A training course for the DCs in MWP4SPACE was held in Ireland over two sites in Cork (Tyndall National Institute) and Dublin (Dublin City University) on the week of 10-14th June 2024. 13 of the DCs attended with one unable to travel due to a visa issue. They were joined by the project coordinator. The DCs were welcomed with a dinner at Blackrock Castle before the intense training took place, first at Tyndall from Monday to Wednesday.
The training included lectures on communicating and presenting research to peers in the academic/industrial sectors, and to the public, where the DCs were each tasked with an exercise and tested. The technical lectures featured fabrication and packaging of photonic devices followed by comprehensive visits to the labs to see the techniques in action, first hand. Additional talks were provide by local company (PixQuanta) developing cameras for space. Wednesday featured training on the important circuit design and layout software, led by one of the DCs supported online by an engineer from Bright Photonics.
This course was specially requested by the DCs and was highly appreciated. The DCs were given the opportunity to present their research each with a 10-15 min talk where the supervisors were online to ask questions. Significant progress made in the past few months was evident. The DCs commented that they really appreciated the lecture to lab aspect, the passion that the lectures were delivered with and the diversity of people they met.
The students transferred on Wednesday evening to DCU in Dublin for the second part of the training. The technical training in DCU involved courses from MWP4SPACE partners (AlterTechnologies, Pilot Photonics and 3-5 Labs) that covered testing & qualification of components for space, and the development of advaced optical sources including optical frequency combs and tunable laser using photonic integrated circuits. The training in DCU also involved presentations from local industy that develop AlI solutions for space sensing (Ubotica) and novel optical sources for sensing and communications applications (Eblana Photonics). An important transferable skills training element in DCU concerned the commercialisation and entrepreneurship workshop where the DC’s learned about intellectual property issues and the technology transfer path. The DC’s also had the opportunity to sample the social scene in Dublin with a visit to the Quay’s Restaurant in Temple Bar.

Brian Corbett from Tyndall was very appreciative of the support from our researchers as well as the industry partners who presented. A LinkedIn post was made to promote the attendance and appreciation of the contributors to the school.
The appreciation was high among the DC’s who resumed their stay in Ireland communicating that “The insightful lectures and facility visits at Tyndall and Dublin City University have significantly enhanced our scientific and personal understanding of the integrated photonics field, providing us with a glimpse into cutting-edge research and technology. As the DC team, we would like to extend our gratitude to all the companies and partners involved in making this event possible.
Moreover, this training school has strengthened the bond among the DC candidates. The shared experiences and presentations of various PhD topics have inspired a desire among the DCs to engage in collaborative research, enabling us to advance more effectively in our respective fields”.
The program moves on the right direction aiming to contribute in MWP4SPACE.