Postdoctoral research fellows from Italy, France, Canada, Poland, Germany and Portugal took part in a Leadership and Management Development (LMD) training programme which was held in RCSI this month.

The participating postdoctoral fellows are funded under the Career Enhancement Mobility Programme (CEMP). The CEMP aims to support experienced research fellows at various stages of their career in attaining and strengthening their career prospects to become independent investigators or senior scientists in education or industry.

Within the remit of the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIPI), the CEMP funds and supports research fellows undertaking interdisciplinary research and training programmes in biophotonics and imaging, applied to cancer, cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases.

The aim of the LMD Programme is to alert CEMP researchers to the importance of the leadership and managerial aspects of their career and to give them practical information that will help them to succeed as planners and managers of research programmes.

The second week of the LMD Programme was held in RCSI in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture Dublin (IIC Dublin). The agenda included lectures on leadership and strategy in research, success in grant writing, success in publishing, project management, financial management and intellectual property.

On the evening of 1 March, the Italian Institute of Culture hosted dinner for the CEMP fellows and their respective supervisors. The Director of the Italian Institute of Culture, Angela Tangianu, said in her welcome speech to CEMP fellows, "Our future lies in your hands, in your programme research, in your ability to work together effectively toward a common vision of improvement of the quality of living."

The CEMP is co-funded by the EU FP7 MarieCurie Co-fund Scheme, the Irish Higher Education Authority Programme for Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) Cycle 4 and the Italian National Research Council.