Each BEST fellow will prepare a Personal Development Plan (PDP) to identify both professional development needs and career objectives. The main objective of PDP will be to qualify them to access to high level positions in academia or industry with a strong component of management and leadership. Special care will be taken to ensure that the PDP fulfil the needs of the current employment market.

Research fellows will have the possibility to attend the Mentoring Programme, a 12 month scheme with a minimum of 6 meetings. The aims of the programme is not only a source for career advice and door opening for young researchers starting on the professional ladder, but also provide a safe space to discuss broader professional development.

Research

Thanks to IBECs interdisciplinarity, the most recent technical and technological approaches developed for research in the broad area of bioengineering are available at the institute. Postdocs can acquire experience and practical training in both the classical approaches and new methodologies in imaging techniques, nanomaterials technology, nanofabrication, biosensors, biosignal interpretation, lab-on-a-chip approaches, and many more. Being involved in or leading projects within the three IBEC research areas, thus involving several research lines at IBEC, postdoctoral fellows will acquire experience of multidisciplinary research, collaborative work and bioinspired approaches not available elsewhere.

Apart from the day-to-day work at the lab and the research placements, recruited fellows will benefit from the following training activities already at place at IBEC:

  • IBEC Seminars Programme: offering a programme of weekly seminars with invited speakers, top names in bioengineering and nanomedicine from all over the world.
  • IBEC Symposium: IBEC’s annual symposium brings together high-profile international experts for an open forum for interdisciplinary discussions and networking. The whole scientific community is invited to participate. Researchers are welcome to present their projects in a poster format. Some of these contributions are selected, by the scientific committee, for an oral flash presentation.
Complementary skills

A training Plan will be yearly defined and implemented according to the different professional categories and their training necessities. Some specific training workshops will be offered to the participants in BEST in the following categories:

  1. Leadership and management skills.
  2. Innovation skills.
  3. Communication: Writing skills; Oral presentation skills; Outreach.
  4. Responsible research and innovation.
Public engagement activities

BEST fellows will be required to commit up to 10 hours to presenting their research or field at any of the institute’s existing outreach activities. These activities aim to promote the general public’s awareness and understanding of research topics and their relevance to society or human health, as well as to encourage students and younger audiences to pursue careers in science.