CARLA: The Photonics Career Hub

The CARLA project (the European Photonics CAReer LAunch Path) coordinated by ICFO, launched in 2020 within the H2020 network with the aim to encourage university students and researchers to pursue careers in photonic sciences. While the funded project had a 3-year duration which has recently concluded, the extremely positive impact for the current and future photonics community assures that it will continue its missions and activities.

CARLA was a collaborative initiative of ECOP (European Centres for Outreach in Photonics), a long-standing partnership of European research and innovation centres passionate about outreach in photonics. It consisted of a consortium of 11 European partners in different countries working together with over 100 stakeholders, including academia, industry, entrepreneurs, policymakers, HR, training experts, students and researchers. CARLA events focused on reinforcing  participant’s knowledge of the vast opportunities and careers in the photonics landscape, offering them a roadmap for better employability. CARLA actively promoted careers in photonics through 13 camps (standalone events) and 8 capsules (sessions collocated within other events) that took place all over Europe. In particular, more than 2000 participants, 200 speakers, 250 academic institutions and 375 companies have participated in CARLA camps, together guaranteeing the project’s success.  

CARLA aimed to create a rigorous, tested and reproducible instrument to support the growth, leadership and innovation potential in photonics at a European level. To achieve this, a comprehensive handbook was designed outling the methodology and scalability of the events, facilitating the replication of the camp and promoting a model for future European photonics career camps, all following a similar format. Not only were the CARLA camps a success, the model inspired the Master in Quantum Science and Technology in Barcelona to organize the first annual Quantum Careers Symposium based on the CARLA model.

The CARLA camps also placed special emphasis on diversity and inclusion in photonic careers, creating a gender diversity guide based on an assessment of lessons learned throughout the project.

CARLA will continue its mission to promote photonic opportunities and follow up with the attendees for up to 5 years in order to obtain a snapshot of career paths taken and to assess the overall impact of the project.  

While the EU project has officially ended, the consortium is still intact and working together. Additional camps are being organized for 2023, as well as other CARLA events, taking advantage of the momentum and learnings of the  EU project. A second edition of the CARLA Project will be proposed in the coming years.