EIT RawMaterials Academy – Funded by the EU

Summer and Winter Schools

Boost your raw materials knowledge, entrepreneurial skills and professional network with specialised short courses.

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EIT RawMaterials Summer and Winter Schools

The EIT RawMaterials community offers a range of Summer and Winter Schools for students and professionals wishing to develop their knowledge and skills in the fields of raw materials and entrepreneurship. The EIT RawMaterials Summer and Winter Schools are aligned with our three Lighthouse themes:

Responsible Sourcing
Responsible Sourcing
Guiding innovation in responsible sourcing of raw materials for Europe’s green future
Responsible Sourcing
Sustainable Materials
Guiding innovation in sustainable raw materials for electric mobility and green energy
Responsible Sourcing
Circular Societies
Guiding innovation in the radical shift from a linear to a circular economy and society

Why apply to a course?

With a network of over 300 renowned partners from the European raw materials industry, academia and research, EIT RawMaterials is ideally placed to connect you with the latest industry developments while helping you to build your industry-relevant skills and grow your professional network.

Innovation
Understand the latest innovations and become an innovator in your field
Entrepreneurship
Develop entrepreneurial skills to apply in your research, work or start-up company
Sustainability
Learn how to apply your knowledge to improve sustainability in the raw materials value chain
Industry exposure
Connect with leading organisations in Europe’s raw materials sector

Ready to apply?

Courses are available for master’s students, PhD students and young professionals with an interest in the raw materials value chain. Attend in person, or join an online training programme. Discover our Summer and Winter Schools below.

Courses

View all courses below, or filter by Lighthouse theme of interest, target audience or delivery method. Click on more information to visit the course website, register now to jump to the registration page or sign up to get notified when registration opens.

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7 of 7 courses
  • Responsible Sourcing
  • Sustainable Materials
  • Circular Societies

SUMMED-PV - Summer Education in Photovoltaics #

  • 8-13 September 2024
  • Milan, Italy
  • in person

SUMMED-PV is a Summer School in Photovoltaics aimed at training scientists and engineers in the making, using, and recycling of sustainable and cost-efficient raw materials for future photovoltaic energy. Funded by EIT Raw Materials, SUMMED-PV is open to Master’s students, PhD students, and researchers from industries and academia who are into Photovoltaics.

SUMMED-PV will make the attendees understand the importance of Raw Materials as a key enabler of Photovoltaics development in the European ecosystem and a pre-requisite to achieving the targets of the EU Green Deal.

SUMMED-PV will explain how and why some materials are classified as “critical” based on natural resource distribution, economic and geopolitical factors, and - in a more modern view - environmental factors. Together we will discuss which measures are being put in place, and the associated bottlenecks, to mitigate the supply risk, including diversification of the raw materials supply, recycling of end-of-life modules, substitution of materials and components, and optimization of the device fabrication process.

All the lectures will be challenge-based and aimed at stimulating new ideas and initiatives towards the market. The interest in business ideas development and start-up setup will be stimulated by the interaction with experts operating in the SUMMED-PV partners, including the industrial and start-up companies, who have specific experiences in the topic.

Partners

  • University of Milano- Bicocca
  • University of Torino
  • University of Salerno
  • University of Trieste
  • Hochschule Anhalt
  • Bitron S.p.A.
  • ERION

Prices

  • 150 € + VAT | early bird registration by 15 June 2024
  • 220 € + VAT | regular registration by 31 July 2024
  • waived fee for National Italian PhD students in Photovoltaics

Registration Period

Now Open! until 31 Jul 2024 (or when quota for 70 places has been filled)

Target Audience: PhD students, Master students, Professionals, Researchers from industry and private/public laboratories
Price: 150-220 €

  • Circular Societies

CLOCKS: Closing the loop: building circular skills on the entire value chain for Circular Economy #

  • 2-5 September 2024
  • Gießen, Germany
  • in person

The Circular Economy Summer School Gießen (Germany) 2024 is organized as part of the CLOCKS project (CLOCKS - CLOsing the loop: building Circular sKillS on the entire value chain). The School focuses on design for the circular economy and sustainability.

