1 Eligibility check

At this stage, incomplete and/or ineligible applications will be discarded. The results of the eligibility check will be notified around 2 weeks after the call deadline. Applications which are deemed eligible will receive confirmation that they have passed the eligibility check and will go out for an in-depth review.

2 Evaluation and selection

All eligible applications will undergo independent and international evaluation. Each application will be evaluated by three independent evaluators. They will assess each application consisting on academic record and CV, motivation statement, and reference letters. All applicants will receive a short report detailing their final score, ranking, and feedback summary from the assessors. They will be informed by email within 2 months after the call deadline.

The top ranked applicants will move to the next phase – the interview, which may be in person or remotely. During the interview (30 min) the applicant will be asked a set of questions from the interview panel, followed by any questions the applicant may have. The interview panel will be composed of 2 independent experts (at least one international), an internal expert, and a member of the IMDEA Nano equality, diversity and inclusion working group who will oversee the proceedings.

The final mark for each application will be comprised of the score from the application and the interview. Within 2 weeks, candidates will be informed by e-mail of their final score, ranking and feedback on their interview outcome. Successful candidates must notify the programme coordinator by e-mail within 3 weeks whether or not they accept the offer.

3 Redress process

Upon reception of the information letter to the candidates with the outcome of the selection process, doctoral candidates may request a redress procedure (during ten working days), if there is any indication that there has been a shortcoming in the evaluation process or eligibility check. The procedure will not call into question the scientific or technical judgement of appropriately qualified.

4 Appointment phase

It is expected that successful candidates will start their fellowship in 2024, for Call 1 appointments, and in 2025, for Call 2 appointments. Requests to delay the starting date beyond those points will be considered on a case by case basis.