Academic Projects
Call for Academic PhD-student and Postdoctoral research projects
The call was directed primarily to researchers of the seven WISE-affiliated universities and sought to attract research projects addressing sustainability challenges for materials science within the scientific and thematic areas of WISE (the WISE matrix).
During the application period (May 2nd – September 15th) 193 applications were submitted to WISE.
Evaluation process
Proposals and principal investigators were pre-selected within each WISE-affiliated university as well as a few affiliated groups from other universities. The 193 submitted proposals were evaluated by 7 evaluation panels: 1 each for WISE thematic areas ii and iii, 2 each for thematic areas i and iv, and 1 chaired by the Program Director for conflict-of-interest cases. Across the 7 panels, 62 international external reviewers evaluated and ranked the proposals based on excellence, novelty, applicant merits, feasibility, and sustainability impact.
The outcome, in the form of prioritized proposals, was forwarded for decision to the WISE Board which decided to approve the 46 top-ranked PhD project proposals and the 43 top-ranked postdoc project proposals, the full list can be found here. The awarded proposals are distributed broadly across the applying host universities.
Recruitment process
The PIs of the board-approved projects will start the recruitment process at each university after receiving notification from WISE. An introductory webinar will be offered for all the PIs to inform them about their new role as WISE Faculty members. During the WISE Dialogue meeting, all PIs will meet to kick-start networking and the research activites of WISE. It is expected that during the first half of 2023 all the newly recruited PhD students and Postdoctoral researchers (i.e. Postdocs) are enrolled at each university.
New calls for PhD-student and Postdoctoral (i.e. Postdocs) research projects will be announced every two years.