CEICS, Campus of International excellence southern catalonia Coordinated by URV · Rovira i Virgili University

The workshop was held over a period of two days. The first was attended by experts from research centres in molecular nutrition with which the URV and CTNS collaborate on research projects. Doctoral students and researchers from the following institutions took part: Rovira i Virgili University; The University of the Balearic Islands; Institute of Physiology ASCR (Czech Republic); the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE)in Potsdam-Rehbrücke (Germany); Jagiellonian University (Poland); Stockholm University (Sweden); Wageningen University (Norway); and the Università degli Studi di Parma (Italy).

On the second day doctoral students were given the opportunity to describe their research while business leaders presented their current lines of research. This enabled to students to see a different kind of future, one beyond the university. Participants were also able to attend an innovation skills workshop. This workshop was presented by the URV Nutrigenomics Research Group in conjunction with the Campus of International Excellence Southern Catalonia (CEICS).

The group is also involved in coordinating the doctoral programme in Nutrition and Metabolism, one of the eight URV programmes which have been honoured with the Mention of Excellence.

The doctoral programme has been working towards the goal of achieving a higher degree of internationalisation for some time, promoting the mobility of students to European and/or international institutions, the mobility of teachers who serve as members of thesis committees, and obtaining the European Mention for a larger percentage of theses read in the programme.

This year, for the second time, application for an Erasmus Mundus doctoral programme has been supported. The programme would be coordinated by the URV, and would involve seven additional institutions (universities and research centres), which would form a consortium with members from seven European countries.The application was classified as a ‘Good Proposal’ in 2011.

Excellence and internationalisation

The workshop is in line with the strategy of CEICS and responds to the objectives for excellence and internationalisation of the doctoral programme. Nutrition and Health is one of the CEICS’s five strategic lines of action- The quality of education provided by the doctoral programme will play a key role in the competitiveness of businesses, so it is of utmost importance that companies also participated in this workshop alongside young researchers and international partners to meet and discuss which lines of research in molecular nutritional research will have the most impact on further research and competitiveness in research in the food sector.