The Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme is aimed at hiring excellent researchers, of any nationality, who wish to continue their research career in Spain or Portugal. The objectives of this programme are to foster high-quality, innovative research in Spain and Portugal and to support the best scientific talent by providing them with an attractive, competitive environment in which to conduct excellent research.
The Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme is divided into two different frames:
Postdoctoral Junior Leader – Incoming: 30 postdoctoral fellowships for researchers of all nationalities. They will be offered a three-year employment contract to conduct a research project at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu excellence award, Institutos de Investigación Sanitaria Carlos IIII and units evaluated as excellent by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia of Portugal. For Spanish institutions, candidates must have resided in Spain less than 12 months in the last three years while for Portuguese institutions, candidates must have resided in Portugal less than 12 months in the last three years.
Postdoctoral Junior Leader – Retaining: 15 postdoctoral fellowships for researchers of all nationalities to carry out research at any university or research centre in Spain or Portugal. For Spanish institutions, candidates must have resided in Spain more than 12 months in the last three years while for Portuguese institutions, candidates must have resided in Portugal more than 12 months in the last three years.
By means of a complementary training programme, these fellowships are intended to consolidate research skills and to foster an independent scientific career as an option for the future
Benefits
The maximum payment amount will be €305,100, as broken down below:
Three maximum annual payments of €97.500 which include:
Labor costs (salary included): a maximum of 59,000 euros to cover the total labor costs of the university or research centre that contracts the fellow. This amount includes Social Security contributions and any other payments made by the employer, as well as the annual gross salary of the fellow.In any case, the minimum annual gross salary to be offered to the fellow by the host institution must be 44.300€.
Annual research project costs of €38,500. This amount will be managed by the centre for the benefit of the fellow and it must be justified separately.
Gross annualfamily assistance of €1,200 for each of the researcher’s dependant. Family assistance will be determined on the start date at the centre and will be reviewed annually upon renewal of the fellowship.
Mobility assistance (moving and housing) of €5.400 to be paid at the start of the fellowship.These amounts will be gross and subject to the total labor costs of each fellow incurred by the host institution that hires it. In addition, these amounts will be subject to withholding that is legally established.
Eligibility criteria
Nationality
Postdoctoral researchers of any nationality are eligible to apply for the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship programme.
Research training
Those who have obtained their doctoral degree two to seven years prior to the deadline for applications are eligible. It will be understood as the date of obtaining the doctoral degree, the date of the defense act of the doctoral thesis. Therefore, a document must be provided where the defense date of the thesis is certified.
Should an applicant hold more than one doctoral degree, the above-mentioned period will be counted from the first degree earned.
Mobility
For the Incoming subprogramme, those candidates who wish to join a Spanish or Portuguese center or university cannot have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain or Portugal, respectively, for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.
A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain or Portugal, respectively, for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.
In the same way, time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.
For the Retaining subprogramme,those candidates who wish to join a Spanish or Portuguese center or university must have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain or Portugal, respectively, for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.
A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain or Portugal, respectively,for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.
Selection process
The process is comprised of three parts:
Eligibility check: all applications received are screened to ensure that applications comply with formal requirements. The eligibility will be checked on the basis of the information provided by the applicant. Only applications that fulfil all the criteria will be included in the Remote evaluation phase.
Should an application not fulfil the formal requirements of the call for applications, “la Caixa” Foundation will send a notification by e-mail specifying the reason for its rejection.
Remote evaluation: each eligible application is sent to an evaluation panel made up of two or three experts with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications or contributions within this field. The applications that receive the highest ratings from each panel will pass to the next phase.
”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 27 January 2021.
It is advisable for candidates to start contacting the host institutions that they are interested in once their application has been chosen for the face-to-face selection phase.
Face-to-face selection: The candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be invited for a face-to-face interview. The interviews will be conducted by a multidisciplinary selection committee, made up of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review.
The interviews with the selection committee will be held in Barcelona on the 24th and 25th February 2021 (Retaining subprogramme) and 9th - 11th March 2021 (Incoming subprogramme). For the purpose of carrying out the same evaluation procedure for all shortlisted candidates, all interviews will be face to face. They cannot be conducted over the telephone nor using any other audiovisual means. Interviews will be entirely in English.
Additional comments
Offer Requirements
Skills/Qualifications
Those who have obtained their doctoral degree two to seven years prior to the deadline for applications are eligible. For such purposes, candidates must have obtained their doctoral degree between 7th October 2018 and 7th October 2013 inclusive. It will be understood as the date of obtaining the doctoral degree, the date of the defense act of the doctoral thesis. Therefore, a document must be provided where the defense date of the thesis is certified.
Should an applicant hold more than one doctoral degree, the above-mentioned period will be counted from the first degree earned.
In the cases of interruption of the research activity between the date of obtaining the doctoral degree and the call deadline (7th October 2020), the candidate may request an extension of the period in which the doctoral degree must have been obtained. To these effects, the following causes are considered as interruption of the research activity:
Illness or accident that has led to sick leave for three months or more. An extension may be applied for the number of justified months.
Maternity. An extension of 1 year can be applied for each child.
Paternity. An extension corresponding to the documented time of paternity leave actually taken for each child can be applied.
All these cases must be duly justified by means of an official supporting document.
Specific Requirements
Nationality
Postdoctoral researchers of any nationality are eligible to apply for the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship– Incoming programme.
Mobility
Those candidates who wish to join a Spanish center or university cannot have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.
A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.
In the same way, time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.
Those candidates who wish to join a Portuguese center or university cannot have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the deadline for applications. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.
A candidate with career breaks must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.
A candidate with an uninterrupted period of at least 2 years of inactivity in research (e.g. unemployment, periods of employment outside research, parental or long-term sick leave) must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately before the call deadline.
In the same way, time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.
”la Caixa” Foundation, which firmly believes that scientific progress, research, mobility and professional qualification are key to the development of people in society as a whole, supports researchers who wish to advance their careers towards scientific independence. The ”la Caixa” Fellowships Programme is the most important one among those sponsored by private entities working within the area of activity of “la Caixa” Foundation, in terms of both the number of fellowships offered and the rigour in the management of the selection process, the variety of disciplines and the payment amount for each fellowship.
Within this framework, the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowships Programme will contribute towards internationalising the research system by attracting international talent through the Incoming subprogramme. Likewise, it will retain talent through the Retaining subprogramme.