IMDEA Materials Institute has officially launched the ATENEA programme, a wide-ranging international postdoctoral initiative funded under Horizon Europe’s prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme.
Over the next four years, ATENEA will offer ten 30-month fellowships to outstanding researchers from around the world in the field of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE).
The programme will provide fellows with high-level training, enhancing their scientific excellence and broadening their career prospects.
ATENEA will be implemented by IMDEA Materials Institute as project coordinator, under the direction of the Institute’s Scientific Director, Prof. Javier LLorca, and the head of IMDEA Materials’ Human Resources department, Rosa Bazán.
It will leverage the institute’s leadership in advanced materials research, along with its established industrial connections with leading international companies and research centres.
One of ATENEA’s strengths lies in its commitment to open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment. The selection of fellows will follow a rigorous two-step evaluation process, overseen by experienced external experts from across academic, industrial, and technological sectors.
The ATENEA programme is fully aligned with the Madrid Region’s Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy, which identifies materials science as one of its four strategic sectors.
The initiative will provide researchers with the opportunity to engage in short secondments through a network of 21 partner organisations from nine countries, including top universities, research centres, companies, and technological institutes.
Partner institutions include RMIT University, ETH Zurich, Purdue University, Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials, Hilti AG, CIDETEC, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and major industrial players such as ITP Aero and PMG Powertrain R&D Center S.L.U., among others.
In addition to developing advanced research capabilities in core areas of MSE, fellows will receive training in project management, entrepreneurship, communication, and intellectual property rights.
The call for applications will open on the 20th of September, targeting promising early-career researchers from around the world. More information about eligibility, research themes, application procedures, and timeline will be available soon on the official programme website.
