On September 23rd, the European Research and Innovation Support (ERIS) team of Vrije Universiteit Brussel proudly launched the imπACT programme with a kick-off event at the U-Residence, VUB Campus Etterbeek. The event marked the beginning of an exciting journey for 11 postdoctoral researchers, aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, innovation, and societal impact across eight diverse research clusters.
The day began with a warm welcome and an overview of the imπACT programme’s objectives by programme coordinator Alessandra Rossetti. The programme, a Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND initiative, offers 21 fellowships in total to postdocs, encouraging them to propose their two-year research projects with a clear focus on economic and social impact. Through dedicated training in entrepreneurship and advanced transferable skills, imπACT fellows will be empowered to transform their research into real-world solutions.
Presentations by Vice-Rector for Innovation and Valorisation, Peter Schelkens, and entrepreneurship expert Kevin de Moortel further highlighted the university’s commitment to bridging academia and industry. Attendees gained valuable insights into the resources available to fellows, including guidance on business case development and strategies for driving innovation.
In the afternoon it was the turn of the fellows to take the stage. Each fellow delivered a 10-minute overview of their research, followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. The presentations showed a wide range of research disciplines all within VUB’s eight research clusters: Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Humanities and the Arts, Law and Criminology, Psychology and Educational Sciences, Medicine and Pharmacy, Sciences and Bio-engineering, Sports and Physical Therapy, Engineering.
The event concluded with a nice networking dinner, where our fellows and the ERIS team had the opportunity to connect.
The first training week of our imπACT fellows will take place from 14-18th of October, stay tuned!
For more information on our new imπACT fellows please click here.
