MSCA is a prestigious European funding programme. How did you learn about it? I learned about the MSCA programme from the Sciences and Technology Department of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Seminars on the different EU research programmes were being offered as potential funding channels/opportunities for postdoc research at universities inside and outside the European Union space. At the time, Marie Curie actions were...

Kelly, you are currently taking part in the pilot programme Academic Industrial PhD (DAI). Could you tell us a little bit about the research you are conducting under this programme and how you expect it to influence your career. The research I am conducting is on the development and characterisation of a composite with polypropylene and tire powder aiming to be used by the automotive industry. This material will be utilised in the encapsulation...

Gustavo, you were a MSCA Grantee. Could you tell us a little bit about the research you conducted with this grant and how this has influenced your career During the PREMAID project I was the main person in charge of developing a condition monitoring technique for metallised film polypropylene capacitors within traction drives (such as the high-speed train, “TGV”). At that time, I was an expert on semiconductor devices and through the project I...

In October 2015, EURAXESS Brazil organised a seminar on Industrial PhDs under the Tour of Brazil umbrella. The event was co-hosted by the French Embassy to Brazil. The objective was to discuss the Brazilian industrial PhD context and existing initiatives as well as to introduce to the scientific community the STI programmes from EU Member States regarding partnerships between academia and the private sector. This event also focused on the issues...

The Czech Republic is home to some of Europe’s oldest and largest universities. Czech R...

You have recently been awarded an ERC Starting Grant. Could you tell us about the research you are conducting with this grant? How can the general public benefit from it? My research is in the field of energy, focusing on developing new technologies to allow much more efficient energy conversion systems. It is clear that the rapid increase in energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions represent a huge challenge, which can be addressed not only...

These interviews are part of a Focus on ERC - What's in it for Brazilian researchers published in December 2016 Daniel Porto, Brazilian PhD candidate. Team member of the ERC-funded project DependableCloud led by Prof. Rodrigo Rodrigues in Portugal. More about Daniel’s research on his webpage: http://sites.google.com/site/danielporto/. What encouraged you to apply for a position in an ERC - funded project research team? Why did you apply? I...

The position is offered in the frame of the "Integrated Astrophotonics" project at the innoFSPEC Center, which aims at investigating applications of advanced integrated optics concepts to astronomy and beyond. innoFSPEC Potsdam is an Excellence Center for research and innovation created as a joint venture between the LeibnizInstitute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the University of Potsdam (UP). The AIP is an equal opportunity employer and...

Created in 2011 to finance the study of Brazilians abroad, the Science without Borders programme will gain a new format in 2017 to serve postgraduate students of all areas, including humanities, provided they are selected by renowned international universities. It is also currently being evaluated whether to offer the best high school students in the public network the opportunity to take short language courses, during holiday time, abroad. The...

    First, check the eligibility and formal criteria   Post doc grants usually fund only between 5 and 20 percent of applications, so they are happy when they can weed out applications before even sending them out to reviewers. Avoid being one of those that don’t even get feedback on their work by checking carefully whether you and your host institution are eligible and make sure you fulfil all formal criteria (number of pages or word limits,...