First call for applications 2020-21: opening on 19 October 2020.

Call deadline 11 January 2021, 13:00 CET.

Applications online only: www.eutopia.smapply.io

A Short Guide for applicants is available on https://bit.ly/EUTOsif.For its first call for applications, corresponding to the academic year 2020/21, the EUTOPIA alliance offers to PhD holders or equivalent, of any nationality, 20 post-doctoral positions as part of the EUTOPIA Science and Innovation Fellowships Programme (EUTOPIA-SIF). This programme intends to enhance the research potential and the career perspectives of young researchers.

The selected candidates of the 2020/21 call are expected to prove their capacity to bring original solutions to the social challenges faced in the five key research areas outlined by the programme. As academic experts, they shall help to understand and figure solutions to the difficulties faced by a planet with limited resources and complex societal issues. Interdisciplinary interactions are appreciated, and applicants from the Arts and Humanities encouraged.

The selected research areas are:

1. MATERIALS ENGINEERING including advanced analytical science, photonics, new material science, quantum technology.
2. DATA & INTELLIGENCE including artificial intelligence, complexity, information-systems engineering.
3. HEALTH including immunology and antibacterial resistance, cancer, ageing, reproductive health, neurosciences.
4. SUSTAINABILITY including energy, circular economy, mobility, urban planning, material heritage, water management.
5. WELFARE & INCLUSION including business management and finance, governance, ethics, inequality, law and demography.

Applications will be assessed on the scientific quality, experience and prior
results of the candidate, on the feasibility and the potential impact of theproposal, and the candidate’s career development perspective as an EUTOPIA-SIF fellow, through a rigorous two stage selection process including external review of all eligible proposals by renowned experts and interviews with short-listed candidates.

The EUTOPIA-SIF offers competitive contracts in every hosting university, for a duration of 24 months, with attractive salaries covering their costs of living and income taxes, and an additional budget for research and travel expenses.

Mobility is an essential feature of the EUTOPIA-SIF. Researchers are expected to move at least twice during their 24 months contract: once at a EUTOPIA university and once at an external academic or non-academic partner institution among a network of more than 45 companies, local authorities and non-profit organizations. Extensive training and career mentoring by senior academic supervisors are included.

The submission platform of this first call for proposals will be opened on
October 19th, 2020. The deadline for submission of proposals is January 11th, 2021.

Researchers will find detailed information about the EUTOPIA-SIF on the
website of the alliance https://bit.ly/EUTOsif.

The EUTOPIA Science and Innovation Fellowship Program (EUTOPIA-SIF) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under the Maria Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement
number 945380, for a total number of 76 Post-doctoral fellowship, over 4 years, and a budget of 10,2M€, of which 5,6M€ is financed by the European Union and 4,6M€ by the EUTOPIA universities.

EUTOPIA is an alliance of six leading, like-minded, European universities
creating a connected and inclusive community, to address local and global
challenges, ultimately contributing to a new model for higher education in
Europe: VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL (Belgium), CY CERGY PARIS
UNIVERSITÉ (France), GÖTEBORGS UNIVERSITET (Sweden), UNIVERZA V
LJUBLJANI (Slovenia), UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA (Spain) and UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK (United Kingdom).

In June 2019, EUTOPIA was chosen as one of the 17 first winning projects throughout Europe in the new European Universities Initiative competitive call to build a European Education and Research Area.

Here you can read the EUTOPIA official Press Release.

Objectives

The Researcher Mobility Program will support research visits of EUTOPIA researchers across EUTOPIA partner universities. The main objective of this program is to foster research collaborations and to allow the sharing of expertise and infrastructures and the development of joint research activities (e.g. common publications, PhD co-tutelles, joint applications for external research funds etc.), in line with EUTOPIA’s mission to promote a connected and inclusive academic community, addressing global and local challenges and advancing excellence and inclusion.

The program is developed as part of the EUTOPIA 2050 Erasmus+ project. It will allow each EUTOPIA university to finance a minimum of 4 research mobility projects, for a total of 24 research visits over the duration of the EUTOPIA 2050 project.

All visits financed under the EUTOPIA Researcher Mobility Program should be project-led and allow the development and furthering of research collaborations between the researchers of the EUTOPIA Alliance. The program is open to all academic disciplines and topics. Projects addressing key societal challenges of our time, and related to EUTOPIA’s overarching theme “Planetary well-being” are especially encouraged.

Eligibility and funding

Who can apply?

• Faculty from all EUTOPIA partner universities, including post-doctoral fellows – 

Pre-doctoral researchers are not eligible to this mobility program (but a dedicated doctoral mobility program is in preparation).

• Faculty from international partners of the six universities of EUTOPIA, within the frame of research projects involving researchers from multiple EUTOPIA member universities.

