Early Career Investigators (ECI)
CA18214 promotes the early career investigators, which are the researchers who are within a time span of up to 8 years from the date they obtained their PhD/doctorate (full-time equivalent), as well as gender equality. Some of them have expressed their own feelings and experience within the CA18214, as well as the benefits from the Action. Enjoy the reading below!
1- Mina Akhavan, Post doc at DAStU-Politecnico di Milano, Italy:“Thanks to this COST Action I had the unique chance to exercise a leading position within a European Project and I expanded my international network”
2- Oliver Rafaj University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia:“The COST Action CA18214 helps me to expand my existing network of professional contacts across research institutes in the EU, enables me to realize my research interests in the field of New Working Spaces and constantly provides me with opportunities for new research questions. By joining this project, I regret nothing!”
3- Lenka Smekalova Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic:“Taking part in the COST Action enabled me to connect with the international community of researchers, meet experienced leading researchers, consult with them, and work on common deliverables and publications.”
4- Federica Rossi, Post-doc at DAStU, Politecnico di Milano, Italy:“The Cost meetings helped me to expand my academic network, giving me the occasion to write and publish some scientific articles together with the cost members”.
5- Helyaneh Aboutalebi Tabrizi, PhD researcher CORAL-ITN, DAStU, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her contribution as WG member was on the promotion of the LinkedIn account of the CA18214 by posting updated news regarding publications of the COST members, along with announcing the information about MC/WG meetings, special sessions in related conferences, summer school etc. Meanwhile, she was a content contributor for social media of the Action in the form of a blog. The survey for Hybrid NeWSps (see D.1.3 and D.1.4 section) was conducted and distributed in July 2021 by her. “COST Action CA18214 made this opportunity for me to expand my network in the field and its activities created a good foundation for me before starting my PhD studies”.
6- Dante Di Matteo, Post-doc at DAStU, Politecnico di Milano, Italy:“The Cost Action 18214 allowed me to belong to an international network of researchers and stakeholders, and is offering me the chance to evaluate new career opportunities”.
7 Lukas Danko, Assistant Professor, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic: “As an ECI, COST helped me to join a transdisciplinary team that deals with cutting-edge research on new working spaces that helped me to grow both professionally and personally. Taking part in a COST action helped me to extend a network for me and my peers with similar career paths that were seeking international leadership”.
8 Anastasia Sinitsyna (Ph.D. researcher, Junior research Fellow, University of Tartu, Estonia: “Taking part in Cost Action boosted my career and expanded my network to the international level. The latter is significant for an early-career researcher who is still learning from senior colleagues. Moreover, I would like to say that thanks to CA18214 and in particular to STSM and Virtual Mobility grants, I received the opportunity to advance my knowledge in urban studies and learn approaches of planning studies that are completely new for me.”
9 – Karolina Małochleb, PhD researcher at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland: “Taking part in COST enabled me to work with professionals worldwide, expand my expertise and broaden my horizons in the area of new working spaces”.
10 Katarzyna Wojnar (PhD), Assistant Professor from the University of Warsaw, Poland: “Thanks to my participation in COST Action I was able to become involved in an international research network on new working spaces. It helped me in successfully submitting a national research grant proposal on this topic. My participation in a STSM at the Norwegian University for Life Sciences in Ås under the supervision of prof. Mina Di Marino provided me with a better understanding of the diversity of location patterns and location of coworking spaces in various types of locations including urban and peripheral. This unique opportunity helped me to improve my research design and analytical skills as well as provided me with in-person coaching regarding my scientific career. I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”
11 Thomas Vogl, PhD researcher at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany: “The STSM was a great opportunity for me to expand my international research network in the field of new working spaces and gave me valuable insights into other disciplines and their research approaches.”
12 Emannuel Costa, PhD researcher at the Santa Catarina State University, Brazil: “As a researcher from outside Europe, it has been a marvelous experience to participate in this COST Action for several reasons. First, it allowed me to get to know and get in touch with a research reality far different from mine, which led my knowledge of collaborative research and networking to accelerate considerably in the last year. Second, taking part in the COST Action helped me connect with researchers from different countries who are also interested in new working spaces – particularly coworking spaces. Third, and related, this articulation between network learning and connections with people of common research interests represents a unique opportunity to focus on the internationalization of my career, which is my ultimate personal goal”.
13 Harris Grigoropoulos, Master degree at Politecnico di Milano (Italy, USA), free-lance, collaborates with the Ca18214: “COST helped my academic career because it has allowed me to collaborate with other international academics in diverse fields, who I would not have had the chance to work with otherwise. COST in the time of Covid has taught me the importance of resilience to maintain and even strengthen some networking relationships as we all learned to adapt the Action together”.
14 Seyed Hossein Chavoshi, Associate Professor, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway “It was a great opportunity to be part of the COST Action CA18214. I could expand my domain of interests and apply my expertise to support location analysis of coworking spaces. Additionally, this action helped me to work actively not only with my colleagues at the national level but also established a durable collaboration with other members of the action internationally.”
15 Bernardine Satariano, Senior lecturer, University of Malta, Malta: “Cost gives me the opportunity to work and collaborate with a team of international researchers. This enables a better understanding of the different geographical contexts. Therefore the research conducted within a Cost project provides for effective European policy planning.”
16 Mariachiara Barzotto, University of Bath, UK: “COST Action CA18214 has been an enriching opportunity for my professional growth. It gave me the possibility to be exposed to a thought-provoking research agenda with a clear impact on policy. Moreover, it enabled me to undertake leading positions within the COST itself and collaborate with a dynamic international network of academics and practitioners.
17 Ernest Shtepani Lecturer Metropolitan University Tirana, Albania: “COST Action CA18214 has demonstrated to be a great opportunity for cooperation and networking at the professional level. It is highly recommended especially for young people as a platform for scientific growth. The maximal potential of its networking opportunity is unlimited and could be explored further.
18 Chiara Tagliaro, Fixed-term researcher at Politecnico di Milano, Italy: “The STSM helped me strengthen my relationships with scholars overseas. The responsibility I gained by becoming the leader of WG4 on Dissemination gave me the chance to advance my management skills and to expand my experience in dissemination strategies.”
19 Ayman Kassem, Lecturer at the Lebanese University, Faculty of fine arts and architecture, Lebanon: “Being involved in the COST Action CA18214 as an MC Observer from a Near Neighbour Country was a great opportunity to participate in a cross-disciplinary group research project, to acquire new research skills, and to co-author scientific publications with the other members. The Cost Action was also a chance to widen my academic network”
20 Meltem Parlak Mavitan, PhD, Istanbul Technical University:”The aim of the COST action (CA18214) has a strong connection with the scope of my Ph.D. thesis. The action helped me build direct connections with the professionals in my study area. As a result, I had a chance to enlarge my network. It created a potential for future collaborations. Moreover, site visits during MC meetings helped me experience various new working spaces.”
