Following the EC SET-Plan Education and Training Roadmap, the concept of this proposal is to develop a joint PhD programme between universities and research centres, on the topic of Thermal Energy Storage (TES). The goal of INPATH-TES is to create a network of universities and research institutes to implement a joint PhD programme on TES technologies. The final result of such a network is to educate professionals on these technologies for the European research and industry institutions. The consortium includes 14 universities that will implement the joint PhD programme, two research institutions (AIT and PROMES-CNRS), three companies and two SME (Arcelik, Abengoa Solar NT, KIC InnoEnergy, UFP and LAIF), that will cooperate in defining the programme and in its implementation and deployment. The specific objectives of the project will lead to the qualification of professionals for the European research and industry institutions, bringing Europe to continue being leaders in these technologies. The partners in the proposal will be the core of a future larger network of excellent R&D institutions, and industries for co-funding and industrial placement, sharing infrastructure capacities, and enhancing mobility of students. The overall approach of the project involves a work plan divided in six work packages, being either coordination or support activities. Coordination activities: WP1 – Management and coordination; WP3 – Developing, maintaining and updating a PhD programme in TES; and WP4 – Implementation of the PhD programme in TES. Support activities: WP2 – External communication and dissemination; WP5 – Stakeholder involvement and extension of partnerships; and WP6 – Framework for monitoring and evaluation of INPATH-TES as well as IPR and regulatory issues.