2018 International Post-doctoral Program Applicant Guide

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Nancy Hardy
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1 2018 International Post-doctoral Program Applicant Guide

2 2018 POST-DOCTORAL PROGRAM Applicant guide The University of Bordeaux Initiative of Excellence (IdEx Bordeaux) is opening positions for postdoctoral fellows. High-profile international candidates from any scientific field, holding a doctorate degree delivered by a non-french institution, and wishing to achieve a further step in their career in the outstanding research environment of the University of Bordeaux, are welcome to apply. Candidates promoting an original and innovative research project in one of the scientific priorities of IdEx Bordeaux will be considered with particular attention. These comprise the following domains: materials science, neuroscience, environment and ecosystems, digital systems, archeology, lasers and photonics, public health, translational imaging, cardiology. Eligibility criteria The applicants must fulfill the following criteria in order to submit an application for the program: Applicants should hold a doctorate awarded by a non-french institution and be in an incoming mobility situation (not having resided in France for more than 12 months in the last 3 years). Fellows should not hold or have previously held a research position in Bordeaux area. The doctoral degree should have been awarded between 4 years before the end of the present call (+1 year per maternity/paternity leave with a maximum of 2 years), and not later than 3 months after the end of the call. Applicants must promote their own research project to be carried in the laboratory of their choice for a maximum period of two years. Applicants must be supported by a local researcher and by his/her laboratory. Candidates for an IdEx Bordeaux Post-doctoral fellowship cannot act as a PI for a Junior Chair grant in the same year. If such is the case, only the post-doctoral application will be considered eligible. Funding The funding includes a maximum two-year post-doctoral contract (one-year contract that may be renewed once), and a contribution to project-related fees (travel, consumables, etc.). Application In order to submit your application, please follow these steps: 1. Identify the proper local scientific environment for your project. As a starting point, applicants must identify the proper local scientific environment in which they can develop their research project, and then obtain the agreement of a local scientist within this environment to act as a mentor for their application. The mentor will be the local scientific referent of the postdoctoral fellow and must be part of the permanent research personnel of the selected host laboratory. The role of the mentor is to accompany the recruited fellow in his/her integration into the local scientific environment, notably when available resources, partnerships and instrumentation or professional network building are concerned. Any local scientist is entitled to act as a mentor, and all the scientific areas developed in Bordeaux are open to application. Nevertheless, candidates 1/7 1/7

3 promoting an original and innovative research project in one of the scientific priorities of IdEx Bordeaux will be considered with particular attention. 2. Obtain the agreement of a local laboratory. Once the relevance of the project is settled, applicants will have to obtain the agreement of the selected host laboratory for their application to this fellowship program. The director of the host laboratory must guarantee that the postdoctoral fellow will be supported throughout the duration of his/her research, in particular as regards infrastructure, equipment and services as necessary for the conduct of the research, and in the administrative management of the project. 3. Prepare your application by downloading the application documents templates (Documents A and B) from our website. 4. Once all the requested documents are completed, go to the application page and log in or create an account. 5. Once logged in, fill in the application form (see details below). 6. Attach the following documents: The evaluation process will involve international reviewers. All documents must be written in English The Project proposal, or Document A (in pdf format); The Ethical issues document, or Document B (in pdf format); A short CV with a list of a maximum of 3 referents, max. 2 pages (in pdf format); A major achievements track-record, max. 2 pages. (list of major publications, patents and other important scientific communications and awards, in pdf format); A signed letter of support from the local mentor (in pdf format); A signed letter of support from the director of the host laboratory (in pdf format); A cover letter (in pdf format); Signed letters from the referents mentioned in the CV (in pdf format). Reference letters may be attached with the other application documents, or sent directly to the address indicated at the end of this document; A copy of your PhD certificate or any other official document attesting that the candidate holds a doctoral degree, in French or English (in pdf format). 7. Validate your application. The candidate should verify the comprehensiveness of the information and documents submitted before validating the application. If you experience any problems during the application process, please contact us. The application form containing administrative information related to the project and to the host institution and laboratory should be filled in on line at the beginning of the application process. All the information requested is provided (for information only) in Annex 1 at the end of this document. Please note that a short and non-confidential abstract is requested at this step. The Project proposal (Document A) should not be longer than 15 pages and must contain: Project title (non-confidential). The title should be no longer than 200 characters with spaces) and should be intelligible to a non-specialist in your field. In the course of the evaluation procedure, the non-confidential title of your proposal may be communicated to potential remote experts. 2/7 2/7 2/7

