The Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) brings together members who are currently benefiting or benefitted from an MSCA funding, which means that they have a background in research but with diverse career paths. The MCAA receives funding and support from the European Commission.
The MCAA organized its annual conference in Lisbon, on the 26th and 27th of March. Two of our ESRS, Beatrice and Chloé, participated to this conference onsite and presented a poster (realized in collaboration with Minh, who joined online), to introduce the PIONEER project to the MCAA community, which was received with great interest. The focus of the conference was sustainability and the post-pandemic workplace. Different sessions took place during these two days with a special emphasis on greening research and universities, science policy at the European level, alternative careers (from research to policy advice for instance), mental wellbeing in the research environment, how MCAA supports Ukraine and the impact of COVID on researchers among other topics. The general assembly and the election of the new board members of the MCAA took place as well.
As MSCA fellows it is a great opportunity to join this Alumni Association, not just to take part in science activism but also for fruitful networking opportunities. It was a very interesting as PhD students to get to know about the career of scientists in policy making and science diplomacy, which are not straightforward options when thinking about the path after the doctorate.
Links:
MCAA website
https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/
Career development for researchers in the UK:
EURAXESS – researcher mobility and career development:
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/
ReMO (Researcher Mental Health Observatory) COST Action focusing on wellbeing and mental health within academia:
Researcher Mental Health and Well-being Manifesto (by ReMO):
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding organisation for research and innovation networks:
S4D4C Science diplomacy project:
Climate sustainability in the academic system:
Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) contains actions which lab users can take to save plastics, water, energy and other resources which will reduce their carbon emissions: