Careers and Funding
There are numerous opportunities for travel and research collaboration between Europe, the USA, and Canada. Please note that our dissemination of our information has changed. Every few weeks we send out our Flashnotes where we highlight around 5-10 funding opportunities to support researcher collaboration, exchange, or mobility.
Through the Horizon 2020 Programme, (the main programme for European Union science and innovation funding for the period 2014-2020), researchers in the USA/Canada are eligible to participate in projects, and the number of matched funding in pre-selected areas has gradually expanded over recent years.
For the 2016 calls, please visit the participant portal of Horizon 2020. Please click on Online Manual and on Reference Document for additional insight. The European Commission has recently published a brochure which describes specific opportunities for international cooperation by theme and by country in the Horizon 2020 - Work Programme for 2016-2017. Please click on Brochure to access this information.
For more information about the calls and the rules of participation, please click on BILAT USA to learn about potential opportunities.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policy. Please click here to connect to the JRC website.
Current vacancies at the European Commission's in-house science service, Joint Research Centre, are posted here.
Notices of staff selection competitions by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) are published in all 23 official languages. Prospective candidates are encouraged to take some voluntary interactive tests before filling in the application form in order to assess for themselves whether they are ready to take part in a selection competition.
Candidates are tested on the basis of competence rather than knowledge. The time lag between a candidate's initial application and taking up employment is approximately 5-9 months. For the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) website, please click here
ITER is a fusion energy project undertaken in cooperation between the European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, the People's Republic of China, India, Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA. The aim of ITER is to show that fusion could be used to generate electrical power, and to gain the necessary data to design and operate the first electricity-producing plant.
The ITER International Organization publishes vacant positions on the ITER Organization website. You are therefore advised to check the website regularly. The place of work is Cadarache (France).
Only nationals from the ITER Parties can apply to the positions published. Persons interested in applying for one of the positions should do so through the contact persons in the ITER Parties. Job applications send directly to ITER will not be taken into consideration.
The primary selection process of candidates for the positions will be carried out by the Parties. After nomination of qualified candidates for these positions, the Parties will present the lists of such candidates to ITER. ITER will then carry out interviews of the candidates in order to make the final selection. For the list of currently available positions, please click here.
The European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy is a European organization established in April 2007 for a period of 35 years, and located in Barcelona, Spain. The objectives of the organization, known as "Fusion for Energy" are threefold:
- Providing Europe's contribution to the ITER international fusion energy project;
- Implement the Broader Approach agreement between Euratom and Japan;
- Prepare for the construction of demonstration fusion reactors (DEMO).
"Fusion for Energy" will need highly qualified staff to work at the cutting edge of fusion technology at its offices in Barcelona. Such staff should normally be nationals of the Members of the Joint Undertaking.
Staff will be recruited directly by "Fusion for Energy." Job opportunities include temporary agents, European Union officials, contract agents, and ITER International Organization Positions.
For more information, please click here.
At CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.
The instruments used at CERN are purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before the beams are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.
Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe's first joint ventures and now has 22 member states.
You can find more information about how CERN is governed and organised here.
Current vacancies at CERN are posted here.