PhD ICT Research Positions 2026-2027
- Application period: 14/11/2025 - 01/09/2026 (5 periods)
- Status: OPEN
14/11/2025
These fellowships are considered as Predoctoral Research Contracts (PRC), due to the approval of the Spanish law 14/2011 on Science, Technology and Innovation.
Applications are invited for the ICT fellowships, which are targeted at exceptional predoctoral researchers in the ICT's research areas. The fellowship provides a recognized first step into a research career.
We highly encourage that, before applying, each candidate identifies one or several ICT research supervisor with whom they would like to work and contact them. Support from a potential research supervisor is very important during the fellowship selection process (and to get admitted to the PhD program, too).
- Host institution: Department / School of Engineering, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.
- Research Areas: Students will pursue doctoral studies in one of the Research Areas of the department.
- Duration of the fellowship (PRC): Maximum four years, renewed yearly.
Eligibility
Candidates must have submitted a PhD application. Only candidates accepted to the PhD program are eligible a fellowship (PRC). Hence, every fellowship application should be paired up with an admissions application into the PhD program. Admissions to the PhD program are handled by the University Admission Office.
Types of fellowship (PRC)
There are 3 possible types of predoctoral contracts with established:
- Teaching PRC includes a teaching assistance load of 45 hours per academic year.
- Teaching-Project PRC includes a teaching assistance load of 45 hours per academic year plus some tasks related to the funded project the PhD candidate joins.
- Project PRC includes tasks linked to the funded project the PhD candidate joins.
Teaching hours will be carried out at UPF undergraduate engineering degrees according to the PhD student background. A knowledge of Spanish or Catalan will be required after the first year of fellowships for those teaching in 1st or 2nd year.
Application Periods 2026-27
- First: November 11th, 2025 to January 14th, 2026
- Second: January 15th, 2026 to March 4th, 2026
- Third: March 5th, 2026 to April 27th, 2026
- Fourth: April 28th, 2026 to June 5th, 2026
- Fifth: June 6th, 2026 to September 1st, 2026 (candidates admitted to this period will start on November 1st, 2026)
Early applications are very much encouraged. In particular, we highly recommend candidates coming from outside the EU to apply before the last Application Period
Fees covered by the fellowship (PRC)
Both types of fellowships/PRC include the annual tutorship fees, but not the administrative fees neither the fees for validations of degrees issued by a university outside the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) without homologation. See Doctoral programmes tuition fees.
The minimum gross monthly salary for the 1st and 2nd year is 1.522,47€. This amount can vary according to the research group.
Non-EU students will have a reduction of 24% the three first months (till December, if the contract starts in October). The corresponding taxes will be deducted from January when the new fiscal year starts. Only EU students can reduce this tax to 19% presenting a certificate of fiscal resident from their country.
The monthly gross salary for the 3rd year is 1.631,21€ and for the 4th year is 2.039,02€.
How to apply
For any inquiries, contact: [email protected]