Young European Associated Researchers network
YEAR is the network of young researchers in Europe. We aim to be a common channel for trainings, networking, consulting and mobility for young researchers in Europe.
Our network brings together a potential of about 4,000 young researchers in European research.
YEAR (Young European Associated Researchers) is a non-profit international organization which gathers professionals from European Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs). If the organisations are the members of YEAR (that is to say that there is no individual membership), the young researchers and early-stage career employees are the core of our network.
YEAR vision is to enhance the potential, capabilities and competitiveness of the European Research Area (ERA) by increasing the exchange of ideas and contacts at researcher level.
We strongly believe that early-stage researchers of today will define our future. Thus, our mission is to create opportunities to support the development of young researchers’ career by helping them to extend their professional network and gain new skills in an international environment.
YEAR develops its activities on three main pillars:
Who can become member?
RTOs and Research and Development departments of industrial organisations are considered as potential YEAR members. There is no individual membership. YEAR is aimed at organisations and departments of larger organisations that are established in member countries of the European Union or European Economic Area, which are managerially independent and which provide research and development, technology and innovation services as their predominant activity.
Is there an age limit?
YEAR is meant for early-stage career and young-minded people; therefore, there is no age limit to join our activities.
What does it cost?
The amount of the membership fee depends on the number of employees in your organization. The fee is 5.50 € per employee with a minimum of 880 € and a maximum of 6,600 €.
A 15% discount to the subscription will be given to each organization that has an internal young employees’ association linked to it.
A formalized network of young researchers within a participating organisation is not a requirement for membership. However, to set up an internal network of young researchers will help your organization as a whole – we can offer you help on building up such a network.
If you are interested in joining YEAR, please contact us at contact@year-network. Your time is very important for us; thus, we have reduced the bureaucracy to the minimum.
Members
Officially founded in 2007, our current members are:
Nicolaas van Strien
Nicolaas (Niels) is a Research Scientist in the Industrial Synthesis and Catalysis team at VTT (Finland). His current research focuses on utilising sugar diacids from waste streams to turn those into monomers which could then be further polymerised into renewable plastics. He joined the Board in 2021.
Salvatore Tedesco
Salvatore is a Senior Researcher – Team Leader at the Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. He joined Tyndall in 2012. His research interest are focused on wearable technologies for healthcare and well-being, human movement analysis in sports and clinical populations, motion sensors, signal processing, data analytics and machine learning. Salvatore joined the board in 2019.
Anahid Jalali
Anahid is a scientist in the department of Digital Safety and Security at the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). Her research includes the application of Machine Learning technologies, specifically deep learning with a focus on predictive maintenance and explainability in ML. She joined the board in 2019.
Jennifer Carreiro
Jennifer is a Research Scientist in the Wind Power Technologies team at VTT (Finland). She holds a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Glasgow. Her current research focuses on aerodynamics of wind farms and the different environmental factors affecting turbines (icing, erosion). She joined the Board in 2021.
Hajo den Ouden
Hajo den Ouden is a researcher at TNO (The Netherlands) within the department of Naval and Offshore Structures, focusing primarily on ship vulnerability and holistic ship design methods. He holds a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MSc in Aerospace Engineering, with the specialization in Structures and Materials. He joined the Board in 2023.
Nikalet Everson
Nikalet Everson works in research at SINTEF Energy Research (Norway) in the Thermal Energy department focusing primarily on sustainable biofuel production by thermochemical techniques, such as pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. She holds a BSc degree in Biochemistry and a MSc in Biotechnology, where her lab work focused on pharmacology via organic synthesis and recombination protein production in bacteria, respectively. She joined the Board in 2023.
Mike Wilmer
Mike is a scientist integrator at TNO, The Hague. He has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology. He now works at the department of Data Science on the explainability of machine learning and cloud native technology. He joined the board in 2019.
Jef Bergmans
Jef is a Research Scientist in the unit Sustainable Materials Management at VITO (Belgium). He works in the field of Recycling Technologies for inorganic waste streams (e.g. metallurgical waste, construction and demolition waste, fine-grained sludges). He joined the board in 2014.
Behrooz Sangchoolie
Behrooz is a researcher in the Dependable System section at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Chalmers University of Technology. His current research interests include dependability assessment of computer systems as well as safety and security interplay analysis using fault and attack injection. He joined the Board in 2019.
Cansu Birgen
Cansu is a Research Scientist in the department of Energy Research – Thermal Energy at SINTEF (Norway). She holds a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering and has worked in the area of environmentally friendly energy processes since 2012. Her areas of expertise include bioenergy, sustainable energy systems, mathematical modelling including machine-learning methods and data analysis. She joined the Board in 2020.
Paulina Rodriguez Fiscal
Paulina Rodriguez Fiscal holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and MSc degree in Smart Cities and Communities. She is a researcher in the Smart Energy & Built Environment Unit at VITO (Belgium), mainly focused in neighbourhood & community driven decarbonisation projects and EU building policy implementation.
She joined the board in 2023.