Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPARK (Supporting Pioneer doctoral Researchers through 3i Knowledge partnerships)

Teaser

SPARK is a Horizon2020 co-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral training programme that supports 20 interdisciplinary PhD students at Queen’s University Belfast. PhD students funded within Marie Skłodowska-Curie programmes have the title of Early Stage Researcher...

Summary

SPARK is a Horizon2020 co-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral training programme that supports 20 interdisciplinary PhD students at Queen’s University Belfast. PhD students funded within Marie Skłodowska-Curie programmes have the title of Early Stage Researcher (ESR).
Queen’s welcomed its first Cohort of 10 ESR’s in January 2018 and the second between October 2018 and January 2019.
At its core, the SPARK Programme is driven by the need to develop future leaders whose skills combine disciplinary excellence with a capacity for interdisciplinary, intersectoral and international (3i) working that creates genuinely disruptive thinkers.
These are the thinkers who will have the edge in a highly competitive, global job market. Because they have not only disciplinary expertise but also the intellectual flexibility required to respond to a constantly changing professional environment and broader socio-economic landscape. In essence, SPARK combines ground-breaking research projects with higher level skills development at cohort level which seeks to produce creative thinkers and problem-solvers.
SPARK researchers are based in academic Schools or research institutes across all three of Queen’s Faculties: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS); Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS); and Medicine, Health and Life Sciences (MHLS).
In addition, the researchers are trained as a cohort via The Graduate School at Queen’s University Belfast to be Thinkers, Leaders, Innovators and Communicators who are Future-Ready. The Graduate School has developed a vision for a unique partnership between Academic Schools/Research Institutes and The Graduate School which enables our early career researchers to stand out as ‘what’s next thinkers’ and supports postgraduates to develop their potential, through a tailored developmental journey.
The objectives of the Spark programme are
• To attract talented international researchers to Queen’s University Belfast
• To create future leaders and researchers who are driven by the ethical imperative to impact positively on the needs of society
• To follow the EU Principles on Innovative Doctoral Training by providing a tailored programme in research training including transferable skills.
• To adopt a Bottom up approach with truly cross disciplinary projects
• To allow researchers to network across disciplines and create synergies
• To provide high quality supervision, mentoring and career guidance
• To Produce Thinkers, Communicators, Innovators, and Leaders who are Future Ready

Work performed

The first 24 months of the project have been highly successful with the following highlights so far
- Recruitment and appointment of 10 fellows in January 2018 and a further 10 between October 2018 and January 2019 from a total of 14 countries. 7 of these fellows are international.
- The Recruitment and selection process was open, transparent, merit based and equitable. The call was advertised on the Queen’s University Belfast website, the project website, Euraxsess and www.jobs.ac.uk and www.findaphd.com
- In total 445 applications were received across both calls from 73 countries with 60% of applications from males and 40% of applications from females.
- The successful projects are truly diverse spanning all three faculties of the University and 14 academic schools. Each project is also truly “3i” in nature with an interdisciplinary element to the project, an interdisciplinary supervision team, an external partner and opportunities to travel internationally to attend conferences.
- A launch event was held on 29th February 2019 with our co funders, the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy, in attendance.
- The launch of a @qubspark_eu twitter account and the transition of the webpage from a recruitment portal to a project showcase with sections such as Meet the Fellows and a student blog section “Sparkshare” to share outreach activities.
- The first Cohort have all successfully passed their first Annual Progress Review. They have also participated in a tailored Personal Development Planning session chaired by Professor Margaret Topping and a member of the Careers Development team from the Graduate School.
- Both cohorts have completed a cohort specific tailored 6-day programme in transferable skills in their first 6 months, including; an Induction to the programme; Collaborative Working for the Interdisciplinary Researcher; Leading Across Sectors; Academic Writing and Research Ethics for the Interdisciplinary Researcher.
- In May 2019 both cohorts came together for their first full cohort development week. This week was centred on the themes of Impact and Engagement and included sessions on An Engaging Researcher, The Conversation, Writing Policy Papers, Activism as a Researcher and an Early Stage Careers Panel. Further development weeks have been planned for 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 with themes decided.
- In addition to this, subject specific training opportunities have been provided at a School level alongside enhanced training such as Staff training and further development opportunities in the Graduate School programme.
- The project administrator also actively highlights University events and initiatives which may be of interest or benefit to the researchers
- Researchers have attended almost 20 conferences to date

Final results

The SPaRK programme fosters excellence in researchers\' training, mobility and career development, and shares best practice in terms of internationalisation, intersectoral exposure and interdisciplinarity among the most promising early stage researchers.
Queen’s University Belfast\'s commitment to developing future leaders and innovators responds to Northern Ireland’s Innovation Strategy (2014-2025) which has as its central objective to foster a culture of innovation which will upscale entrepreneurial activity in the region and beyond.
Spark funds 20 projects in various disciplines and as such their scientific impact is diverse and at different stages. In terms of institutional impact, Spark had led to an increase in international student research profile at Queen’s University Belfast attracting top students and facilitating international mobility.
At an institutional level the Spark Director has been instrumental in the creation of a DTP oversight and working group, sharing best practice and the establishment of a forum to come together and celebrate the impact of doctoral training and enhance sustainability of these projects.
The project has also led to an improvement in HR processes and alignment of HR and Student registration processes for dual early career researchers
Research fellows have reported that training with researchers from other disciplines has enhanced their leaning and that being part of a cohort has provided them with a valuable network outside their own field of research. They have also reported on the value of the 3i dimension of their projects particularly commenting on the value of having an external partner (intersectoral) and the positive impact they expect this to have on their future career. It is expected that these partnerships will continue after research projects have been completed.
Since the time of the original application the Graduate School at Queens University Belfast now offers a range of complementary training programmes to students in an interdisciplinary setting with the aim of extending this level of training to all postgraduate research students at the University.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.qub.ac.uk/Study/PostgraduateStudy/FundingandScholarships/Doctoral-Training-Centres/spark/.