Seven new Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellows
Seven candidates applying from ICFO have been awarded the MSCA fellowships, giving the institute a 39% success rate, well above the 16% global average.
The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, part of Horizon Europe, support outstanding research and innovation collaborations across all areas of knowledge. The 2024 call received a record number of 10,360 submissions, from which only 1,696 have been selected, highlighting the highly competitive nature of the program and the excellence of the awarded proposals.
Innovative research for a sustainable future
One example of such excellence is Rashmi Runjhun, who achieved a perfect score of 100% and will join the Organic Nanostructured Photovoltaics group. “I feel privileged in achieving this score and such a successful evaluation!”, she comments. Her proposal aims at reducing carbon emissions and combating the climate emergency by developing a compact photovoltaic-electrochemical cell for green hydrogen production. “We expect to develop an efficient green technology for solar energy conversion and storage, as renewable energy sources provide excellent ways to meet the energy requirements,” she explains. “I hope that I will be able to successfully achieve my goals and contribute to the success of my group as well as ICFO.”
Researchers Sumaiya Parveen and Kaiqi Zhao will also contribute to the green transition by joining the CO2 Mitigation Accelerated by Photons group. “I aim to contribute to Europe’s Green Deal goals by developing sustainable, high-performance materials for low-energy computation,” says Sumaiya. Her colleague Kaiqi will develop a multi-module smart electrosynthesis system to efficiently convert gases such as CO2 and propylene into valuable chemicals. “I was inspired to apply for the fellowship because of its strong support for ambitious and interdisciplinary research, with real-world impact,” he comments, “but also for the opportunity to work under the supervision of Prof. Pelayo García de Arquer”. Sumaiya adds, “I also look forward to engaging in ICFO’s outreach initiatives and gaining valuable experience.”
New talent across disciplines
“As a cell biologist, ICFO didn’t initially come to mind,” says Eugènia Almacellas, incoming postdoc to the Single Molecule Biophotonics group. “However, I’ve been familiar with Dr. Fèlix Campelo's work for some time and I truly admire him, so I reached out and we made it happen! I consider joining ICFO a great opportunity to interact with scientists from different backgrounds, and I believe this will have a significant impact on my way of reasoning,” she explains.
Postdoc researchers Kaiwen Wang and Hadrien Vignaut were also awarded the fellowships for the Nanophotonics Theory and the Quantum NanoElectronics and NanoMechanics research groups, respectively.
Antariksha Das will join the Quantum Photonics with Solids and Atoms. Antariksha will develop an efficient, cavity-enhanced quantum memory, optimized for high-rate and long-distance entanglement distribution at a metropolitan scale. Achieving this milestone is crucial towards deploying a robust, application-ready quantum network and laying the foundation for a future European quantum internet. “I chose ICFO for its state-of-the-art facilities, advanced experimental labs, and a collaborative and supportive work culture,” he explains. “ICFO’s strong focus on quantum technologies makes it the perfect environment for my project,” he concludes.