Professor Andrea Macrina

Students and young researchers in developing countries sometimes can feel isolated from the big international centres of research and innovation. The enduring scarcity of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-educated young talent produces much competition in the industry to secure the graduates with such a background. Such situations can produce vicious circles and exacerbate brain-drain from higher education institutions, which struggle to grow and foster future generations of domestic researchers and academics. Attracting established or promising scientists from cutting-edge international research hubs might be even harder. The FMTC, even if just a drop in an ocean, endeavours to create opportunities in particular for keen, less privileged students at their institutions, at home, in places with much drive and aspiration, which try to break what sometimes seems to be a circle with little hope of escaping from.