The AXA Research Fund’s activity has begun to gain high visibility in the academic world, helping us to achieve our ambition to encourage and reward academic excellence.
To continue this momentum, the selection process for our 2013-2014 Post-Doctoral Fellowship Campaign will be improved in response to the main concerns expressed by applicants and also operational contacts regarding the length of the procedure.
The most important change is therefore the introduction of a 2-step process for candidates, which will require them to submit an outline proposal as a first step, and a full proposal only if pre-selected, i.e. with a reasonable chance to obtain a grant. In addition, this process and new deadlines will favor research agendas that are crucial to the Institutions.
Furthermore, in order to improve our process of call for applications and external review, we have decided to collaborate with the European Science Foundation (ESF). ESF will be responsible for collecting the names of candidates submitted by institutions, as well as the collection of applications (outline and full proposals) and the review process. ESF will carry out the external review using the AXA Research Fund criteria.
The European Science Foundation is an independent, non-governmental organization dedicated to pan European Scientific networks and collaboration. It has a key role to play in mediating between a multitude of heterogeneous research cultures and agencies. The ESF hosts an array of instruments to accommodate various types and levels of international collaboration. For further information about ESF, please do not hesitate to visit their website: www.esf.org.
The 2013-2014, Post-Doctoral Campaign will therefore be organized in three rounds.
1) First round: the institutions announce their intent to propose candidates for the campaign and specify the anticipated research field(s) in which they are looking for support. On our application website, you will be able to choose from 1 to 12 research fields. Please note that with regard to the second round, you will not be limited to these initial choices and will be allowed to propose candidates in other research fields. For the first round, you are not expected to propose names of potential candidates. Here, you will also have the opportunity to submit your own text describing the strengths and characteristics of your institution.
This selection is primarily based on academic excellence of the Institution in the fields where it wishes to apply, as assessed by the Scientific Board.
We also pay attention to the following dimensions:
- the balance between the three clusters of risks defined by the AXA Research Fund.
- the record of applications submitted in the past by the institution (dynamism in previous campaigns is an asset).
- the AXA Research Fund also wishes to give a chance to newly registered institutions.
Just before the launch of the second round Institutions will be informed of the number of applicants they may propose (between zero and four). This first selection round will help us to prevent excellent candidates, whose research field is overrepresented for a specific campaign, from waiting too long for a result that could have come earlier.
2) Second round: Institutions propose candidates, who will then submit an outline application via a dedicated European Science Foundation (ESF) website .The assessment and selection criteria are unchanged and we continue to finance excellent fundamental research.
In practical terms, Institutes will be provided with a direct link to the ESF application platform to deposit the names of their candidates. Subsequently, candidates will receive a log in and password to submit an outline proposal on the ESF platform.
3) Third round: If preselected, candidates will be then invited to submit a full proposal on the ESF application website.
Finally, as last year, preselected candidates in this third round will be interviewed by AXA Experts in order to evaluate their capacity to share and popularize their research with non-academics. A final review is done by the Fund’s Scientific Board which oversees the whole selection process.
Instituciones tienen hasta el 15 de Noviebre 2013 a las 12:00h (hora de París) para presentar su candidato en: http://secure-researchfund.axa.com.Default.aspx
La selección del candidato institucional deberá estar basada en la excelencia académica del campo científico al que se presenta: http://secure-researchfund.axa.com.Default.aspx .
Cal comunicar abans del 5 de novembre de 2013 que es vol participar a la convocatòria, enviant un e-mail a europa@iispv.cat . Termini: 5 de novembre de 2013. L'IISPV gestiona les ajudes dels seus investigadors, no és l'entitat convocant.
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