Application guidelines

The intention of the EURAD Mobility Programme is to financially support both junior and senior professionals, as well as PhD students from EURAD beneficiaries (= primary audience, but MSc students could be included at a later stage) to:

• visit infrastructures from EURAD partners and organizations which are active in radioactive waste management (but not necessarily involved in EURAD),
• undertake internships/exchange programmes between institutions within EURAD, but also between organizations which are active in radioactive waste management (but not necessarily involved in EURAD),
• follow training courses (life-long learning) in the field of RWM.
• attend conferences in the field of RWM.

These activities should serve competence development for the trainee and collaboration between EURAD beneficiaries. They can be complementary to training courses and/or part of a Continuous Personal Development (CPD) programme.

By the terms visit, internship and course we mean:

• Visit = a short stay during which the visitor observes the activities performed at a certain institute or company
• Internship = a period of time during which a student or a professional participates to the local activities in a certain institute or company in order to increase knowledge and /or skills. In case of reciprocal internships (person A from institute B visiting institute C and person D from institute C visiting institute B dealing the same scientific/technical subject) we use the terminology “exchange programme”.
• Course = a set of classes or a plan of study on a particular subject, optionally with an assessment to measure the gained competences, leading to a qualification

 

WHO SHOULD APPLY?

The EURAD Mobility Programme is intended for those who would like to improve their knowledge and skills in the field of RWM including deep geological disposal.

Especially PhD students, postdocs and junior/senior professionals/researchers are eligible to receive financial support through the EURAD Mobility Programme. Applicants should be affiliated to participants in the EURAD project.

The support is only granted:

• To applicants proposing activities related to the scope/themes of EURAD
• To applicant associated to EURAD WP partners
• For travel outside the country of residence, but within Europe (exceptions are made for EURAD partner institutes outside of Europe)
• Once per person (no person can receive financial support twice)
• If the quality of the proposal/training/benefits/motivation/impact is found significant by the Evaluation Committee
• If the activity is shorter than 2 years
• If the activity starts within 9 months after the application deadline (this guideline will not be applied to applications made during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Only complete applications will be considered. To successful applicants, the EURAD Mobility Programme will provide mobility grants intended exclusively to cover mobility costs and will be provided as lump sums directly to the selected candidates.

 

WHICH COSTS ARE COVERED?

The EURAD Mobility Programme will cover expenses related to mobility and access/registration fees. These include:

• Travel
• Daily allowance (e.g. meal costs)
• Accommodation

Potential other costs related to the mobility action will be covered by the applicant.

 

HOW TO APPLY?

The call will be announced at the EURAD website and remains open (see ‘Deadlines’) between April 2020 and April 2024 or until funds are available.

Besides filling out an application form, applicants will be asked to submit additional documents:

• Curriculum Vitae
• Motivation letter
• Letter of support of the unit head (in case of exchange also from the receiving mentor)
• Detailed budget covering all expected costs
• Description of the proposed activity (if applicable)

 

LUMP SUMS

Following maximum lump sums are available:

• Travel (flight + local transport): €750
• Hotel costs: €100/night
• Daily allowance: €50/day
• Registration fee (non-EURAD courses/conferences): €500

Please note: There will be a maximum of €3000 per stay. In case of exceptional need for a longer mobility action that exceeds the maximum lump sum, a request can be put forward to the PMO and Bureau for approval.

Lump sums will be granted after receipt of a detailed mission report by the beneficiary.

 

DEADLINES

Upcoming submission deadline: October 31st 2023

Upcoming decision deadline: November 30th 2023

 

Each applicant may only submit one application within one application deadline.

Applicants will be informed within 30 days after the decision deadline.

 

SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION

The decision about financial support will be made within 1 month after the nearest application deadline. The time of application in relation to the deadline has no influence on the evaluation outcome.

In case of internal EURAD WP mobility, the WP leader, assisted by two other WP members, will be responsible for the evaluation of the application.

In case of cross-EURAD WP mobility the applications will be evaluated by the Mobility Evaluation Committee consisting of members of the EURAD Training and Mobility Work Package as well as members of the EURAD Project Management Office. A recommendation for funding will be based on simple majority, with at least three evaluators participating in the evaluation. The members of the Evaluation Committee are:

• Piet Zuidema (Chief Scientific Officer)
• Tara Beattie (PMO)
• Paul Carbol (PMO)
• Birgit Christiansen (JRC)
• Lubomir Sklenka (CTU)
• Claudia López del Pra (CIEMAT)
• Yuliia Yesypenko/Sergii Kondratiev (SSTC NRS)
• Jitka Miksova (SURO)
• Niels Belmans (SCK CEN)

 

The following criteria for evaluation of the applicant and of the proposed mobility action and ranking will be applied:

• Scientific background: 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Motivation: 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Level of recommendation (by the mentor and by the host institute): 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Compliance of the proposal with the objectives of EURAD: 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Feasibility of the proposed work: 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Scientific quality (i.e. methodology, potential contribution to EURAD project, learning outcomes): 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)
• Training benefits to the applicant: 1 (poor) – 4 (excellent)

 

In case of internships/exchange programmes/visits the host institution can unilaterally decide to decline certain candidates, provided motivation.

The mission report (written by the beneficiary) should be conform to the provided template. The overall quality of the report will be assessed based on following criteria:

• Completeness (i.e. correct use of the template)
• Language
• Compliance with original project proposal as submitted by the applicant

Upon completion of this mission report, the beneficiary will send it to euradwp13@sckcen.be. These mission reports will be stored and will serve as valuable output to evaluate the EURAD Mobility Programme.

 

OBLIGATIONS OF THE BENEFICIARY OF THE EURAD MOBILITY GRANT

Successful applicants are obliged to submit a mission report not later than 30 days after completion of the activity. This report should be sent to euradWP13@sckcen.be. Failure to submit the mission report will require the applicant to return the entire received lump sum.

All publications resulting from the mobility activities shall acknowledge the EURAD Mobility Programme by using the following sentence:

This work has been partially supported by the EURAD project that has received funding from H2020-EURATOM 1.2 under grant agreement ID 847593.