Experts from academia and companies as well as PhD and Master students will address the challenge of designing durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable products from raw materials that are not harmful to living beings and the natural environment through energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and zero-waste production. The main activities of the School are teachings and a hackathon.

The teaching content promotes the synergetic combination of academic and scientific experts. Qualified lecturers from academia, research institutes, companies and institutions will provide valuable insights and case studies on various aspects of design for the circular economy and sustainability.

The hackathon addresses reality-based industrial challenges related to design for the circular economy and sustainability. The challenges that the companies propose to the PhD students are electronic waste and textiles.

Partners

  • University of Padova
  • University of Ljubljana
  • Justus Liebig University Giessen
  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. 
  • Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (MEERI)
  • UMICORE AG & Co. KG
  • Novu s.r.l.

Registration period (opening & deadline)

Now Open! Until 30 June 2024.

Prices

  • PhD and Master students: 150 € + VAT
  • waived fee for students from: Justus Liebig University, University of Padova, University of Ljubljana, MEERI Institute, Fraunhofer Institute IWKS
  • Professionals and employees: 500 € + VAT
  • Waived fee for employees from: Umicore, Tondo Lab, sponsors

Target Audience: PhD students, Professionals, Company representatives/employees, Master’s students have the opportunity to take part in the Summer School if places are still available after the application deadline
Price: 0-500 EUR

  • Sustainable Materials

ELMO-LION: Educational Learning Modules on Li-ION batteries #

  • 29 July - 2 August 2024
  • Padova, Italy
  • hybrid

ELMO-LION is a new European battery technology and innovation 6 ETCS PhD course and a Summer School Co-funded by EIT RawMaterials. The objective is to train the next generation of scientists and engineers in the interdisciplinary and rapidly accelerating field of Li-ion batteries.

Course contains three modules:

  • The 1st module “Online Lectures” where students can watch 8 lectures for 2 hours each provided by famous experts of battery area. Lectures are related to synthesis of the battery materials, spectroscopic study, first principles modelling, diagnostic and operation, reuse and recycling, battery market. 
  • The 2nd module “Project Work” where 10 topics for projects are chosen from actual needs of industrial partners. Students should prepare ideas how to solve provided cases analyzing available literature sources and own ideas. Work will be carried out under supervision of mentors and proceeded in remote format. Discussion about given case should be written as a report. 
  • The 3rd module “Summer School” which will take place in Padova, Italy for 5 days from Monday 29th of July to Friday 2nd of August. Students will participate in lectures and seminars from industrial and academy partners, study how to apply proposal for Startup funding. Also, students should develop projects under industrial and academic supervising.

Partners

  • Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology
  • Alto University
  • Politecnico di Milano
  • Delft University of Technology
  • University of Padova
  • University of Eastern Finland
  • University of Helsinki
  • University of Oulu
  • Suomen Malmijalostus Oy 
  • Metso Finland Oy
  • EMPA - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
  • Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.A.

Prices 

  • Price for module “Online Lectures”: 50 € (payment is required only for receiving credits, participating in this module without credits is for free)
  • Price for module "Project Work”: 50 €
  • Price for module "Summer School": 300 €
  • Price for the full ELMO-LION course: 350 €
  • Price for the full ELMO-LION course partner organizations: 250 €

Registration period (opening & deadline): closed

Target Audience: PhD students
Price: 50-350 €

  • Sustainable Materials

ADMA3 - Advanced Materials Doctoral Program with Industry​ #

  • Jan-Dec 2024
  • Online
  • online

ADMA3 - Advanced Materials Doctoral Program with Industry​ is a unique initiative dedicated to advancing PhD students’ training in sustainable discovery and supply of mineral resources.

Addressing the evolving challenges in the mining industry driven by factors such as energy transition and climate change mitigation, this programme aims to equip participants with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate these complex issues. It connects academia and industry, offering valuable insights to experts in both sectors. It provides models and skills for establishing enterprises, fostering sustainable development (SD), promoting business innovation, and addressing ethical challenges.

In collaboration with esteemed partners the University of Oulu, Feasib Ltd, Tallinn Technical University, Politecnico di Milano, and support from 10 industry-leading companies, the ADMA3 PhD School offers a comprehensive learning experience.

