MolCal Doctoral Network holds its first event in Bielefeld, Germany
The European project MolCal (Molecule-based magneto/electro/mechano-Calorics) is a Doctoral Network funded by Horizon Europe’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. MolCal, which started in January 2024, has involved the recruitment of ten PhD students from 8 countries to develop their research training on caloric materials and energy conversion technologies for cooling and heating applications.
MolCal’s research is of particular relevance as cooling and heating systems are currently responsible for approximately half of the EU’s energy consumption, making it important to find alternative methods of temperature control. In particular, molecule-based caloric materials that respond to different stimuli, whether magnetic, electrical and/or mechanical, are being studied in a novel approach.
MolCal is coordinated by Marco Evangelisti, CSIC researcher at the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), a joint institute of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the University of Zaragoza. In addition to CSIC, the rest of the MolCal consortium is made up of the following partners: University of Crete (Greece), University of Bielefeld (Germany), University of Seville (Spain), University of Paris-Saclay (France), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR, Italy), University of Edinburgh (UK), University of Zaragoza (Spain), Technical University of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) and the companies Sunamp Limited (UK), Quantum Design (USA), Lake Shore Cryo (UK), Lake Shore Cryo (UK), Quantum Design (USA), and the University of Zaragoza (Spain). UU), Lake Shore Cryotronics (USA) and BSH Electrodomésticos España, S.A (Spain).
The network has a total of four face-to-face events in different countries: Germany, Greece, Scotland and Spain. So far, the first one has taken place in Germany, last February at the ZiF (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefeld). The event started with a session facilitated by the European Commission’s Project Officer, followed by a series of trainings and scientific lectures, both by network members (Jürgen Schnack, Constantinos Milios, Giulia Lorusso, Luana Caron, Vera Cuartero, Randy Dumas, Valerie Marvaud and Andreas Honecker) and external speakers (Xavier Moya, Emmanuel Defay, Jaka Tušek, Dick Broer and Robin Gadbled).
The prestigious MSCA Doctoral Networks are a unique opportunity to organise these international events to connect, strengthen collaborations and share knowledge. The subsequent events, as well as continuing to strengthen the exchange and synergies between the members of the network, will serve for the students to begin to present their results and scientific advances in their research.
With a duration of four years and a funding of 2,600,000 Euro, the MolCal project is co–funded by the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), whose main objective is to support the training and professional development of research staff worldwide, within the Horizon Europe Programme (grant agreement 101119865) and by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
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Photo: MolCal team, Bielefeld, Germany. February 2025.
10-04-2025
