Within the EuroTechPostdoc2 programme, the universities of the EuroTech Universities Alliance offer seventy Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships to experienced high-potential researchers.
Besides giving the fellows the freedom to establish their own research lines, the programme provides exceptional training opportunities to prepare the fellows for the future as the new generation of scientific leaders, within and outside of academia.
The EuroTechPostdoc2 2021 call, awarding the first 35 fellowships, has closed. The EuroTechPostdoc2 2022 call, awarding the next 35 fellowships for a 24-month period, will open on November 30, 2021, with a deadline on February 24, 2022.
Research areas
The research thematic is open to all areas within the Alliance enabling the exploration of emerging and promising fields and promoting new interdisciplinary research collaborations. Fellows may freely choose a research topic and the appropriate Host and Co-host Institution, fitting their individual needs and ambitions.
Examples of potential research areas can be found, but are not limited to, within the Focus Areas of the EuroTech Universities Alliance, being:
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Together, the EuroTech Universities cover the entire value chain from entrepreneurship and innovation-related knowledge generation, awareness-raising, education and training of students and scientists to patent applications, international business development and investment in start-ups.
- Health & Bio Engineering. The EuroTech Universities each engage in multi-scale approaches towards patient care and public health, spanning research and development, services, technology transfer and public as well as professional education. Successful applications embrace not only the medical and biological but also the social, ethical, legal and economic dimensions of this field.
- Sustainable Society. Under the umbrella of this Focus Area, the Alliance is embracing multiple, interdisciplinary topics such as Polar Climate, Integrated Energy Systems and Decarbonisation, building on the successful collaboration on smart urban mobility (EIT Urban Mobility) as well as recently kicked-off exchanges on Circular Economy.
- Additive Manufacturing. In this field, the ambition is to bundle expertise and research strengths around the crucial topic Industry4.0, covering aspects such as automation, simulation and new materials and involving external stakeholders of the six high-tech innovation ecosystems in which the universities are embedded.
- Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Systems. All EuroTech Universities are hotspots for education and research in Artificial Intelligence. In joining forces, they have the critical mass and unique joint perspective to deliver new approaches at the intersection of AI and Engineering systems.
For more information regarding the focus areas, click here.
Who?
To be considered eligible, applicants must fulfil the following eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must be Experienced Researchers, namely they must, on the call deadline (1st call: February 25, 2021), be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience.
- Mobility Rule: Researchers may not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the Host Institution for more than twelve (12) months in the three (3) years immediately before the call deadline (Call 1: February 26, 2018 – February 25, 2021). 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. Exceptions related to Covid-19 can be considered, based on a case-by-case analysis. If you think you qualify for an exception, please contact the Programme Management Office as soon as possible.
- Applicants must be able to carry out full time research during the fellowship period (parental leave, sick leave, military leave and care leave are accepted).
- Research direction should follow the H2020 Ethics rules.
What?
The fellowship consists of a monthly salary for the postdoctoral researcher (see details below) and is granted for a period of twenty-four (24) months maximum, and a dedicated research budget (up to €8,000) and collaboration and travel budget (up to €6,000) related to the project.
The monthly salary is among others dependent on the Host Institution. Below, we therefore mention the minimum gross salary per institution. The actual salary will be based on the experience and qualifications of each postdoctoral researcher.
- DTU: The minimum gross salary for DTU fellows is 40,543 DKK, including a pension contribution of 17,1% (based on the collective agreements (AC overenskomst)).
- L’X: The minimum gross salary for l’X fellows is 2,800 EUR.
- TU/e: The minimum gross salary for TU/e fellows is 3,353 EUR (Salary scale 10.4, in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.) Additionally, fellows receive an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
- TUM: The minimum gross salary for TUM fellows is 4,074.30 EUR (Payment Group TV-L E13 level 1, on the basis of the collective agreement for the public service of the federal state of Bavaria).
The research budget can be used for standard research costs including but not limited to materials, visits to conferences and workshops, open access and training costs. Visits to the mandatory bootcamps should also be covered from the research budget.
The collaboration and travel budget can be used for all costs related to the collaboration with the Co-host Supervisor / Institution, and other travels directly related to the EuroTechPostdoc2 programme.
Additional travel allowances necessary to conduct the collaborative projects, workshops and training in other countries will be provided by the Host Institution and negotiated individually.
The EuroTechPostdoc2 2022 call will open on 30 November 2021.
Deadline: 24 February 2022.