Doctoral Program of Excellence Université Côte d’Azur

Deadline: 11 March 2018
Open to: researchers worldwide
Fellowship: fully funded

Description

Université Côte d’Azur (UCA)  is offering exceptional candidates 5 fully-funded fellowships to begin no later than October 2018. The objective is to recruit and support the most academically qualified and promising early-stage researchers worldwide who are developing a research program involving one or more laboratories within UCA.

Eligibility

  • The Doctoral Program of Excellence is intended to be a recruiting tool to help UCA attract outstanding students entering doctoral programs. Current students already in one of the UCA member institutions will, therefore, receive lower priority than students graduating from other institutions;
  • Applicants may have received a Master’s degree, but should not have yet been awarded a doctoral degree. Students who have not yet completed their Master’s degree by the application deadline but who may nevertheless be ready for a Ph.D. program — as attested to, for example, by the completion of significant undergraduate or master’s level research — may also apply (see below). They would be eligible to receive a doctoral program of excellence fellowship only after proving that they have completed their master’s degree;
  • Applicants who have previously been considered but who received a grade of B or C during the selection process are not allowed to re-apply in the subsequent session;
  • A potential supervisor can only support one candidate. A candidate may only apply with one research project and one supervisor;
  • Research projects must follow French and European regulations on ethics issues in order to be eligible for funding. In particular, projects involving activities aimed at human cloning for reproductive purposes, or intended to modify human genetics in a heritable manner, or aimed at creating human embryos for the sole purpose of research, cannot be funded. All applications involving other ethical issues will be required to declare them and to provide additional information and documentation.

Fellowship

The Doctoral Program of Excellence offers fellowships consisting of an annual service-free contract with a gross salary of 2500 EUR per month, guaranteed for a maximum duration of three years. This comes with the support of up to 1500 EUR/year to defray the costs of participation in international conferences or workshops.

In addition to this financial support, UCA considers the awarding of a fellowship from the Doctoral Program of Excellence as a highly significant accomplishment. When relevant, other professional or academic opportunities will be made available to the selected doctoral candidates.

UCA will also consider proposals based on a co-financing agreement with another university, research center, funding agency… Information should be then provided about the nature of the cooperation, the location of the student.

How to Apply?

Applicants are expected to present a research program in coordination with a potential supervisor affiliated with one of the research teams of Université Côte d’Azur.

Candidates are invited to apply online.

Applicants should upload the following documents (as PDF or JPG files):

  • The filled Application Form (A);
  • The Curriculum Vitae of the doctoral candidate, including a list of two references with their names, titles/relationship to the candidate (e.g., Committee Member, Research Collaborator), addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. (B);
  • A cover letter describing the applicant’s motivation (C);
  • Last diploma (D);
  • A written description of at most 2 pages of the doctoral research project (E);
  • A support letter from the host laboratory director and/or from the director of a UCA academy (F);
  • A copy of the applicant’s passport or ID (G);
  • A letter + CV from the anticipated supervisor (and co-supervisor, if applicable) (H);
  • CV of supervisor (I);
  • Advisor letter attesting the adequacy of the academic environment with the research topic (J);
  • additional documents (K);
    • In case of co-financing, the letter confirming the annual financial support, its amount, nature (wage, research funds…), and duration.;
    • Any other document that may be relevant to the selection process (undergraduate grade transcripts, publications, letter of support from the supervisor of a master level internship …). A reference letter from the person in charge of the applicant’s Master program, or a complete transcript of the Master’s degree program courses; or (for foreign applicants who have not completed a Master’s degree but who have completed a bachelor’s degree and have significant research experience): complete undergraduate transcript, general and subject GRE test scores, a written description of the previous research project, and a letter of recommendation from the previous research supervisor, to be sent confidentially from the supervisor to the UCA: ced@unice.fr)

Applications should be sent no later than the Sunday 11th March 2018.

Contracts cannot start later than October 1st, 2018.

For more information please visit the official website.