Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology PhD Fellowship Program 2018, Spain

Publish Date: Dec 19, 2017

Deadline: Jan 07, 2018

BIST PhD Fellowship Program

PREBIST is a doctoral fellowship Program lead by the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology. Altogether 28 fellowships will be awarded and implemented in top research in the Barcelona and Tarragona area (Spain).

BIST brings closer together seven independent Catalan internationally recognized research centres. The centres participating in the PROBIST program are:

• The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
• Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ)
• Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
• Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE)
• Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)

Also affiliated to BIST are:

• Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)
• Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)

PREBIST applicants will find a list of PhD projects and can freely choose their project of interest. Successful candidates will be hosted by the selected research group. They will have full access to facilities, PhD Program seminars and training programmes of the BIST centres. Networking activities shall facilitate inter-centre and inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborations. PREBIST will offer fellows the opportunity to opt for secondments from a pool of international institutions with which BIST centres have institutional agreements or collaborations.

The fellowships are granted for 4 years including:

• Anual gross salary: 26.519,19€ plus a single payment of 1504,89 relocation support (Spanish tax and social security deductions apply),
• Close mentoring and supervision through prestigious Researchers,
• A personalized doctoral career development plan,
• A training program for scientific and transferable skills.

PREBIST Fellows will accomplish a focused PhD program, with an emphasis on intensive research-based training, offered by the hosting BIST Centre, in partnership with a major local university (degree-awarding institution). From the start, PhD students are integrated into one of the participating BIST-centres research groups, under the supervision of the corresponding Group Leader, to begin their research projects, and participate in the training activities. In the following, a comprehensive list of the major doctoral programs:

• ICFO: PhD in Photonics, in partnership with the Universitat Politènica de Catalunya (Barcelona)
• IRB Barcelona: TBD
• ICIQ: TBD
• ICN2: TBD
• IFAE: TBD

PREBIST fellows will receive scientific training and take part in programs that aim at developing leadership skills, offering opportunities to assume responsability and tools to be active in own career progression.

PREBIST counts with an important number of active collaboration R&D with local and international companies and research institutions. Several BIST centres are also closely associated with major research hospitals in the Barcelona area. BIST has also established extensive collaboration agreements with major technology centres in Catalonia. PREBIST fellows will be encouraged to undertake visits and short-term stays and secondments with these partners whenever relevant to their field of research.

Each BIST centre offers an internationally renowned, attractive research environment, complemented by a range of training activities that will help highly qualified young scientists to develop the skills necessary for a successful career. The high interdisciplinary nature of BIST makes it an excellent setting for fellows to access an extensive offer of scientific seminars, courses and workshops.

PREBIST fellows will be able to participate in a number of existing programmes, including:

• Seminar programmes of the BIST centres
• Researcher exchange and networking programmes including international conferences and workshops organised by BIST centres.

In its effort to establish an outstanding long-term training programme, BIST and the afiliated centres are planning a variety of training initiatives, to support PhD fellows by exploring the different options for becoming successful scientist. Along this process, fellows should acquire key compentences in a highly competitive environment (effective research, ethical research responsibility, technical workshops), and awareness and responsibility for their own career progression.

BIST is aware that for training the scientific leaders of the future, involves providing them with tools and aptitudes on transferable skills which will allow them to excel in both, the academic and industrial worlds. The European Charter for Researchers requires that “all researchers … are given the opportunity for professional development and for improving their employability through access to measures for the continuing development of skills and competencies”. In this regard, PROBIST will offer courses and seminars specifically designed to foster these abilities.

One of the main objectives of PREBIST is to provide high quality supervision offering:

• Targeted mentoring and access to a wide variety of scientific activities, services, and networks.
• Have close mentoring: The PREBIST PhD project performed by the fellow will be under the supervision of a reputated scientist, who at the same time will be shaping, together with the fellow, a personalized doctoral career development plan (PDCDP). The goal of this plan will be to develop and foster the individual competences of the fellow.

Calls Structure

The calls for candidatures will be open to everybody but special eligibility criteria and a multistep evaluation procedure will apply. There are no restrictions on gender, age, ethnic groups, national or social origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, language, disability, political opinion, and social or economic conditions. BIST and its associated centres are committed to pro-active policies on equal opportunities and gender issues.

