June 2016 CÚRAM Secures Top Rank with €2.1 Million from EU for Medical Devices Fellowship Programme ‘MedTrain’

Fellowships in Medical Device Research and Development: A CÚRAM Industry-Academia Training Initiative

CÚRAM, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices, based at NUI Galway, has been ranked first in Europe and awarded €2.1 million for its application to develop a new industry-academia fellowship programme called ‘MedTrain’ over the next four and a half years.

The submission was ranked number 1 out of 72 applications submitted from across Europe to the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Scheme under the Horizon 2020 funding programme.

The MedTrain programme will offer 31 prestigious two-year postdoctoral fellowships over the next four and a half years to experienced researchers in the area of Medical Device Research and Development, including Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Biomaterials and Drug Delivery, Glyco and Protein Engineering, and Neuromodulation and Computational Modelling.

According to Professor Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CÚRAM at NUI Galway, “The MedTrain programme will provide a chance for researchers to enhance their creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative potential. For anyone wishing to diversify their skill set, through advanced training, international, and inter-sectoral mobility, in the area of Medical Device Research and Development, this will be a really valuable opportunity.”

Professor Pandit added, “CÚRAM has had some excellent successes since its establishment, only a year and a half ago, in terms of securing EU funding for cutting edge research projects and we are particularly proud of achieving the top ranking in this funding round. At CÚRAM we work closely with academics, industry and clinicians and this programme will only further enhance those networks across Europe and internationally which are critical for driving medical device research and development.”

The MedTrain programme is based on individual-driven mobility, meaning that fellows will have the freedom to choose their research topic (provided that it falls within the remit of CÚRAM), their MedTrain supervisor, and their secondment organisation, which must be relevant to their research and career development.

MedTrain will provide an attractive and supportive working environment for the awarded fellows, in which they will have access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and teams of multi-disciplinary experts in the broad area of Medical Device Research and Development. It will deliver high quality tailor-made training for fellows that will equip them with skills and experience required to meet their career goals as well as facilitating their engagement with industry through non-academic secondment partnerships.

All fellows will be hosted in a CÚRAM academic host organisation (NUI Galway Galway, University College Cork, University College Dublin, or the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland) and fellowships will include secondments to a suitable research performing industry in organisations around the world.

ENDS