• Network Meetings and Schools

During the PALLADIUM lifetime the following Network Meetings took place:

• One-day Kick-off Meeting: November 9^th, 2002, organized by UNITS Team at Trieste University. During this meeting the network Co-ordinator illustrated in details the main steps related to the management of the project, like the financial and the administrative parts, the requirements of Young Researchers, etc. The Scientific Co-ordinator of each Team presented the research project that would have been developed by the Young Researchers, dedicating special attention to the conjunction points among the Teams.

• 1^st Year Meeting: September 25^th – 27^th, 2003, organized by URV Team at Tarragona University. A brief summary of the activity of the Network was reported by the Network Co-ordinator.The Meeting was intended for the Young Researchers (5 people) present inside the Network during the 1^st year, who presented their results as an oral presentation. Three External Experts from Industries participated to the meeting and each gave a lecture (for details see Point B.4 Industry Connections).

• Half-day Meeting: July 4^th, 2004, organized by UNITS Team on the occasion of the 14^th International Symposium on Homogeneous Catalysis, in Münich. Meeting of the Scientists in charge of the different Teams to discuss the joint research programme and to plan future secondments/visits of Young Researchers to the different Network Teams.

• Mid-term Meeting: September 22^nd, 2004, organized by UAMSK and TU/e Teams at Amsterdam University. All the Young Researchers (10 people), all the Scientists in charge, two External Experts from Industries and Dr. Maria Getsiou, the representative from Brussel Commission, participated in the meeting. In the first part of the meeting, the Network Co-ordinator gave a lecture related to the overall activities of the Network during the first two years of Network lifetime. It was not only an overview of the main scientific results produced by the Network research, but it was also related to aspects such as networking, connections with Industries, and the Young Researchers: their training inside the Network, their secondments, etc. The second part of the Meeting was addressed to the Young Resarchers, who gave an oral presentation about the results of their research activities and their training inside the Network.

• 3^rd Year Meeting: October 21^st – 22^nd 2005, organized by CNR.ICCOM Team at the CNR Institute in Florence. All the Young Researchers (8 people), all the Scientists in charge, one External Expert from industry attended the Meeting. As usual, after the presentation by the Network Co-ordinator of the Network activities during the 3^rd year, the Meeting was dedicated to the Young Researchers who gave an oral presentation about the results of their research activity and their training inside PALLADIUM. A Meeting of the Scientists in charge took place and focused on the analysis of the overall activities of the Network during the three years. The organization and the format of the Final Meeting was also discussed.

• 4^th Year Meeting combined with the Final Meeting: June 16^th – 17^th 2006, organized by UNITS Team at Hotel Diana in Grado (I). The participants of this Meeting were the Scientists in Charge of the Teams of the Network, the 3 Young Researchers still active inside PALLADIUM, some of the Young Researchers (3 people) who worked inside PALLADIUM during the previous years, some researchers of the Teams, one invited speaker from Academia and two External Experts from Industry. The meeting was opened by the Network Coordinator who gave an overview of the overall Network activities during its whole lifetime, pointing out the role played by the Young Researchers inside the Network and their future career once they left PALLADIUM. The main part of the Meeting was dedicated to both the Young Researchers, who gave an oral presentation about the results of their research activities inside and outside the Network, and to lectures by Senior Scientists. At the end of the Meeting, Prof. Piet van Leeuwen, Scientist in Charge of TU/eTeam and Member of the Network Management Team, closed the Meeting with concluding remarks focused on the training received by the Young Researchers inside the Network, on the exchanges performed during PALLADIUM lifetime, on the results of the research activity and on the proceeding of the collaborations established thanks to this Network.

In September 2004 a Summer School on In-situ Spectroscopy was held, organized by UAMSK and TU/e Teams at Amsterdam University in cooperation with NIOK. All the Young Researchers attended this Summer School. The lectures were given by 4 invited speakers:

Prof. Jonathan A. Iggo, University of Liverpool (U.K.), “The application of high pressure gas flow cells in the in situ characterization of working homogeneous catalysts”

Prof. Simon B. Duckett, University of York (U.K.), “Applications of the parahydrogen phenomenon in inorganic chemistry”

Prof. Piet W.N.M. van Leeuwen, University of Amsterdam (NL), “In situ high-pressure IR in homogeneous catalysis”

Prof. Peter Chen, ETH Zurich (CH), “ESI-MS/MS and numerical simulation of complete catalytic cycles in homogeneous catalysis”