LAST CHANCE: AXA Post-doctoral Fellowship Nominations

CALL FOR AXA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP NOMINATIONS

Final Nomination Deadline: Wednesday 20 March 2013

Application Deadline: Thursday 18 April 2013

The message below has just been received from AXA. We have been awarded one quota. That means we can nominate 1 outstanding candidate for a fellowship. This does not guarantee that this candidate will be awarded an AXA Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Please forward your nominations to Paul Adams by end of day Wednesday 20 March 2013. Only ONE nomination will be asked to prepare a full application,

 which must be lodged no later than Thursday 18 April 2013.

For application details, please see the Guide at:

http://www.axa-research.org/sites/dev/files/A-Howtoobtain-Modus/Post-Doc2013.pdf 

For further information and advice, please contact Paul by e-mail or phone ext. 1332

__________________________________

Dear Partner,

We are glad to inform you that your institution has successfully passed the 1^st round of the selection process of our 2013 Post-Doctoral campaign.

Your Institution will thus be in a position to submit 1 Post-Doctoral candidate(s) from February 14^th until March 21^st at noon Paris time. We are confident that your institution will proceed internally to the identification of the best candidate(s) with regards to our selection criteria (please see bottom TIPS for more details, or please follow the link:http://www.axa-research.org/sites/dev/files/A-Howtoobtain-Modus/Post-Doc2013.pdf )

Please note that the candidates have until APRIL 18th at noon (Paris time) to complete their application.

Therefore, we kindly encourage you to declare the candidate(s) your institution wishes to submit to this 2^nd round as soon as you can, in order to leave them as much time as possible for the completion of their application and endorsements. Besides, the designated candidate(s) should be encouraged not to wait until the last moment to complete their application.

We are delighted about this opportunity to develop a partnership with your institution in the framework of this 2013 Post-Doctoral campaign.

Best regards,

The AXA Research Fund Team

 _______________________

TIPS

TIP 1: Matching our Selection Criteria

• Academic excellence of the candidate: here we mean track record, in terms of impact even more than volume; excellence of the previous host institution(s);   and, of course, stature and quality of the recommendation letters.
• Innovative nature and originality of the project: reviewers highly value applications showing commanding knowledge of relevant literature; originality both in the research hypothesis and in the methodology used to test it. Naturally, demonstrating a contribution to a better understanding of important hazards and risks, or current global societal challenges is the core of what we are looking for.
• International scope of the host research laboratory: we look at rankings, bibliometrics, and also at peer-reviewed recognition. We value both labs that are global leaders and labs that are on a dynamic growth path.  The quality of the facilities and attractiveness to international students and researchers – both junior and senior – is a good way to demonstrate these traits), as is the international exposure of the project/lab director.
• Feasibility of the project: Quality of the environment (Postdoctoral program, supervision); Project framework (macro-planning, budget); Quality of the preliminary work and access to needed equipment, field studies, data and so on.

TIP 2: Demonstrating Exciting Innovation

As you know, the innovative nature of the research projects is very important to us – and we’ll try and favor “high risk/high gain” projects over more pedestrian, albeit productive, approaches. We believe that this is a quality of the applicant more than of the application so we’ll look both at the question asked and at previous research demonstrating creativity and innovative potential.

TIP 3: Helping Young Researchers’ Mobility.

We believe that it is crucial for young researchers to gather an international network and be exposed to various research environments in the early stage of their career. Hence we value applicants who already had an international exposure or, even more, whom we will help to build one. Our definition of international exposure goes as following: 

-at least a semester spent abroad during doctoral studies or planned/previous post-doctoral positions. International exposure during master degree or undergraduate studies is much less relevant as they seldom lead to the nurturing of a strong research network.

-of course, as research is international by nature, the nationality of the applicant is not our basis for assessing international mobility.

TIP4: Our Starting Grants are for Junior Researchers

The length of the time scale between PhD defense and Post-Doctoral applications projects should not exceed 5 years, except if a specific reason (illness, for instance) is involved. For more experienced candidates, our other schemes will be more relevant.

TIP 5: Helping Research to Impact/Interact with Policy-Making 

Please encourage the applicant to highlight the contribution of his/her research to the discipline and, to a greater extent, to the understanding/ modeling/ mitigation/prevention of major risks and global challenges. The AXA Research Fund wants to better help its supported researchers to have a voice in the public debate and nurture it with the most advanced scientific discoveries. Any proof of the potential of the applicant to bring his research subject to the global table is mostly welcomed!

TIP 6: Great Recommendation(s) are key   

The recommendation letter should first and forehand prove the potential of the applicant. It can also demonstrate the robustness of the research project and its alignment with the strategy of the host institution/lab. It gives also the opportunity to provide us with insights regarding the quality of the environment in which the research project will be conducted in terms of equipment, expertise of the host laboratory, and its international scope.