OSTASKILLS

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the single most common cause of disability in older adults and is expected to continue to grow in the decades to come. Despite the major socio-economic impact, OA patients are facing a staggering lack of disease-modifying therapies, leaving invasive total joint replacement as the only currently available option to treat end-stage OA. OSTASKILLS is based on a research programme aimed at the clinical development and market introduction of medical devices, pharmaceutical products and advanced therapy medicinal products for joint repair. OSTASKILLS aims at attracting ten talented doctoral candidates worldwide. It will issue two calls, inviting early stage researchers to apply for a doctoral training. The selection process OSTASKILLS has adopted is based on openness, transparency, merit, impartiality and equality for the applicants. The doctoral candidates will receive training through research and training by education. The main training objectives are: a variety of scientific methods within the field of regenerative medicine, as well as other transferable skills to improve the career perspectives of the doctoral candidates. OSTASKILLS aims to train the next generation of entrepreneurial scientists who are capable of combining and translating major innovations in life sciences towards meaningful clinical applications and the health care market. The field of joint preservation will act as a unique blueprint for the training of entrepreneurial scientists that can find their way towards other clinical application areas following their training in this programme. Every doctoral candidate will work in both an academic, as well as an non-academic partner organisation, to expose the young researchers to diverse research environments and equip them with the skills needed to bring innovations to actual implementation in practice.