FELLOWSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

What can be the duration of a project?

The fellowship is for an individual researcher for a total duration of a 36-months contract, that is 3 full years.

Can I propose a longer or shorter project?

No, the project duration needs to be planned for 3 years that is the fellowship duration and your contract employment.

Can I choose the starting date of my project?

Your contract and therefore starting date will be no later than November 2022.

What is the definition of secondment?

A secondment means a research training period spent by a fellow at the premises of a partner organization different from the recruiting University. The secondment must involve physical mobility of the fellow. During their secondment, researchers receive supervision and training at the premises of the collaborating partner organisation.

Can I propose to do secondments at other organisations?

You can either follow the secondments already proposed by the research group or propose new secondments at other organisations of your interest. In the latter case you will need to provide a letter of commitment of the organization hosting your secondment at the time of your application.

Which are the requirements of the secondments?

At least 1 non-academic secondment should be carried out during the fellowship. Non-academic partners can be institutions from the private sector (companies, industry), public administrations (government bodies and institutions, hospitals, museums, etc), research centres and non-profit organisations.

Can I do a secondment in a non-EU country?

Yes, just the same ethical criteria as European standards need to be followed while doing research in other countries.

Is it possible to work part-time in the framework of the fellowship?

As a rule, the researcher must be employed full-time. Part-time employment can however be accepted on personal or family grounds with prior agreement with the REA (the minimum MSCA working time must always be at least 50%) but not at the time of application.

What is the age limit to apply?

There is no age limitation.

ELEGIBILITY

Can researchers of any nationality participate in the programme?

Yes. There is no restriction on the nationality of recruited researchers, and candidates from third countries are welcome as long as the mobility and eligibility requirements are met.

A researcher has been living in Spain for more than one year in the last 3 years. Is the researcher eligible to apply?

No, in general terms the researcher would not be eligible except for special cases*. The application of the eligibility criteria is very strict and includes compliance with the ‘mobility rule’. Two elements make up the mobility rule: the place of residence or the place of carrying out one’s main activity.

As a result, if the researcher has resided or carried out the main activity in Spain for more than 12 months during the 3 years prior to the deadline for submission of proposals, they would not be eligible in this country.

Time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.

*Special cases with different mobility rule are: i) Researchers in a career restart and ii) Researchers reintegration. The mobility rule in these special cases is to not have resided or carried out their main activity in Spain for more than 3 years in the last 5 years immediately before the call deadline. There are other specific eligibility requirements applying to those cases, which can be consulted in the “eligibility criteria” table.

What does “active in research” means?

“Active in research” means being employed or holding a scholarship in research. Parental leaves and unpaid leaves or absence will not be counted as periods of active engagement in research, even if a formal employment relationship exists during these periods. Publication activities or mere association to a university (i.e. any other link to the university that is not considered as an employment contract or a fellowship agreement) are not taken into account either.

Example of ‘mere association’: the researcher is allowed to use the facilities of the university; he/she is sent to a conference by or on behalf of the university; or is enrolled in a bachelor’s/master’s or other non-research related degree at the university.

Is there any limitation in terms of PhD obtention?

The PhD date needs to be issued before the call deadline.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND TOOL

How can I send additional documentation?

Please submit all your documentation at the website application tool. Any documentation sent by email or other means will not be considered unless it was explicitly demanded to you this way.

Do I need to contact my future supervisor?

Yes, it is recommended to contact them to make sure the research project you propose is adequate to their research infrastructure and capabilities.

Is it possible to submit more than one application?

Yes, it is possible to apply for different research groups but the research proposals need to be different and aligned with the hosting research group.

Are reference letters mandatory?

No, however two reference letters are strongly recommended.

Is there a template available for the Personal Career Development Plan?

Yes, a template is available at the online application tool.

Is there a template for the CV?

All the relevant information of your CV must be filled in in the corresponding fields of the application tool (education, professional experience, complementary skills, etc). Additionally, you can upload a CV in free format, if you wish.

Do we need to follow a format for recommendation letters? Those letters should be sent directly from recommenders?

Recommendation letters are format free. The letters must be uploaded by the candidate in the application tool.

If the bachelor and master degrees are translated in an EU official language different than English, could they be used in order to apply?

All documents must be presented in English. Only the original academic certificates may be presented in other EU official languages such as French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish. For contracting purposes, the sworn translation into Spanish will be required.

Is the gender dimension mandatory into the research project? Might we need to provide a justification if we do not consider it into our project?

No, it is not mandatory. You should address the gender dimension if your research proposal involves gender.

Is it required to certificate any knowledge of Spanish?

No, international selected candidates without any knowledge of Spanish will be able to follow the “Spanish for foreigners” training.

Are the sections in the project proposal for MSCA-COFUND the same as MSCA-FP?

No, this call has specific templates that are available for download at the website  https://www.iberusexperience.com/application-process/

Is it possible to introduce tables, figures etc... within the proposal?

Yes, you can introduce tables and figures. There are some guidelines for format you need to follow in terms of format of character size, margins and limit of pages.

SELECTION PROCESS

Will the results be communicated to all the applicants, regardless of whether they are rejected, selected or on the waiting list?

Yes, the Management Office of the programme will communicate the results to all the applicants, regardless of whether they are rejected, selected or on the waiting list. The awarded applicants will receive an official invitation to join the Iberus Experience Programme and will be given 14 calendar days to accept. In case of resignation, the following candidate on a score basis will be contacted and successively.

When will the results be communicated?

The results will be communicated from July 2022 onwards. Upon acceptance, the recruiting university will start the fellow’s appointment process (contracting formalities, visa application, migratory processes, etc).

What are the responsibilities of successful candidates?

Campus Iberus will communicate the results to all the applicants, regardless of whether they are rejected, selected or on the waiting list. The awarded applicants will receive an official invitation to join the IberusExperience Programme and will be given 14 calendar days to accept. In case of resignation, the following candidate on a score basis will be contacted and successively. Upon acceptance, the recruiting university will start the fellow’s appointment process (contracting formalities, visa application, migratory processes, etc).

MISCELLANEOUS

Do beneficiaries have to ensure open access to scientific publications?

Yes, each beneficiary must ensure for the users open and free-of-charge access to peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to their results. Open access (OA) refers to the practice of providing online access to scientific information that is free of charge to the end-user and reusable.

For which publications is it mandatory to provide open access?

Article 29.2 of the grant agreement requires open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to the result of the specific EU-funded project funded. As the main type of scientific publication is the journal article, the European Commission requires that grantees provide open access to these journal articles. Additionally, in accordance with Article 29.2, grantees are also strongly encouraged to provide open access to other types of scientific publications including: monographs, conference proceedings, books, grey literature (informally published written material not controlled by scientific publishers, e.g. reports).

Can the family status change during the project for the purposes of the family allowance?

No, family allowance will be provided in function of the researcher’s family status at the application time, which will need to be evidenced during the recruitment process.

A family allowance will be paid in case the researcher has family obligations. In this context, family is defined as persons linked to the researcher:  (i) by marriage (ii) by a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognised by the legislation of the country or region where this relationship was formalized (iii) children or any other family member that are dependent of the researcher.

Will there be another call next year?

No, this programme has just one single call, open from 1st November until 31st January 2022.