The MSCA-COFUND project AGenT (Agricultural Genomics Transversal) postdoctoral programme is advertising 8 two-year postdoctoral positions in its 2023 call.
AGenT is an international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral programme that combines the four scientific programmes at CRAG (Plant Development and Signal Transduction; Plant Responses to Stress; Plant Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering; and Plant and Animal Genomics) with three priority lines that are specifically supported by the three different types of partner organizations of the AGenT programme. These are:
Collaborative international projects of research excellence
Application of frontier technologies to plant science research and development
From research to products
The programme is focused on: training both in specific research areas and in transferable and transversal skills; secondments and research collaborations; and networking activities in both the academic and the industrial sectors; all in order to enrich the training of the fellows and enhance their professional development while conducting projects of research excellence.
What is offered
Appointment conditions of researchers
2-year full time employment contract (Gross Salary approx. 35,300€/year)
Family allowance: 100 Euro/month. The family status of a researcher will be determined at the date of deadline of the call and will be revised during the lifetime of the action only if fellows change their status in terms of dependent children.
Relocation allowance: a single payment of 2,000 Euros at the beginning of the appointment for researchers with residence out of the Barcelona area at the time of signing the AGenT contract.
Who is eligible
The eligibility criteria must be fulfilled at the time of the call deadline. If it becomes clear before, during or after the evaluation phase that one or more of the eligibility criteria have not been fulfilled, the proposal will be declared ineligible and it will be withdrawn:
Applicants must be Recognised Researchers (R2), based on the research profile descriptors of the European Commission, i.e. researchers who hold a doctorate degree (PhD) but have not yet established a significant level of independence. Recognised Researchers must be in possession of a PhD or have accumulated at least 4 years of full time equivalent postgraduate research experience prior to the call deadline.
Applicants are eligible for a period of 5 years following successful completion of their PhD at the date of the call deadline. Exceptions to the 5-year rule are allowed for applicants whose academic career has been interrupted for parental leave, for industrial job experience, or other special circumstances such as mandatory military service or illness. These circumstances will be indicated in the application form in the field «Additional Notes» and must be documented. Extensions will be up to one year per child in case of parental leave and up to two years for industrial breaks. The extension in the case of illness or mandatory military service will depend on its duration.
Applicants must not have resided or carried out her/his main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, will not be considered. Exceptions to the mobility rule will be considered in duly justified cases, like for researchers undergoing a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention.
Researchers from any nationality may apply.
How to apply
Applications should be submitted through CRAGjobs (it requires generating a password-protected user account). The application must be complete and include all obligatory information and documents.
Applicants will have to provide the following information via CRAGjobs:
Cover letter, introducing themselves and highlighting the most relevant aspects of their CV;
Curriculum Vitae;
PhD certificate or official notification of the award (if applicable);
Documents accrediting research activities counting towards the total full-time postgraduate research experience (if applicable);
Statement of Research interests, including a short proposal of a prospective research project to be carried out at CRAG in collaboration with a Partner Organisation and indicating the research group of their interest and the corresponding Principal Investigator (applicants are required to include elements of interdisciplinarity and/or cross-sectoral mobility in their research proposal);
Mobility Declaration;
Ethics Declaration, indicating any ethical issue related to their project.
In addition, applicants must ensure the submission of at least two reference letters from scientists with whom the applicant has studied or worked. Letters should be sent directly by the referees to a specific e-mail address of the AGenT programme, and should also be received by the application deadline. Instructions about how to write a letter of reference to support a candidate will be available in the webpage of the AGenT project. The letters must be as informative as possible and should refer clearly and objectively to the professional, technical and academic abilities of the candidate.