The Central Bohemia Mobility Programme for Excellence in Research, Innovation and Technology (MERIT) is an MSCA-COFUND postdoctoral fellowship programme for incoming mobility for 30 outstanding postdoctoral researchers from all over the world. It is a joint initiative of the Regional Government of Central Bohemia, 15 regional research organisations as Host organisations, and 36 national and international SMEs, large enterprises, universities and high-schools as Associated partners for secondments, all coordinated by the Central Bohemian Innovation Center.
The 1st call offering 15 Fellowships is now open. Deadline is 3 July 2023.
General description
MERIT has 3 strategic objectives which are in line with the Regional Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation (RIS3): 1) Strengthen the European and global human capital base in research and innovation, contribute to a stronger European Research Area and increase the international openness of the participating partners and the whole Region; 2) Establish new partnerships and collaborations between academic and non-academic sectors; and 3) Promote science and its many practical applications in society among the youth and advocate for more representation of female scientists in technical and life sciences research disciplines with a focus on applied research.
MERIT supports the research activities and training of selected researchers in the following application areas:
- Biotechnologies & Biomedicine
- Laser technologies
- Space technologies
- Sustainable energy & materials
- Digitalisation & AI
All areas respecting the Gender dimension in research. These areas are in line with RIS3 and other European or global strategic frameworks. The fellows will benefit from excellent training programs in research and transferable skills and from other career development opportunities, as well as, interdisciplinary research options, intersectoral exposure through the secondments, and international opportunities to create partnership and networks.
Important dates
| Call opening | 3 April 2023 |
|---|---|
| Deadline date | 3 July 2023 16:00 CET |
| Eligibility check | July 2023 |
| Evaluation process | September 2023 – December 2023 |
| Results | December 2023 |
Eligibility of applicants
- Applicants must be in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of MERIT’s call deadline. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered as postdoctoral researchers and will be considered eligible to apply.
- A mobility rule will be applied to all categories of researchers. Fellows must relocate to the Czech Republic. Researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Czech Republic for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline.
- The same rules apply to the 4 types of fellowships:
- Standard: Researchers moving within Europe or coming in from other parts of the world.
- Researchers at risk: Researchers with the status of refugees or researchers at all stages of their careers who are experiencing threats to their life, liberty or research career, and those who are forced to flee or have been displaced because of such threats.
- Career restart: Researchers who wish to restart their research after a career break (e.g. after parental leave, working outside research, etc.). The researchers must not have been active in research for a continuous period of at least 12 months within the 18 months immediately prior to the deadline for submission of proposals.
- Reintegration: Czech nationals or long-term residents who wish to return and reintegrate in a longer-term research position in the Czech Republic.
- Permanent employees (employees having a contract for an indefinite period) of one of the Hosting organisations are not eligible to apply for a MERIT fellowship to this Hosting organisation.
Eligibility of applications
- The applications must be complete and must consist of the:
- Research proposal (mandatory Technical proposal template to be downloaded in the Template section) written in English and uploaded to the MERIT online application system. Proposals that will not fulfil the eligibility criteria form (use of the Technical proposal template, font size, margins, spacing) will be ineligible. Excess pages (10-page limit for the research proposal) will be disregarded.
- CV of the candidate written in English and uploaded to the MERIT online application system (5-page limit, extra pages will not be counted).
- All the online forms filled in: Eligibility form, Ethics Issues Table and Ethics self-assesment, if applicable, and Secondment form.
- The applicants need to complete a compulsory online Ethics Issues Table in order to declare whether their proposed research activity deals with the research areas focusing on: human embryos/foetuses, humans, human cells/tissues, personal data, animals, third countries, environment & health and safety, artificial intelligence, other ethics issues. If the research proposal raises one or more of the issues listed in the ethics issues table, an Ethics self-assessment must be completed. This ethics self-assessment must include a description of the issue, the way the applicant intends to deal with them in order to ensure ethics compliance and any relevant documents (such as authorisation or necessary permissions) with the expected timing of obtaining them. All successful proposals, including those on the reserve list, will be subject to an Ethics screening or to an Ethics Review by the European Commission.
- The applicants must complete an online Secondment form. The secondment can be carried out in the non-academic or academic sectors (private or public) in the Czech Republic or abroad. A list of more than 30 secondment opportunities is available at the MERIT website. Applicants can also suggest their own secondment.