In a significant boost to postdoctoral researchers, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) have allocated a whopping €260 million for funding in 2023. The MSCA, a flagship initiative of the European Union, aims to support the career development and mobility of researchers across various disciplines. This year, 1,249 experienced postdoctoral researchers have been selected for funding out of a pool of 8,039 applicants.
What's particularly notable is the diverse cohort of awardees, representing nearly 80 nationalities. These researchers will embark on their projects in 45 countries across Europe and beyond, reflecting the global impact of MSCA funding. Moreover, the gender balance among the awardees is encouraging, with women comprising 42% of the selected applicants.
One such remarkable recipient of the MSCA funding is Dr. Sofia Amaoui, a postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in Psychology from the University of Granada, Spain. Dr. Amaoui has been awarded the MSCA funding for her project titled "Attitudes Towards Intimate Partner Violence against Women: from Neural Networks to Daily Life Experience" under the Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC) program. This is the only funded MSCA fellowship at the University of Innsbruck in 2024. She will work with Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carmen Morawetz (www.affectiveneuro.at) at the Department of Psychology of the University of Innsbruck
Dr. Amamoui's expertise lies in social neuroscience, particularly in the field of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women (IPVAW). Her research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying socioemotional processes in male perpetrators of IPVAW. During her doctoral studies, she had the privilege of being trained in one of the world's leading research groups dedicated to the neuroscientific study of IPVAW.
Her previous projects, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, delved into exploring the neural correlates of emotion regulation and moral decision-making in male perpetrators of IPVAW. Dr. Amaoui brings extensive experience in multi-modal fMRI data acquisition and analysis, including functional and effective connectivity studies. She has also conducted (neuro)psychological assessments of men convicted for various crimes, contributing significantly to the development of fMRI experiments in this domain.
With the MSCA funding, Dr. Amaoui aims to further advance our understanding of attitudes towards IPVAW against women, bridging the gap between neural networks and real-life experiences. Her research holds promise for informing interventions and policies aimed at combating IPVAW and promoting gender equality.
The MSCA funding continues to be a vital source of support for researchers like Dr. Amaoui, empowering them to pursue groundbreaking research and make meaningful contributions to society.
(Carmen Morawetz)