INTRODUCTION

-Postdoctoral fellowship in Spain and Portugal aimed to any nationality

-Outstanding researchers with significant contributions to the scientific discipline

Call for applications

-”la Caixa” Banking Foundation is offering 11 three-year postdoctoral fellowships to carry out research at any university or research centre of Spain or Portugal.

- Finished their doctoral degrees two to seven years prior to the deadline for applications, provided that they also fulfill the requirements for mobility between countries.

- The choice of the research centre will not be binding during the candidate selection process. Candidates should state the research centre that they would prefer to join on their fellowship application on a provisional basis. To do this, a declaration of interest letter signed by a researcher of the research center of preference must be attached indicating the predisposition to accept the fellow. This declaration of interest will not be binding on any of the parties. The fellowship holder may change the centre chosen at the time of the start of the fellowship.

- The fellowship will start when the chosen candidate and the research centre reach an agreement regarding their admission.

- Fellows should start at the research centres between 1 April and 31 July 2019. In duly justified cases, this can be delayed until 30 September 2019. ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation must be notified of the researcher's start date at the research centre prior to this date and as soon as they reach an agreement.

- The fellowships have duration of one year, with the possibility of being renewed for a maximum of two additional years, provided that the follow-up reports requested on an annual basis are favorable.

- The call for applications opens on the date it is published and closes on 26 September 2018 at 2:00 p.m. (Central European Time - CET).

Fellowship amount

Maximum payment of €305.100

a)  Salary: 59.000€ to cover labor costs of each fellow (including Social Security contributions and gross salary)

b) Annual research projects costs of 38.500€ including:

- Acquisition and maintenance of scientific equipment and consumables

- Travel expenses and per diem, registration fees for scientific congresses, seminars and conferences.

- Management fees for industrial and intellectual property rights related to the project, patenting costs

- Personnel costs linked to the fellowship project

- Other expenses directly related to implementation of the research project.

This amount will be managed by the centre of benefit of the fellow and it must be justified separately.

c) Gross annual family assistance of 1.200€ for each of the researcher’s child dependant. Family assistance will be determined on the start date and will be reviewed annually upon renewal of the fellowship.

d) Mobility assistance (moving and housing) of 5.400€ at the beginning of the fellowship as long as the fellow changes the place of residence on the occasion of joining the selected research center or university, at a distance greater than 50kms with respect to the initial place of residence.

Complementary training

In addition to the payment amount, the fellowship includes a classroom-based training programme.

Three classroom-based sessions will be held: at the start of the fellowship, during the second year, and during the third year. Each session lasts from 2 to 5 days. “la Caixa” Banking foundation will cover all costs (accommodation and travel costs included).

Requirements for applicants

- ANY nationality is eligible.

- Research training:

Those having obtained a doctoral degree two or seven years prior to the deadline for applications (25/09/2011-26/09/2016) can submit an application. Date of obtaining the doctoral degree = Date of defense act of the thesis.

If the applicant holds 2+ Doctoral degrees, the above-mentioned period will be counted from the date of the first degree earned.

In the case of interruption of the research activity between obtaining the doctoral degree and the call deadline, the candidate may request an extension of the period in which the degree must have been obtained. The following causes are considered interruption of research activity:

a)      Illness or accident that implied an interruption for three months or more.

b)      Maternity or paternity.

4.3. Mobility

Those candidates wanting to join a Spanish center must have resided or carried out their main activity in Spain for more than twelve months in the three previous years.

- International stays

For candidates applying to carry out the research in a Spanish university or research centre, the candidate must have carried out predoctoral or postdoctoral research stays at non-Spanish research centres or universities for at least six months prior to the deadline.

Application and documentation

- Candidates should apply using the online application platform available in the “Fellowships" section on the Obra Social “la Caixa” website.

On this platform, the different pages of the application form clearly specify all information and documentation that must be provided to complete an application to the current fellowship programme. The application must be completed entirely in English.

- Information provided by the candidate in the “Prospective research centre” section will be understood to be provisional and strict abidance to it is not implied should the fellowship be awarded.

