Pathfinders
Pathfinder Innovation Bootcamp
3rd edition
18-21 November 2026
Your research has more paths than you think.
Four immersive days to recognise the value of your experience, explore where it could take you, and make more intentional choices about what comes next – within academia or beyond it.
For PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows and early-career researchers across STEM, Social Sciences and Humanities.
Pathfinder Innovation Bootcamp
18-21 Nov
MILAN, ITALY
In-person program
Tuition covered
Participation is completely free for selected candidates
Application deadline: 18 October
You know how to investigate complex questions. But what about the question of what comes next?
Research teaches you to analyse, challenge assumptions, manage uncertainty and create new knowledge. Yet it does not always give you the time, language or perspective to understand how those abilities translate into a fulfilling career.
Perhaps you are committed to academia but want to see the bigger picture. Perhaps you are curious about industry, startups, institutions or the nonprofit sector. Or perhaps you simply know there are more possibilities than the ones you can currently see.
Pathfinder Innovation gives you the space, tools and connections to explore those possibilities without asking you to have your future figured out first.
Four days. A broader view of your potential. A clearer next step.
This is not a course that tells you which career to choose. It is a guided experience that helps you understand what you bring, where it can create value and how to move forward with greater confidence.
See your strenghts more clearly
Identify the competencies, values and motivations that shape you as a professional.
Discover new possibilities
Explore how researchers create impact across industry, entrepreneurship, institutions, nonprofits and academia.
Translate experience into value
Recognise how research, analysis, problem-solving, innovation and project management transfer to new environments.
Leave with direction
Receive personalised feedback and build an individual development plan for your next steps.
You will not leave with someone else’s answer. You will leave better equipped to build your own.
What will you take away?
Self-awareness
A clearer understanding of your strengths, values and professional drivers.
A stronger professional story
A better way to communicate the value of your research experience.
More career possibilities
A broader, more realistic view of paths within and beyond academia.
Practical approaches
Tools for innovation, stakeholder engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Cross-sector insight
Perspectives from professionals working across different environments.
Personal direction
Personalised feedback and an individual development plan.
A multidisciplinary network
Connections with researchers facing similar questions from different fields.
Recognition
A certificate of attendance at the end of the experience.
Not another lecture series. A working lab for your future.
How it feels?
Pathfinder Innovation is an intensive, in-person experience built around participation. Across four days, you will combine guided self-reflection, practical tools, peer feedback, real-world perspectives and conversations with people who have built careers across academia, business, entrepreneurship and institutions.
You will learn with a selected, multidisciplinary group of researchers who bring different expertise but share a common question: how can I make the greatest use of what I know and who I am becoming?
Reflect
Connect
Practise
Choose
Designed for researchers ready to look beyond the obvious
For PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows and early-career researchers from STEM, Social Sciences and Humanities.
You want to understand where your research skills can create value.
You are exploring possibilities beyond academia – or want to make a more informed choice about remaining within it.
You find it difficult to explain your abilities outside your specialist field.
You want more clarity about your motivations, values and next professional step.
You value honest feedback and learning with people from different backgrounds.
You want to understand where your research skills can create value.
You are exploring possibilities beyond academia – or want to make a more informed choice about remaining within it.
You find it difficult to explain your abilities outside your specialist field.
You want more clarity about your motivations, values and next professional step.
You value honest feedback and learning with people from different backgrounds.
What participants took home
Voices from previous edition
Created by Miticoro
Helping emerging leaders turn potential into meaningful action.
Miticoro Foundation supports emerging leaders in navigating complexity and building positive impact. Its Pathfinders programs bring together humanistic leadership, innovation, cross-disciplinary learning and real-world perspectives.
Your next career move does not have to begin with an answer.
It can begin with better questions.
Take four days to step back from the demands of research, see your experience from a new perspective and explore how you want to put it to work.
18-21 NOVEMBER 2026
MILAN, IT –IN PERSON
Free for selected participants
Application deadline: 18 october
Is the program really free?
Yes. There is no participation fee for selected candidates.
Who can apply?
PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows and early-career researchers across STEM, Social Sciences and Humanities.
Do I need to be planning to leave academia?
No. The purpose is to help you understand your options and make a more informed choice – within academia or beyond it.
When and where does it take place?
In person in Milan, from 18 to 21 November 2026.
Do I need to prepare anything?
No special preparation is required. Bring curiosity, openness and a willingness to participate fully.
Do I need to attend all four days?
Yes. Full attendance keeps the learning journey and group experience connected.
What will I receive at the end?
Personalised feedback, an individual development plan and a certificate of attendance.
Where can I see the full program?
Download the participant guide for details about the experience, schedule and contributors.