Courses are tailored for PhD and M.Sc. students entering into PhD education, covering a diverse range of fields, including engineering, science, economy, and humanities, and are open to company employees for continuous lifelong learning.

Partners:

Target Audience: PhD students, Master students
Price: No fee

  • Sustainable Materials

PhD-BalticTeach #

  • June 2024 - March 2025
  • Riga (Latvia), Tallin (Estonia), Kaunas (Lithuania)
  • hybrid

PhD BalticTeach is addressed to doctoral students interested in research areas such as advanced materials, sustainability, circular economy, and technology commercialization. The programme empowers aspiring researchers with a systems-thinking approach and challenge-based learning, mastering the commercialization and scaling of research results for successful market entry.

During the programme, three PhD schools will be organized, each of them containing:

  • Individual online learning courses (approx. 60 hours)
  • A three-day in-person PhD school (approx. 30 hours)
  • Incubation programme (approx. 60 hours)

Students have the opportunity to apply and participate in one or more face-to-face PhD schools. Each of them will focus on different topics and take place at specific times from 2024 to 2025:

Summer PhD School: Market and the Customer

  • Dates: 4-6 June 2024
  • Place: Riga, Latvia
  • Format: hybrid
  • Registration period (opening & deadline): closed

Autumn PhD School: The Business Case

  • Dates: 12-14 November 2024
  • Place: Tallin, Estonia
  • Format: hybrid
  • Registration period (opening & deadline): 12th August - 8th September

Spring PhD School: Investor Readiness

  • Dates: 11-13 March 2025
  • Place: Kaunas, Lithuania
  • Format: hybrid
  • Registration period (opening & deadline): January 2025

Before participating in a face-to-face school, students must complete an individual online learning course, including systems-thinking, sustainable materials, circularity, and challenge-based content. If students decide to participate in all three schools, they must complete the online learning course only once before starting the first in-person school. After each face-to-face school, the incubation programme will provide students with inspiring online lectures, practical seminars, and one-on-one mentoring sessions. Participation in each of the schools will provide students with the possibility of earning 6 ECTS credits.

Project partners

  • Riga Technical University Science and Innovation Centre
  • Tallinn University of Technology
  • Kaunas University of Technology
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
  • Technical University of Kosice
  • Geological Survey of Slovenia

Target Audience: PhD students
Price: 200 EUR

  • Sustainable Materials

EPICENTRE - Educational Platform Life Cycle Assessment structures #

  • October 2024
  • Tallin, Estonia
  • hybrid

EPICENTRE winter-summer school for PhD & Master students focuses on LCA, LCC and new business development, aiming to bridge the gap in comprehension and communication surrounding life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). This initiative actively champions sustainable practices within the raw materials sector, aligning with the goals of the EU Green Deal. The programme implements the deployment of a comprehensive and dynamic educational platform that integrates e-learning, simulations, and workshops. This multifaceted strategy ensures an innovative and engaging learning experience for participants from industry and academia.

Target Audience:

  • PhD Students
  • Master Students
  • Interested Industry Professionals

Partners: 

  • Riga Technical University
  • Luleå University of Technology
  • Aarhus University
  • Tallinn University of Technology
  • Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute

Please note: the number of places is limited, and priority is given to students from partner universities.

Target Audience: PhD students, Professionals
Price: 0

  • Responsible Sourcing
  • Sustainable Materials
  • Circular Societies

RACE – The Raw and Circular Economy Expedition #

  • July – August 2024
  • TBD
  • in person

Become a sustainability pioneer and help us unlock solutions to pressing raw materials challenges. RACE is a two-week, challenge-based learning programme across the raw materials value chain that unites sustainability pioneers to connect, learn and innovate for pressing raw materials challenges.

Target Audience: Master students, PhD students
Price: from 0-400 €

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Any Questions? Contact us.

If you’d like to learn more about EIT RawMaterials Summer and Winter Schools and how you can get involved, contact the EIT RawMaterials Academy today!

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EIT-Labelled Master Programmes

Are you looking for a master’s programme in raw materials? Join an EIT-Labelled master’s programme and become a global game changer with strong technical abilities, innovation and entrepreneurship skills and an overview of sustainability in the raw materials value chain.

Check out our programmes