The candidates who are finally chosen as fellows will have a reasonable period of time in which to confirm their interest in the research centre, or unit that they specified as their first choice. During this time, they can also explore other alternatives that may better suit their personal goals.

In any case, should the line of research chosen by the candidate to carry out their research project be different from what was originally stated in their application, it must not stray from it significantly in terms of content or discipline.

The candidate must reach an agreement with the research centre or unit that they finally choose, by virtue of which the centre will hire the fellow with the funds provided by “la Caixa” Banking Foundation.

- Candidates must submit a personal statement with the project proposal that they wish to carry out if they are granted the fellowship. The personal statement must contain the following information:

1) Research career directly related to the project proposal, stating the main line of research that the candidate has carried out and specifying the main achievements to date (maximum of 2 pages).

2) Summary of the proposed research project (maximum of 3 pages).

This document’s characteristics and format are detailed in the relevant section of the online application form.

- Using the online application platform, candidates must also carry out the formalities to obtain, prior to the deadline for applications, at least three reference letters from university professors or other relevant individuals with whom they have had contact either academically or professionally. It is advisable for candidates to contact them as soon as possible to let them know that “la Caixa” Banking Foundation will get in touch with them through an online procedure. This procedure makes it possible to request and attach up to five reference letters to the application form, provided that they arrive before the deadline for applications (26 September 2018). The reference letters must be written in English.

These reference letters are confidential. Under no circumstances may candidates request access to their content nor “la Caixa” Banking Foundation provide it, whatever the final results of the selection process for this fellowship programme.

- Candidates should attach a copy of their doctoral diploma or academic certificate where the thesis defense took place.

- Documents uploaded to the online application platform in PDF format must be clear and legible. Similarly, each page of the original document must correspond to a page of the PDF document.

- Documents uploaded to the online application platform in PDF format must be clear and legible. Similarly, each page of the original document must correspond to a page of the PDF document.

- If the documents uploaded to the online application platform were issued in a language other than English, a translation (which can be done by the candidate) into English should be attached.

Selection process

The evaluation and selection of applications will be carried out taking into consideration the European Science Foundation’s recommendations published in the Peer Review Guide and are awarded on a competitive basis.

- The process is comprised of three parts:

a) Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfill the criteria published in the application for fellowship rules are rejected.

Should an application not fulfill the formal requirements of the call for applications, “la Caixa” Banking Foundation will send a notification by e-mail specifying the reason for its rejection.

b) Remote assessment (preselection): each of the applications that pass the screening is sent to an evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications or contributions within this field. The applications that receive the best ratings from each panel will pass to the next stage.

c) Face-to-face evaluation (Final selection): The candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for a face-to-face interview .

The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 4^th February 2019. ALL interviews will be face to face in English, not by telephone or other means.

If attending the interview entail travel or accommodation expenses greater than 15€, candidates may request a compensation.

Results will be notified via e-mail.

- To learn the rating criteria that govern the shortlisting process and the selection process by interview, these can be viewed in the Evaluation of applications section of the “la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

Redress procedure

- Within seven calendar days from the date the rejection notification is sent, candidates may submit redresses by sending an e-mail to fellowships(ELIMINAR)@fundacionlacaixa.org, which must include an explanatory text together with the documents that the candidate deems appropriate.

- Redresses will be resolved by an appeals committee. The resolution will be sent by e-mail within 10 calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal.

Incompatibilities

- These fellowships are granted exclusively for on-site projects, that is , to carry out full-time research activity on the research centre’s facilities.

- These fellowships are incompatible with other paid works or fellowships from any other organization.

However, the salary may be supplemented through other funding, provided that the supplemented amount does not exceed the established amount of “la Caixa” Postdoctoral fellowship for this concept.

This fellowship is compatible with any grant, but “la Caixa” must auhorize  any co-financing.

- The fellowship will not be compatible with a permanent employment contract from any other institution other than the host center.

Important

In case of interest, please contact FSJD before 19th September 2018