Projects News
12 Early Stage Researchers will start their PhD within the DOC-FAM MSCA COFUND project
- The second call of this program will allow 12 predoctoral researchers to start their PhD at the ICMAB-CSIC, the ICN2, the IMB-CNM-CSIC, the IREC and the ALBA Synchrotron
- In total the DOC-FAM program will enable 22 early stage researchers to conduct their PhD in the field of "Advanced Functional Materials" in these outstanding research institutions
- The DOC-FAM program, coordinated by the ICMAB, is the first MSCA COFUND coordinated by a CSIC center


The MSCA COFUND DOC-FAM program, coordinated by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), has closed its second and last call for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie predoctoral grants.
Within this call, 12 Early Stage Researchers (ESR) will start their PhD: 4 at the ICMAB-CSIC, 2 at the IREC, 2 at the ICN2, 2 at the IMB-CNM-CSIC and 2 at the ALBA Synchrotron for a duration of 3 years, and will join the other 10 ESR who alrealy started their PhD within the first call. These institutions offer a multidisciplinary, multicultural and stimulating environment, with access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for the personal and professional development of the Early Stage Researchers.
From the 22 ESR, 12 of them (55 %) are female fellows (6 in each call). In additon, 9 (41 %) are from the European Union and 13 (59 %) from countries out of the European Union. This large cultural diversity in terms of gender, language, and country of origin creates a very rich atmosphere to work in and grow as a researcher.
The projects in which they will participate are the following:
ICMAB-CSIC:
- Ca and Mg plating and insertion mechanisms: towards Ca and Mg metal anode based batteries with Dr. Alexandre Ponrouch. ESR: Juan David Forero Saboya
- Preparation of Graphene Oxide composite nanoporous materials using supercritical CO2 technology with Dr. Ana M. López-Periago and Dr. Concepción Domingo. ESR: Marta Kubovics
- Architectured nanoparticles for medical and environmentally friendly technologies with Prof. Francesc Teixidor. ESR: Jewel Ann Maria Xavier
- Synthesis and characterization of molecular junctions based on stimuli-responsive organic layers with Dr. Núria Crivillers. ESR: José Catalán-Toledo
IREC:
- Ceramic 3D-printing of multimaterial energy devices with Dr. Albert Tarancón. ESR: Maritta Meyrella Dos Santos Lira
- J Advanced catalyst materials and systems for electroconversion of CO2 with Prof. Joan Ramón Morante. ESR: Venkata Siva Rama Krishna Tandava
ALBA Synchrotron:
- GHz magnetization dynamics in XPEEM. Dr Michael Foerster with Dr. Ferran Macià and Dr. Michael Foerster. ESR: Khaliq Muhammad Waqas
- Particle Beam Size Measurements in Accelerators Using Colloidal Suspensions/Electron Beam Diagnostics Researcher with Dr. Ubaldo Uriso and Dr. Montserrat Pont. ESR: Nikki Tagdulang
ICN2:
- Nanomaterials and Nanofabrication with Prof. Daniel Maspoch and Prof. Pedro Gómez. ESR: Anukriti Pokhriyal
- Nanoscience/Nanodevices for Health with Prof. José Antonio Garrido and Prof. Laura Lechuga. ESR: Alejandro Astúa Rosales
IMB-CNM-CSIC:
- Innovative technology solutions to explore effects of the microbiome in inflammatory disease: Microbiome-Gut on Chip with Dr. Rosa Villa. ESR: Daniel Vera
- Study of MOSFET interface optimization on Gallium Oxide for power and energy applications. Dr. Philippe Godignon, Dr. Gemma Rius. ESR: Sofia Aslanidou
In total, the DOC-FAM MSCA COFUND project has offered 22 fellowships distributed between this five research institutions. The 10 researchers that started last year are very active, participate in many conferences and workshops, and are happy to be part of this training programme. A welcome day will be organized in 2020, like the one carried out in January 2019, so that the new fellows can explain their research projects. A workshop for all the ESR will be organized in 2020-2021 for the predoctoral researchers in the field of Advanced Materials, including other essential skills for ESR (science communication, networking, technology transfer,entrepreneurship...).
The DOC-FAM program ("DOCtoral training programme in Functional Advanced Materials") is the first COFUND program of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (H2020-MSCA-DP-2016) granted to the CSIC in all its history. This excellent training program is coordinated by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence, in collaboration with several institutions of its environment: ALBA Synchrotron; Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2); Institute of Energy Research of Catalonia (IREC) and Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC).
All the information about the program can be found on its website: https://projects.icmab.es/docfam/.
You can also contact Laura Cabana, Project Manager of the DOC-FAM project (
More information:
- 10 Early Stage Researchers granted with predoctoral fellowships from the MSCA COFUND DOC-FAM program will start their PhD in advanced functional materials at ICMAB-CSIC, IREC and ALBA Synchrotron
- Meet the 10 future scientists working on Advanced Functional Materials of the DOC-FAM MSCA-COFUND project!
- ICMAB, 29 Jan 2019: Welcome Day of the COFUND MSCA DOC-FAM PhD Fellows
- DOCtoral training programme in Functional Advanced Materials website