[ENLIGHT] ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award - open call mobility funding

Call for mobility awards for R&I projects around ENLIGHT flagship areas between early career researchers1 from different ENLIGHT consortium partners.

Deadline: Open call until December 15th, 2023

Target: Phd-researchers, Post-docs, young prof. (PhD-degree < 10 years)

Context

The ENLIGHT consortium intents to support new and ongoing joint R&I projects (proposals) jointly conducted by early career researchers from different (minimum two) ENLIGHT consortium partners.

Thereto it will finance 20 mobility/travel awards – of up to maximum € 1,000.- each – to help deepen the envisioned plans for these joint collaborations.

The aim of this seed money is to stimulate and support (new) ENLIGHT RISE R&I collaborations and projects on ENLIGHT flagship challenges between early career researchers from various/different consortium partners.

Awarded projects making promising progress towards a consolidated joint R&I collaboration or project proposal after having received the mobility award will automatically be selected as candidates for the ENLIGHT R&I Prize.

The ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award

The ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award facilitates mobility/travel for promising joint collaborations – in research fields linked to the 5 ENLIGHT flagship domains – between early career researchers from different ENLIGHT consortium partners. The aim is not only to enhance overall R&I collaborations between ENLIGHT consortium partners, moreover, to support early career researchers in expanding their network.

This seed money is intended to support the development stage or further elaboration of joint research activities conducted by early career researchers of different (minimum 2) ENLIGHT consortium partners, e.g. the initiation, design and/or development of one (or more) joint research proposals to be submitted to regional, national or international funding agencies including the Horizon Europe framework programme, etc.

This call therefore aims to facilitate in-person meetings and mobility between these early career researchers to concretize their collaboration, and/or to help them acquire necessary skills required to further elaborate their idea/project.

Applying researchers must contribute to the research mission of ENLIGHT, and hence focus on the development of (new) joint research initiatives amongst ENLIGHT partners. These research initiatives must focus on one of the 5 ENLIGHT flagship domains and correspond to major societal challenges and priorities (health and well-being, climate action, energy transition and circular economy, digital innovation (AI / Open Science), and equity).

Applying proposals may apply for maximum three individual mobility awards (of max. € 1.000,- each) per project in case the application entails a joint participation to a conference, training or workshop.

Awardees of the ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award will automatically be pre-selected for the ENLIGHT R&I Prize once their (progress) report (cf. below) has been accepted by the ENLIGHT R&I Prize Secretariat.

Criteria

Who can apply?

Early career researchers (including predoctoral researchers, PhD students as well as postdoctoral researchers and fellows) registered or employed at ENLIGHT partners who have obtained the PhD title no longer than 10 years prior to the submission date of their ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award application.

Disciplinary field:

The call is open to proposals focussing on major societal challenges and priorities fitting in at least one of the five (5) ENLIGHT flagship domains (Health and Well-being, Climate change, Energy and Circular economy, Digital innovation and Impact of digitization, and Equity).

Activities eligible for funding:

The present call is targeted at the organization, creation, and exploration of (new) joint R&I activities and opportunities between ENLIGHT partners.

Activities eligible for funding:

mobility to another ENLIGHT partner for in-person meetings to prepare/elaborate a joint R&I project (proposal);
mobility of early career researchers from different ENLIGHT consortium partners to (jointly) attend a specialized conference, workshop, or training programme to enhance capacity needed for the preparation/elaboration of a joint R&I project (proposal).

==> the activity (mobility) must be conducted no later April 1st 2024.

==> an eligible project (or the reimbursed activity) must include members of minimum two different ENLIGHT partners.

Deadline

The call is open on a permanent basis until December 15th, 2023, however, will be automatically closed early once the maximum of 20 Mobility Awards has been awarded.

Selection

Starting January 2023, the selection commission will monthly select awardees amongst the received applications since the previous selection meeting.

The selection commission will be composed of the ENLIGHT-RISE WP2 assembly and will base its selection result upon suggestion by the WP2 co-leads.

The selection of proposals will be based on following criteria:

Accordance with the overall ENLIGHT objective/mission
Role of the applicant in the proposal
Feasibility
Innovative character
Sustainability
Involvement of the Regional Academies (i.e. focus on quadruple helix)

Financing

For each individual ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award a maximum funding of € 1,000.- can be applied for.

Early career researchers may apply for maximum 1 mobility award. A total of 3 individual early careers researchers may apply for the same joint research initiative envisaged. In case of a positive evaluation, it will be up to the selection committee to decide how many mobility awards it will allocate to the same joint research initiative.

Only the mobility costs (travel and subsistence) and/or the inscription fees for a workshop, conference or training of the applicant(s) are eligible for funding.

Awardee’s travel tickets (except for local transportation) and accommodation costs will be booked and directly financed by the ENLIGHT Consortium via the Financial Department of the University of Bordeaux (UBx) in accordance with the UBx travel guidelines. Subsistence allowance and possible inscription fees will be reimbursed upon the proven expenditure in accordance with the before mentioned guidelines.

Upon the selection of an ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award, awardees will receive the UBx guidelines and contact information. Awardees will need to present a Mission Order by their home institution and send in all requested information and details for the booking of the mobility and/or fees for attending a conference, training, workshop, etc. at least 4 weeks before the date of departure.

The mobility award must be spent no later than April 1st, 2024. Expenses on a later date will in no case be eligible/funded.

How to apply? 

Applications are made through the designated form and sent as a PDF-document to rise@ugent.be.

Download the form: https://www.enlight-eu.org/images/2022-RISE/Award/ENLIGHT_RI_ECR_Mobility_Awards_-_application_form.docx

The document should be named as follows:  ENLIGHT_R-I_ECR_Mobility_Award_–_surname_MainApplicant_name_MainApplicant

Report

Within one month after the end of the funded activity (and/or no later the May 1st, 2024), a short report (max. 1 A4), signed by the main applicant, together with the proven expenditure, must be sent electronically to rise@ugent.be and ri.prizes@u-bordeaux.fr

The report should illustrate the progress of the idea/concept/project since the awarding of the ENLIGHT R&I ECR Mobility Award and how the reimbursed activity has proven / will prove to be fruitful for the further elaboration of the joint research collaboration envisaged.

Upon acceptance of the report, the project will be notified of its pre-selection for the ENLIGHT R&I Prize. Based on the received reports, one ENLIGHT R&I Prize will be selected in September 2023 and another one in May 2024.

27 januari 2023 09:18