Outlined below are some of the mechanisms by which postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows within CREATE have recently been able to engage in specialist and generic training initiatives.

Training and Career Development of Researchers
• Formal courses include Electrochemical Techniques: Principles and Applications, Bath University UK; Dublin Research Alliance DRHEA participation; Nanobiotechnology, NCSR and Cornell University USA; RSC Nanotechnology course, Glasgow UK; EU proposal writing workshops, Bulgaria and Dublin.
• Postgraduate Research Visits e.g. Prof. J. Wang University of New Mexico, USA; Prof. S. Guillerez, CEA/CNRS, France; Prof. Gunther Wittstock, Germany; Prof. Tia Keyes and Prof. Robert Forster, DCU.
• CREATE Formal Group Meetings/Departmental Seminars (2-3 per semester)
• ITT Dublin Generic and Specialist Training Sessions (organised internally and under SIF funded Research Alliance, DRHEA) - library, ethics, diversity, (intellectual property); CREATE Summer Workshops e.g. Scientific Writing.

In addition to the above formal career development, researchers at CREATE experience as many national and international conferences as possible throughout their research programme, where they present their work either orally or via posters. This provides opportunities to gain peer review of their research, new contacts/links and exposure to potential employers.

Additionally, the on campus Business Incubation centre – Synergy provides a range of training opportunities in entrepreneurship e.g. The Enterprise Start programme (to date one CREATE postgraduate student has completed this course) and the Student Enterprise Competition. The proximity and availability of support measures via this resource is invaluable in instilling a culture of entrepreneurship within the centre.

Open Day event June 2010

Baljit Singh, Grigore Munteanu, Anna Tsigara, Dhanraj Rathod and Ahmad Benkhial, participating at a CREATE/MiCRA open day industry event during poster session.