Training

A structured doctoral programme at the interface of disciplines and sectors.

Our training philosophy

The Met2Adapt training programme combines cutting-edge research projects with a comprehensive curriculum of scientific, technical and transferable skills. To this end, Met2Adapt brings together a team of world-leading academic and industrial experts and puts in place an innovation driven training programme. Our overarching aim is to deliver highly qualified individuals with a multidisciplinary skillset across the spectrum of meta-materials and structural engineering, renewable energy production, computer programming, as well as the modelling of life cycle impacts in the energy sector. They will be able to drive forward the long overdue integration of advanced materials in renewable energy production. Key to our training methodology is our firm commitment on establishing an active and student-centred ‘training by research’ environment, which will put the Doctoral Candidates in charge of their training process.

The training programme

  1. High level research activity and quality of supervision: Our Doctoral Candidates will benefit from a holistic training experience, utilizing state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, hands-on technical training, and elite scientific supervision across all host institutions.
  2. Personal Career Development Plan: To ensure optimal professional growth, each Doctoral Candidate will co-design a bespoke Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP). This dynamic roadmap will be meticulously calibrated to align with their unique scientific strengths and accelerate their long-term professional aspirations.
    • Each doctoral candidate will be enrolled to their host institution doctoral school.
    • They will undertake formal training activities targetting transferable skills.
    • To ensure continuous alignment with project objectives and to proactively navigate research challenges, Doctoral Candidates will engage in structured progress monitoring and strategic metadapting sessions.
  3. Gender aspects: Gender balance and inclusiveness are actively promoted within the Met2Adapt programme.
    • As part of the core training modules, DCs will participate in expert-led workshops on inclusive leadership, cultural competency, and recognizing implicit biases.
    • An Equal Opportunities Officer monitors diversity metrics from the applicant pool ratio to DC retention and satisfaction, creating a feedback loop that refines our strategies in real-time.
    • Met2Adapt champions agile and flexible working arrangements. We ensure that parental leave, childcare responsibilities, and part-time options are respected and structurally supported without penalizing career progression or publication output.
  4. Met2Adapt led thematic training weeks: Network-wide training events will be organised by all beneficiaries in the form of Thematic Training Weeks (TTW). TTWs will be an ideal opportunity all Met2Adapt scholars and associated partners to directly interact with the Doctoral Candidates with a mixture of lectured material, personal tutorials and workshop style example sessions. Our TTWs will cover aspects covering the state-of-the-art and beyond and will involve sessions on
    • Fundamentals and design principle of meta-materials and meta-structures for wave conditioning and vibration mitigation with applications in critical infrastructure.
    • Adaptability and resilience against climate change– Challenges and digital opportunities for the European industry.
    • Structural Health Monitoring and Prognostics for meta-materials.
    • Understanding damage evolution in meta- materials.
    • State of the art on shore protection measures and ocean energy conver-sion devices.
    • Advanced modelling of meta-structures across scales for damage estimates.
    • Pathways to commercial end-product impact.