The Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) initiative aims to foster networks of excellent early career researchers committed to developing new ideas in order to understand and tackle current or emerging societal challenges. CAT was incubated within NetIAS in 2019 and is supported by 10 European Institutes for Advanced (IAS) Study.
The programme provides travel funds for an international and interdisciplinary teams of three to five early career researchers, possibly including a stakeholder, in order to advance constructive thinking and stimulate discussion.

In the latest call for applications (deadline for applications was 01 September 2020), three innovative, young ideas have been selected:

“Socio-ecological reshaping of European Cities and Metropolitan Areas” led by Joachim HACK (PI – TU Darmstadt), with Carlos Oliveira Cruz (Universidade de Lisboa), Rieke Hansen (Hochschule Geisenheim) & Andrea Nóblega Carriquiry (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).

“Reconstituting Publics through Remembering Transitions: Facilitating Critical Engagement with the 1980-90s on Local and Transnational Scales” led by Ksenia ROBBE (PI - University of Groningen), Agnieszka Mrozik (Polish Academy of Sciences), Andrei Zavadski (HU Berlin) & Alexander Formozov (Deutsch-Russischer Austausch e.V.).

“Light as a key predictor of human health and well-being: Robust evidence and translation to public health” led by Manuel SPITSCHAN (PI - University of Oxford), with Laura Kervezee (Leiden University), Renske Lok (Stanford University), Ray Najjar (Duke-NUS Medical School) & Elise McGlashan (Monash University).

During their project duration (up to three years), the groups will be hosted for a short research stay (up to two weeks) by five to six different European IAS. More information about the selected groups, the programme and participating IAS can be found online.