Marie Curie Alumni Association

Marie Curie Alumni Association is a thriving organisation of over 13000 members spread across five continents. The MCAA is currently comprised of 34 geographical chapters and 8 working groups. MCAA members engage with each other primarily through networking meetings and training events organized by these chapters and working groups. In addition, the MCAA organises an annual Conference and General Assembly with upwards of 500 participants. Membership of the MCAA is free of charge and open to any past or present beneficiary of research funding from a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA), a programme of the European Commission specifically designed to encourage international mobility among researchers.

Short biography principal investigator

Matthew DiFranco

Matthew DiFranco

MCAA Chair, Matthew DiFranco, has over 10 years of experience in medical imaging and machine learning research, including projects in digital pathology, medical device design and characterization, radiology and nuclear medicine image analysis, and pre-clinical imaging. He’s also available for consulting services related to research and innovation in these and other topics. As a computer scientist in the Zimmer Lab at the University of Vienna Department of Neurobiology, Matthew is currently working on multimodal sensory/behavioral analysis of C. elegans nematodes using computer vision and machine learning techniques. He previously worked with the Foundations of Cognition Lab (FoCo Lab) at UCSF to develop a community-driven, open source, machine learning, probabilistic atlas of the neuronal system in C. elegans worms using a Python/Flask/PostgreSQL framework. As Board Chair of the Marie Curie Alumni Association, he is also actively involved in advocacy for science and research in society. The MCAA fosters networking and career development for researchers at different stages of their careers and is also active in European science policy initiatives.

Key Research Facility and Equipment

MCAA is an organization, not a research facility. MCAA will participate in the project as external trainers during the training sessions for ESRs.

Current involvement in Research and Training Programmes

MCAA has several working groups providing webinars to their members, and origanizing scientific events. Recently, many events and webinars have dealt with career-related topics and MCAA members have participate in discussions on the policy aspects, as well as in providing opportunities for development through advanced training.