From 22 to 26 September 2025, the International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science (ICCVS), University of Gdańsk, hosted the second edition of the ERA SHUTTLE Summer School, funded by the Horizon Europe Programme. Our Centre became a true meeting hub for researchers, practitioners, research support officers and experts from across Europe.

Coffee breaks turned into brainstorming sessions, lectures into lively debates, and evening walks through Gdańsk’s Old Town provided unique networking opportunities that may lead to future collaborations.

The Summer School was officially opened by Izabela Raszczyk, project partner coordinator at University of Gdańsk, together with prof. Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska, Director of ICCVS and Boško Škorić, the ERA SHUTTLE project coordinator from University of Split. This year’s edition once again demonstrated that it is possible to combine academic insights with practical training, equipping participants with tools to advance their careers in research, innovation, and international collaboration. The event was smoothly coordinated by our event manager, Dominika Butkiewicz, who also oversees day-to-day activities within the ERA SHUTTLE project.

We had the pleasure of hosting our partners from the University of Malta and the University of Split, as well as leading experts from:

Schiller & Mertens GbR (Germany)
Braingain (Belgium)
Steinbeis 2i GmbH (Germany)
CERIC-ERIC (Italy)
AcrossLimits (Malta)
ASTP – The European Association for Technology Transfer Professionals (Nederland)

A huge thank you to all our speakers and partners for their unique contributions on topics including career development and scientific leadership, artificial intelligence, research productivity and digitalisation, funding opportunities, building consortia, project planning and proposal writing, knowledge and technology transfer, innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialisation, and pitching to investors:

Daniel Mertens, Lucia Smit, Ela Kurtcu, Angie Mifsud, Evita Milan, Gianluca Romanin, Rebecca Zammit, Bernard Denis, Elena Sultana, Angela Zennaro, Marcello Turconi, Ivana Marsic, David Gardiner.

It was a week that perfectly balanced academic insights with practical skills, enriched by networking and social activities that made the experience even more impactful.

Networking, collaboration, and the future

The ERA SHUTTLE Summer School was not only about what participants learned – it was equally about the network they built. What made us especially proud was seeing researchers and research support staff from Malta, Split, and Gdańsk discover common challenges and begin co-creating solutions that, we hope, will last far beyond this week.

We sincerely thank all speakers, participants, and the ICCVS team for shaping a week full of inspiration, collaboration, and forward-looking ideas!