Untitled INTRODUCTION

Introduction

A Network of Excellence (NoE) is an instrument for strengthening excellence by tackling the fragmentation of research across Europe, where the main deliverable is a durable integration of the research capacities of the participants. The exchange of knowledge is essential in this context, and considered one of the desiderata within FIDIS. Equally, establishing long-term links, i.e. beyond the life-time of the NoE, between partners is key to ameliorating the fragmentation issues both at a fundamental level across disciplines and at the broader level across Europe. One core method by which both can be attained is through the cross discipline training of PhD students within the FIDIS network.

The ‘FIDIS Doctoral Consortium’ is an important integrative and disseminative part of the Network: It connects students and researchers from the disparate FIDIS domains together, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and is an important platform for networking. Indeed being a heterogeneous environment, the DC meetings are a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and build a true research network. While much of the work developed and discussed during these events has been the basis of subsequent conference submissions by the participants, collaborative, cross-discipline journal publications have also started to appear as a direct result of these events.

Whilst the PhD events have their core objectives and means to achieve them, as the FIDIS network matures it is necessary to reflect on the changing needs of the Doctoral Consortium. This is especially true given the length of time over which the FIDIS project is running as compared with the standard length of time a student will be undertaking their postgraduate studies. Within this Workpackage there has been a shift in approach to maximise the value of the work done here. This is detailed in section .