RESPONSE Doctoral Programme (DP): 8 Fully-funded positions 6522 views

The RESPONSE Doctoral Programme (DP) is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant. RESPONSE DP is being jointly offered by world-leading institutions – ETH Zurich, University of Zurich and University of Basel – and the three internationally renowned competence centers Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center (PSC), the World Food System Center and Energy Science Center. RESPONSE DP is centrally managed by the PSC. It will start in February 2020.

About the positions:

• In this call, RESPONSE DP is offering 8 early-stage researcher’s positions for 36 months (100%) at the interface of science and policy, as well as science and innovation.
• RESPONSE DP will train ESRs to reflect on their role as scientists in society, contributing with evidence to policymaking and to build capacities to address global challenges in the areas of sustainable food systems, sustainable energy systems and sustainable land use decisions.
• A mandatory secondment (internship) of 3 to 12 months at selected partner organizations such as MWSchmid GmbH (CH), CIMMYT (MX), German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ (DE), Bellona Europe (BE), Swiss Energy Foundation (CH), Swiss Federal Office of Energy (CH), Bitplane (CH), Nitidae (FR), WWF (BE) and Barenbrug (FR) is part of each project.

Eligibility:

• RESPONSE DP is open to applicants of any nationality.
• ESRs are researchers in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers, including the period of research training, starting at the date of obtaining the degree, which would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the initial training activities are provided.
• The applicant must not have a doctoral degree yet.
• They must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent. It is possible to apply when the master’s degree is received until the starting date of the fellowship.
• At the application deadline, applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Switzerland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the reference date.

Applications:

Apply online and applications shall include:

• a CV (tabular)
• a personal motivation letter to be uploaded under ‘Further documents’ in the online application portal
• 2-3 reference letters
• diploma(s) and additional supporting information (e.g. proof of competence in English).
• Within the letter of motivation, the applicant shall: refer to his/her preferred individual research project (i.e. indicate project number(s) ESR xxx); describe his/her motivation to join RESPONSE DP.