EU project CARLA to promote careers in photonics to STEM students

The new EU-funded project – CARLA – aims to develop a pan-European training programme to promote photonics careers among STEM university students and young researchers. The initiative by the European Centres for Outreach in Photonics has gathered 11 leading photonics organizations, which includes VUB B-PHOT, with extensive experience in outreach activities directed to different audiences.

During this CARLA project, each partner will create photonics career ‘camps of excellence’ to encourage STEM university students, PhD students and young postdocs to pursue their careers in photonics.

At VUB B-PHOT, this CARLA camp will normally take place 19th and 20th of March 2021. (If COVID-19 still thwarts our plans by then, this camp will be postponed.) During this CARLA-camp we will highlight the multidisciplinary nature of photonics technologies and applications, the camps will target students and young researchers from photonics and non-photonics fields. Participating in a CARLA camp will allow them to have a glimpse of the vast opportunities that the photonics careers landscape offers and provide a roadmap for better employability.

The goal of CARLA is to create a rigorous, tested and easily reproducible tool to boost careers in photonics in and outside academic research, as well as to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and empower diversity in the field. CARLA aims to match the needs and expectations of potential employers and future employees.

More news regarding the organization of the CARLA camp in Brussels will appear on this website soon.

Read the full article in Electro Optics magazine.

Information regarding the CARLA project can be found on the website www.carlahub.eu.