France will take over the rotating EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2022. On behalf of the French Ministry for Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL, will organize the 2022 “Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Presidency Conference”. In the spirit of previous conferences, this conference will highlight the achievements and future of the MSCA programme, the European Union’s flagship funding programme for training, mobility and career development of researchers. 2022 is a crucial year for the future of higher education and research in Europe : it marks the launch of Horizon Europe and the organization of the first Conference of the Future of Europe. It is also 25 years since the MSCA programme was launched. Over 25 years, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fostered excellence in research by bringing together a European community of researchers and supporting their careers at all stages. Moreover, far from being disconnected from society, the MSCA programme has also been a driver of change by supporting, for instance, closer links between science and citizens as well as advancing careers for female researchers. How has MSCA helped advance research and innovation in Europe for the past 25 years? What are the key societal challenges that the MSCA programme should help further address for its next 25 years? Based on these questions, this 2022 MSCA conference will be entitled "Next generation MSCA: opening a new era for change”. The conference will be an opportunity to take stock on the transformational achievements of the MSCA programme and reflect upon what a “future-proof” and inclusive MSCA would be. Mostly organized at the Institut Curie, the idea is to offer a hybrid event, accessible both in person and remotely.

Artificial Intelligence at Interfaces” (AII@PSL) is an innovative, interdisciplinary and intersectoral PhD programme. It aims at training a new generation of researchers at the highest academic level in their main discipline (engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, human and social sciences) and mastering the latest technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning as applied in their own field. It will contribute to create an EU AI pool of excellence to tackle the major global challenges we are facing today and to answer to international competition. Both in the private and in academia, there is a lack of scientists capable of running interdisciplinary projects involving both a deep knowledge of a specific application field and a good knowledge of AI techniques. AII@PSL programme will recruit 26 PhD students through qualitative HR processes, based on equal opportunities and excellence. They will benefit from a supportive environment to be the scientists of tomorrow. PSL will offer breakthrough research projects proposed by our worldwide renowned research departments, in cooperation with our business partners, plus a strong partnership for technological innovation with the venture capital firm Elaia Partners, dedicated trainings in AI and Machine Learning, and international academic networks. They will be mentored by a pair of PhD supervisors, one specialised in AI and the other specialised in the application field, plus a peer sponsor. AII@PSL programme will accelerate the emerging “AI PSL Graduate Transverse Program”. Creative outreach events will favor participatory and open science to foster All@PSL’s impacts on policy makers as well as civil and economic society making AI accountable. Paris Sciences et Lettres is a unique university of excellence to train this new generation, with 19 schools members pushing the boundaries of a wide spectrum of research areas (45th in 2020 THE ranking).