Secondments are important in our Marie Curie EJD project SCENT, and in this blog post, I want to share my thoughts, challenges, and trends concerning it.

The MSCA Guide for Applicants informs: 

''During their secondment, researchers receive supervision and training at the premises of the receiving beneficiary, its entities with a capital or legal link, or partner organization. The premises of these institutions must be independent from each other and therefore the secondment must involve physical mobility of the fellow, with specific supervision arrangements. Secondments should be differentiated from short visits, i.e. of a few days.''

In this context, some activities were performed before the COVID-19 outbreak, such as the during the Summer School I in Twente. 

Furthermore, my secondments in the companies registered as partners in the SCENT project were in the process of being approved before the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to the consequences and changes imposed by the restrictions in COVID-19, my host university could not approve my plans. Thus, my secondment plans in the companies registered as partners in the SCENT project are on standby (under the analysis of my supervisor).

However, on the other hand, the interface with partner universities strengthened since I start to be in the '' home office '' and worked remotely. Therefore, that's what this blog post is about, how I've been developing my "remote secondments", with partner universities, without physical mobility due to the restrictions caused by COVID-19. 

1. University of Twente

Especially with the support of Dr. ir. Niek Moonen, I have been trying to consolidate two proposals of papers for the next EMC conferences, as illustrated in Fig. 2.