4 Project acronym. The short title or acronym will be used to efficiently identify your proposal in this call. It should be of no more than 20 characters (use standard alphabet and numbers only). Duration of the project. The estimated duration of the project in full months (1-24 months). Keywords. Free text keywords that you consider best to characterize the scope of your research proposal. Host laboratory. Research structure hosting the project (EA, UMR, UPR, USR, etc.). The host laboratory should be a public research structure recognized by at least one of the IdEx Bordeaux partnering institutions. Short description of the project (non-confidential). Describe the specificity of the project in a single sentence. The non-confidential short description of the project may be communicated to potential remote experts and used for internal and external communication purposes. Abstract. This abstract (2 pages maximum) should provide a clear understanding of the objectives of the research proposal and how they will be achieved. Please note that at the beginning of the application process, a short and non-confidential abstract is also requested (2 500 characters maximum). In the course of the evaluation procedure, the short and non-confidential abstract of your proposal may be communicated to potential remote experts. Project description: o State of the art. Current state of research in relation to your proposed project, specifying how the project will bring innovation to the research area; underlining its timeliness, scientific, technological and socioeconomic impacts. o Project objectives. Describe the proposed project objectives against the background of the state of the art in the scientific field. Relevant bibliographical references should be provided as a list at the end of the proposal. o Research approach and method. For each objective, explain the methodological approach that you will adopt and describe any technique, method or analysis that you will apply. o Ethical issues. If relevant, indicate how you plan to deal with the ethical issues of your project, in order to comply with EU regulations (and fill in the report on ethical issues in Document B). o Work schedule. Provide a detailed work schedule giving an account of the steps and milestones planned during the funding period which can help to assess the project s progress. o Project budget. Provide a global estimation of the project cost (salary of the postdoctoral o researcher not included). Project implementation. If any prerequisites have to be met for conducting the project, give details in this part. You can also specify the infrastructure that will be needed. Cooperation partners. Name all partners involved in the implementation of the project (name, university/institution). Please specify the objective and specific tasks to which each one of them would contribute. Miscellaneous. Any information that can clarify your project and help in the evaluation of your application. List of references. Bibliographic references cited in the project document. The Ethical issues document (Document B) contains a self-assessment and a description of the ethics issues associated to the proposal, and the procedures that will be implemented to deal with them. Please specify as well any authorization or permission you or the host laboratory already have for the proposed work). Document A (Project proposal template) and Document B (Ethical issues document) are available for download in the documents section. Their use is mandatory. If you experience any problems working with these documents, please contact us. 3/7 3/7

5 Evaluation process The evaluation is conducted by a dedicated panel, including external personalities and authoritative researchers from the site. The excellence of the fellowship candidate is the primary recruitment criterion. Nevertheless, this criterion has to be assessed keeping in mind that the program is addressing early career development. The other equally important issue addressed by the program is to ensure smooth integration of the fellow into the proper scientific environment, the second essential criterion for judging merit is thus related to the scientific project presented by the candidate, including the consistency between the proposed activities during the fellowship and the research priorities of the University of Bordeaux, as well as the further career ambition of the candidate: perspectives for teaching in the case of candidates envisaging an academic career, leadership skill development for candidates envisaging a career in research team management, etc. External reviewers will evaluate each proposal. Each reviewer will be provided with the same framework and clear instructions for performing the marking: Excellence of the candidate, evaluated on two criteria: o Research experience and scientific production including patents, publications o Consistency of the candidate s profile with the research project (scientific background and experience in the field) Research project, evaluated on two criteria: o Scientific/technological quality and innovative nature of the project o Structure of the project (precise definition of expected outputs, selected methods, setting of milestones) Important dates* October : publication of the call October : opening of the application process November : deadline for applications December : eligibility evaluation April 2018: publication of results From July 2018 to December : beginning of the post-doctoral contracts *any change of the provisional calendar will be announced on the dedicated web page. Contact If you have any questions or need help to submit your application, visit the dedicated webpage ( and feel free to contact Carlos Mendoza, in charge of the implementation of the program, at: recruitment@u-bordeaux.fr 4/7 4/7 4/7

6 POST-DOCTORAL PROGRAM Evaluation procedure summary Steps of the selection procedure Framework for the evaluation Eligibility Checked by the IdEx Bordeaux program management team Processing time: 2 weeks after the deadline for application Criteria Doctorate awarded by a non- French institution Incoming mobility situation (not having resided in France for more than 12 months in the last 3 years, not hold or having previously held a research position in Bordeaux area) Doctorate awarded no later than 3 months and not earlier than 4 years before the call deadline Support from a local laboratory Evaluation Conducted by a dedicated panel (local and external scientists) based on evaluation reports performed by external reviewers Criteria CV and track-record Proposed research project Reference letters Expected outputs Processing time: 3 months after the deadline for application Granting Conducted by the IdEx Bordeaux program management team Processing time: 1 month for the candidate to accept the fellowship conditions Selected candidates will be invited to accept the fellowship and to define the start date of their contract (no later than January ) 5/7 5/7

7 2018 POST-DOCTORAL PROGRAM ANNEX 1 - Administrative application form (for information only, the list has to be filled in within the online application) A. Personal information Fellow s personal data Family name Family name at birth First name Current position Date of first PhD Gender (F/M) Nationality Country of birth Date of birth (dd/mm/yyyy) Country of residence Fellow s contact information Professional (if any) Current Organization name Street name Number Town Postal code Country Phone number Electronic address Contact information - Personal Street name Number Town Postal code Country Phone number Electronic address 6/7 6/7 6/7

8 B. Proposal information Host Institution Host Institution name Host laboratory name Host research team Mentor information Family name First name Phone number Electronic address Project information Project title Project acronym Keywords Short abstract (not confidential - max characters) Research domain Proposed start date 7/7 7/7

The University of Bordeaux is leading the Initiative of Excellence program in association with the National Research Council (CNRS), the National Institute for Health and Medicine (Inserm), the

9 The University of Bordeaux is leading the Initiative of Excellence program in association with the National Research Council (CNRS), the National Institute for Health and Medicine (Inserm), the University Bordeaux Montaigne, Sciences-Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the Bordeaux Institute of Technology. Other partnering organizations contributing to the Initiative of Excellence are: INRA, INRIA, CEA, IRSTEA, IFREMER and Bordeaux CHU. Scientific priorities of IdEx Bordeaux are developed by thematic clusters: AMADEus (Materials of the future), BRAIN (Neurosciences), COTE (Environment and climate), SysNum (Digital systems), LaScArBx (Archaeology), LAPHIA (Optics, Photonics and Lasers), the i-share Cohort (Public health), TRAIL (Technologies for health), and an applied research institute LIRYC (Cardiology). Please visit for details.

2018 Visiting Scholars program Applicant Guide

2018 Visiting Scholars program Applicant Guide 2018 VISITING SCHOLARS Applicant guide The University of Bordeaux is opening Visiting Scholars positions within the framework of its Initiative of Excellence