Pre-announcement third call for PhD research projects within CSER initiative
This month (the second half of March 2014) a call for proposals will be published for approximately 12 PhD research projects in the field of computational sciences, relevant to the energy-related themes within the top sectors Energy and Chemistry. This is the third call in this joint programme 'Computational sciences for energy research' (CSER) of Shell, NWO and FOM.The call is open for all areas, and research proposals in the areas of computational chemistry and materials science, multiphysics, big data, and computational geoscience are explicitly invited.
The first two calls in 2012 and 2013 resulted in 37 PhD projects being awarded funding. A total of four or five calls are planned for this programme and this is expected to result in the funding of about 60 PhD projects.
Submitting your research proposal: call opens in the second half of March 2014
Tenured staff at universities and academic institutions will be invited to submit research proposals for PhD students. About 12 proposals can be awarded funding. The call for proposals with a programme description, guidelines and other relevant information will be published on the FOM website in the second half of March 2014. The deadline for submitting research proposals is expected to be on Tuesday 22 April 2014.
Simultaneous application and selection process for PhD candidates
Parallel to the call, the Shell Technology Centre Bangalore (STCB) in India will recruit about 25 talented researchers who are willing to do their PhD in the Netherlands and then to continue their career at Shell in Bangalore. The application process for PhD students will include various interviews at selected locations in India and an application round in which an initial selection of students can indicate their preferences for the shortlisted research projects. Next, the project leaders of the shortlisted research proposals can select their PhD candidates from the resulting pool of 'high potentials'. This procedure will be facilitated by a matchmaking process that will be held in October to connect PhD candidates to selected projects and vice versa. A successful match will result in a granted research project, a signed employment contract between the PhD student and FOM, and a letter of intent from Shell for a job in Bangalore after completion of the PhD. The first PhD students can start in early 2015. Students who are interested in a PhD position in the CSER programme, please see the CSER-website.
Partnership between Shell, NWO and FOM
This call is part of a joint large-scale public-private partnership in fundamental research in the energy domain that was started in 2012 by Shell, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM). More information about this 'Computational sciences for energy research' initiative is available here.