Hiring of new candidates continued in 2021, and 12 PhDs candidates are now actively engaged within the Centre. Most of them are about halfway through their project, busy with coursework and publishing results from their research. In addition, 5 MSc students and a number of summer students have completed their projects through LowEmission in 2021.

The academic research program holds an essential position in LowEmission. Giving highly motivated candidates the possibility to acquire a research scientist education is, in itself, an investment in the future, important to the nation, industry, and academia. But beyond these advantages, the work performed by the candidates is also an essential part of realising the LowEmission objectives. Closely intertwined in the subproject families, candidates are working tightly with our industry partners, producing highly relevant results. Their contributions are made through high-impact journal publications, at international conferences, in webinars and blog articles.

Sectoral labour mobility

The LowEmission centre, with its wide involvement from both academia and industry partners, is in a unique position to bridge the gap between those two worlds. All of the Centre's PhD students are connected to a so-called subproject family. These are groups of industry contacts that have expertise linked to each subproject of the Centre. In this way, doctoral candidates are integrated into the activities of the Centre. They also get the chance to join events and meetings to which the Centre's scientists and industry experts participate.

Industry partners expressed a wish to collaborate more closely with the Centre's academic community. We are now working on finding ways to better integrate students with industry partners, for example through co-supervision, creation of internships or linking each student to relevant industry contacts.