As part of the EIT Lable requirement for the doctoral training and course package a 4 to 6 month mobility is included. The PhD candidates being part of the Doctoral Training Network are conducting their PhD research within an external organization and in another country. This is to facilitate networking and get additional perspectives on their research.
To find good placements is a challenge and need to be valuable both for the PhD candidate as well as the hosting organization (university, city or company). Facilitating this process will make is easier for the PhD candidates to focus of their studies and with more good options to chose from a better match and quality should be possible to achieve benefitting both parties.
Do you agree with the statements above? How significant is this need? Why may organisations be reluctant to host the PhD candidates?
We should here focus on trying to understand the nature of the problem, so please try to avoid to discussing concrete solutions, even if it is difficult. Potential solutions will be discussed in the next step of the process.
EIT Urban Mobility Academy Calls 
Most PhD students have an external funding source, either directly from an industrial organisation or from a research financing source where industry and/or government actors are stakeholders. This is the most natural avenue for finding a placement – perhaps not with the stakeholder itself but with another organisation in the larger ecosystem. But this suggests that to fulfil this, we should be sure to build on the networks that exist behind PhD financing, not just create a wholly parallel network.
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This is an important and unresolved problem, such experiences are important so that students can make a successful transition from university to the workplace, or better valorize PhD projects, therefore it’s important that these experiences are meaningful for both of the sides, students ideas are deployed in context that is are adequate for the precise ideas, as well as there should be a clear why for hosting institution to have such PhD student hosted… How this can be solved remains a question
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This is as stated still a challenge, but need rather to be handled by and within the DTN than being part of the call.
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