Doctoral training in Europe: MSCA Innovative Training Networks (ITN)
MSCA ITN are part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) which are earmarked to equip researchers with the necessary skills and international experience for a successful career, either in the public or the private sector.
MSCA Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) bring together universities, research institutes and other sectors from across the world to train researchers to doctorate level to become future leaders in their field. MSCA ITNs train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefits. MSCA ITNs are a great opportunity to obtain world-class PhD training!
There are three types of Innovative Training Networks:
1. European Training Networks (ETN)
Researchers gain experience of different working environments while developing transferable skills.
2. European Industrial Doctorates (EID)
Joint doctoral training delivered by at least one academic partner entitled to award doctoral degrees, and at least one partner from outside academia, primarily enterprise. Each participating researcher is enrolled in a doctoral programme and is jointly supervised by supervisors from the academic and non-academic sector, where they spend at least 50% of their time.
The aim is for the doctoral candidates to develop skills inside and outside academia that respond to public and private sector needs.
3. European Joint Doctorates (EJD):
A minimum of 3 academic organisations form a network with the aim of delivering joint, double or multiple degrees. Joint supervision of the research fellow and a joint governance structure are mandatory. The aim is to promote international, inter-sectorial and multi/interdisciplinary collaboration in doctoral training in Europe.
How to apply for a PhD on an MSCA ITN?
Researchers interested in high quality doctoral-level training in and outside of academia are invited to apply for the PhD positions created by the training network. All positions are advertised on the Euraxess Jobs portal (by using the Keyword Search Function 'ITN') and are published thorughout the year.
Current open calls include:
13 PhD positions in MSCA Innovative Training Network in the area of Chronic Kidney Disease
11 PhD positions in anti cancer research in European Training Network 'TACT'
14 PhD positions in Female Reproductive Care in European Training Network 'MATER'
27 PhD positions in photonics research in European training programme SPARKLE
A growing number of young researchers from across Southeast Asia are pursuing their doctoral studies in the context of a MSCA Innovative Training Network as Marie Curie Fellows. EURAXESS ASEAN has met up with some of them to learn about their experience and to ask for their advive which they wish to pass on to their peers. Read our interviews here to get first hand account of PhD studies in Europe.
meet_the_researcher_-_vanessa_xavier_may_2020_2.pdf is a PhD student in the area of molecular mechanisms at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
meet_the_researcher_-_wicak_may_2020_0.pdfis an Indonesian post-doctoral researcher at the Delft Center for Systems and Control (DCSC) at TU Delft in the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in automatic control, robotics, and vision from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain.
meet_the_researcher_-_gladys_may_2020.pdf is a PhD candidate at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland, under a COFUND PhD program (ImPRESS). Her PhD project is to develop prediction models for bariatric surgery outcomes using multi-omics data