Please review the eligibility and evaluation criteria and carefully read the instructions on how to submit an application before applying.

Applications will exclusively be accepted through the on-line application platform. You will be informed on the state of your application at all stages. The main means of communication during the formal process will be by e-mail. The entire selection process will be managed under strict control of privacy rules.

Tentative calls schedule:
Call 1: 1 November 2017 – Deadline: 7 January 2018
Interviews: from 5 to 9 March 2018 (exact days to be confirmed)
Incorporation foreseen from aprox. 05/2018 (*)

Call 2: 15 March 2018 – Deadline: 14 May 2018
Interviews: from 12 to 16 July 2018 (exact days to be confirmed)
Incorporation foreseen around 09/2018 (*)

(*) the exact date of incorporation will be agreed with the host centre once the award is granted. The indicated entry dates are tentative and may be negotiated with the corresponding host centre. PhD matriculation constraint shall be taken into account.

Eligibility Criteria

To be admitted to the review process, candidates must comply with the following eligibility criteria:

• Presenting complete applications including all requested compulsory information and documentation.

• Having not spent more than 12 months of the prior 36 months in Spain, at the time of the call deadline. You will be required to confirm your compliance through a self-declaration.

• Hold a University degree (by the time of enrollment in the PhD program) that would qualify the applicant to enter one of the PhD programmes recognized by the BIST research centers. These have formal agreements with the major Catalan Universities (UB, UAB, UPC, URV, and UPF) whereby BIST senior researchers (generally of professorial rank and enjoying international recognition) are accredited to supervise PhD students, who do their research at BIST research centres and obtain their degree from the corresponding university. Please provide evidence when you apply (e.g. scanned copy of your degree or similar).

• At the time of the call deadline, be in the first 4 years of your scientific post gradual career (full-time equivalent research experience). In case your University degree was longer ago than 4 years, you will need to provide documental evidence for complying with this criteria.

• Having not been awarded yet a PhD degree.

Evaluation & Selection

The evaluation of eligible candidates will be carried out by an external, independent selection panel. The evaluation will be objective, independent, free of conflicts of interest and the selection will be based on merits, equal opportunities.

The review procedure will be carried out in various steps:

  1. First review by the selection panel reviewing the documentation submitted with the application. General suitability and admissibility for the PREBIST programme will be evaluated (review 1).
  2. Second review by the selection panel: interviews (review 2).
  3. Decision on awardees, reserve list and rejected candidatures.

The evaluation criteria to be applied to review 1 (pre-selection phase) are:

• Scientific capacities: assessed based on application material presented:

* Education: graduate education, level and grades achieved. (45/100)
* Research experience: research skills acquired, ability for scientific analysis, scientific production in terms of publications, patents, and attendance to international conferences, etc. (10/100)
* Quality and support of Referees (15/100)
* Strength and relevance of Motivation (25/100)
* Mobility experience: experience in multicultural environments, capacity for adaptation to different working environments, etc. (5/100)

• Admissibility to the corresponding hosting centre’s PhD programme: academic suitability assessed based on application material presented (Y/N).

Only the best shortlisted candidates shall pass to the next step.

The evaluation criteria to be applied to review 2 (selection phase) are:

• Creativity, independent thinking, resourcefulness (20/100)
• Research experience (20/100)
• Motivation for applying for the PREBIST fellowship (15/100)
• International and/or multicultural experience (15/100)
• Industrial collaboration and/or technology transfer knowledge/experience (15/100)
• Presentation and outreach skills, social awareness (15/25)

Final overall score = 0,75 * score pre-selection phase + 0.25 * score selection phase

The weightings in the final overall scoremay be modulated in order to ensure fair and coherent cross-comparison of evaluations in the different call themes. The threshold for being included into the final short-list for fellowship concession is set at 70%.

Intended re-integration of scientists after a career break is encouraged. Equal opportunities is a principle for the selection process. BIST and the participating centres aim at equal gender balance and pay special attention to candidatures coming from unfavourable conditions.

Applicants will be informed on the progress at all stages of the process. The default means for communication is e-mail.

For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.


This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

http://bist.eu/PREBIST/

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Disciplines

Biology

Biomedical Sciences

Chemistry

Physics

Study Levels

PhD

Opportunity Types

Fellowships

Eligible Countries

International

Host Countries

Spain