What can be funded ?

• The program supports short research visits of 2 to 3 weeks and covers travel, accommodation and living expenses during the stay, within the limit of 3000 euros per project.

• For EUTOPIA faculty, coverage and reimbursement will be defined in accordance with the financial rules of the home university of the researcher. For international faculty, the financial rules of the host university will apply.

Application procedure overview

A complete description of the application procedure will be provided online on 6 July 2020. 

The application will include:

• A description of the research project, to be carried out during the visit;

• The identification of a host researcher co-responsible for the conduct of the research project during the visit; who shall also be the main contact person for the visiting researcher in the host institution in the preparation of the project and during the visit; 

• the endorsement of the director of the host research center, confirming the research center’s capacity of offering good research conditions for the visit.

Research collaboration opportunities

For an overview of the research activities of the EUTOPIA partners and to establish contact with researchers or research centers at partner institutions, please refer to the following links:

• University of Warwick: https://warwick.ac.uk/research/

• Vrije Universiteit Brussel: https://www.vub.be/en/research; call: https://research-funding.vub.be/projects/eutopia-phd-co-tutelle-program 

• CY Cergy Paris University: http://theparisseineinitiative.org/en/research-areas-and-research-centers/  and  https://www.u-cergy.fr/en/research.html 

• University of Ljubljana: https://www.uni-lj.si/research_and_development/ 

• Pompeu Fabra University:  https://www.upf.edu/web/guest/research 

• University of Gothenburg: https://www.gu.se/english/research/?languageId=100001&disableRedirect=true&returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gu.se%2Fforskning%2F

Contact for general inquiries:

Nicola Ebenburger, Director of International Scientific Development, CY Cergy Paris University, [email protected]

The members of the EUTOPIA alliance decided to fund 12 PhD co-tutelle projects within the framework of the EUTOPIA PhD co-tutelle program 2020 promoting scientific excellence, research collaboration and academic mobility.

Launched in January 2020 and coordinated by CY Cergy Paris Université, this program is a significant activity of the EUTOPIA alliance in support of research cooperation. It illustrates the strong willingness of the partners to integrate their research communities.

With a two-stage selection process, including an internal evaluation phase within each institution and a final mixed jury between the partners of each co-tutelle, 

21 projects were initially submitted from five alliance partner universities: University of Warwick, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, CY Cergy Paris University, University of Ljubljana, Pompeu Fabra University.

Four possible combinations of co-tutelle were offered: Warwick-CY, VUB-CY, Ljubljana-CY and Pompeu Fabra-CY .

The five participating partner universities jointly funded this programme. CY Cergy Paris University supported the call with 1.02 million euros from CY Initiative of Excellence.

The CY Cergy Paris EUTOPIA International Fellowships program aims to foster scientific cooperation within the EUTOPIA Alliance. The program is open to researchers of the five partner universities wishing to undertake a short research stay (up to 21 days) at CY Cergy Paris University. It covers stipend and living expenses for a fixed amount of 150 € per day (including travel fees and housing). Visitors will be hosted jointly in one of the research centers of the CY Cergy Paris University and at the CY Cergy Paris Institute for Advanced Studies. The scheme is fairly flexible. Fellows can come to the CY Cergy Paris University for a single visit or for two or three visits up to 21 days. Applications are open for a fellowship to be held at any time in the current year.

Applications will be reviewed according to the following criteria: 1) Scientific project: previous collaborations or new collaborations, purpose and objectives of the research visit; and 2) Expertise of the visitor.

To apply, please fill this application form and submit it to [email protected]

For further information, please contact [email protected]

VUB is actively recruiting experienced researchers for the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action – Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF) which is part of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 funding scheme. The MSCA-IF funding scheme is geared to promising experienced researchers (ER). Please note: an ER denotes a researcher with a PhD degree, or at least 4 years of full-time equivalent research experience (unrelated to PhD studies). A repository of topics to inspire potential applicants, and to ensure a two-way knowledge transfer between applicant and host institution (a requirement for the proposal) has been created. The topics of the repository are thought to be seen as grounds for discussion and further evolution into a project idea together with the respective VUB supervisor.

The applicant will have to write a proposal to further expound his or her idea regarding e.g. innovation, training and stakeholders. More information.

Warwick, Vrije and Paris Seine offer a number of PhD scholarships to enable promising researchers to be jointly supervised in order to complete their PhD. PhD candidates will have one supervisor at Warwick and another at VUB or UPS and spend at least 12 months in each institution. Successful candidates will enter into an agreement governing the joint supervision of their PhD with Warwick and VUB or UPS. The scholarships will cover payment of tuition fees, provide a stipend and support reasonable travel and research expenses.

The 2019 scholarship application deadline has now passed and the call for applications is closed. If you have any questions please contact [email protected]