation of our new report on the impact of the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA), and brought participants together to discuss how its findings could translate into concrete policy recommendations to maximise the MSCA’s contribution to the European Research Area (ERA).
Closing words of thanks
This edition marks the conclusion of the traditional MCAA Newsletter as we know it, with this being the last message from the Board. A heartfelt acknowledgement goes to this issue's Guest Editors, Srishti Goyal and Joana Magalhães, and to the rest of the fantastic Editorial Board, led by Eliška Koňaříková and Polat Goktas, for the time and effort put into the Newsletter up until now, and for the cooperation during this transition. We really look forward to continuing to work together to keep our wider community engaged and well-informed!
On behalf of the MCAA Board,
Maria Romano
maria.romano@mariecuriealumni.eu
Maria Magdalena Razalan