Researchers

Eligibility Criteria

Any refugee or a displaced researcher that:

  • Is based in a EU member state or in an associated country,
  • Has a legal status in the host country, 
  • Is a PhD student or a PhD holder

Is eligible to apply for reimbursement under the EURAXESS Internship Program

Evaluating Criteria

The evaluation criteria include:

  • Motivation to engage the career plan with experience outside academia:
    • Clear description of the research area and goals  – 20% / 20 points out of 100,
    • How this experience will contribute to the research goals of the applicant – 20% / 20 points out of 100,
    • How this experience will contribute to the integration of the applicant in the local labor market – 45% / 45 points out of 100,
  • Reasonability of the balance between the goals, the requested duration and the full/part time of the internship  – 15% / 15 points out of 100,

Requirements for each of the above criteria include:

  • Motivation to engage the career plan with experience outside academia:
    • Clear description of the research area and goals (200 words) – please, explain in a clear way for non-specialists your main area of research, specialization, your research goals and interests in professional development.
    • How this experience outside academia will contribute to the research goals and the professional interests of the applicant (200 words) – please, explain why you are interested in having an internship outside academia and how this interest is related to reaching your research goals and professional interests.
    • How this experience will contribute to the integration of the applicant in the local labor market (200 words) – please, explain to what extent the requested internship is related to your current or future employment in the local country.
  • Reasonability of the balance between the goals, the requested duration and the full/part time of the internship (100 words) – please, explain why you have requested specific duration and full/part time engagement and how it is related to your research goals.

Evaluation and Rating

The evaluation and rating will be conducted in several rounds (if necessary) with cutoff dates until the financial resource is over.

One month after the opening of the application process for the researchers, the collected applications will be considered by the program coordinator for their eligibility. All eligible applications will be allocated by the program coordinator to the evaluating teams on a random basis. Evaluation will be done within 2 weeks after the cutoff date. 

According to the criteria each member (in total 3) of an evaluating team will grade the allocated applications. The final grade for each criterion will be the average of the 3 team members’ evaluation. The final grade of an application will consist of the sum of all grades by criterion and thus the maximum final grade is 100 points. The graded applications will be rated by the program coordinator in a main and a reserve list. The main list will include applications that earned more than 70 % / 70 points in total. The reserve list will include all other applications rated by the earned number of points and will be considered for funding if any application drops out of the main list or there is no other application for the specific position.

Dropping of an application from the main list may happen because:

  • The applicant withdraws his/her application or
  • There is no matching organization to host the refugee researcher at the given cutoff date.

The rating lists will be available HERE! Please, log in first or register and then log in!

Matching

The matching process will be supported by SU team through communication with both the researchers and the host organisations. For each internship offer the Coordinator will arrange an interview and the hosting organization will have the final decision after the interview with the applicants. If there is no suitable opening the researcher/s can still submit an application in the view of possible later openings and the next cutoff date but this is a decision on their own risk.

The anonymised lists of interested researchers, their specialty and skills is available HERE! Please, log in first or register and then log in

The list, brief description, and internship openings for highly qualified professionals can be found HERE! Please, log in first or register and then log in!

Obligations 

The applicant researcher obliges to:

  • Fulfill the task and requirements that are given to him/her to their best knowledge and skills and
  • Respect the organisational culture (working time, confidentiality and other internal rules) of the host organisation. 

Insurance

The EURAXESS internship reimbursement does not include any insurance coverage for the researcher. It is therefore highly recommended to enquire about and take the necessary measures in case you need to make any covering cases such as accident or liability insurance.

Feedback 

During the internship there will be arranged online:

  • Initial test on level of knowledge, skills and expectations of the researchers according the requirements of the host organisation,
  • Collection of feedback at the internship middle stage and
  • Collection of the final feedback.

Legal Engagement

Contract with the Researcher

SU team is obliged to provide and conclude a three side contract with each funded researcher and the hosting company for fulfillment of specific tasks during the internship program. The contract should comply with national requirements and the Bulgarian Court is the respective legal body for solving any legal issues and disputes.

Application supporting documents

While applying for the internship program the researcher has to provide:

  • Filled in online application form,
  • Scanned/photo copy of the PhD diploma or the document that shows that the researcher is /has been enrolled in a PhD study,
  • Scanned/photo copy of the document proving the legal status of the researcher in the host country and 
  • Notary sealed translation of the above documents in English.

Application Process

The application process opens in two tracks: 

  • 1st track for organisations opens 20th Feb 2024
  • 2nd track for researchers opens 20th Mar 2024 (TBC) 

All applicants, researchers and host organisations, can withdraw their application at any time by sending an email to mobility@fmi.uni-sofia.bg.

Researchers are kindly requested to check their eligibility before applying! They are also strongly advised to check the needs of specialists of the listed organisations that will host refugee researchers!

If there is no suitable job opening the researcher/s can still submit an application in the view of possible later openings and the next cutoff date but this is a decision on their own risk.

REGISTER AS A RESEARCHER