Mobility Programme for Young and Experienced Researchers

SOLARNET is pleased to announce the 7th call for proposals of its Mobility Programme for Young and Experienced Researchers.

SOLARNET aims to bring together and integrate the major European research infrastructures in the field of high-resolution solar physics, in order to promote coordinated research and development. In this regard, SOLARNET will support the mobility of early stage researchers (ESRs) as well as experienced researchers as part of the networking activities foreseen under Work Package 3 (WP3).

The mobility programme has been designed as an additional aspect of the training programme, to reinforce the contacts between different groups, to enable researchers to have access to first-class infrastructures, to foster joint research, collaboration and developmental activities where all relevant European research institutions, as well as private companies and other non-EU organizations are involved. The aim of the programme is also to enable highly qualified scientists from Europe to travel abroad to conduct research stays in other non-EU organizations and vice versa to strengthen EU’s competence in scientific innovation and technological break-throughs and strengthen international collaboration. SOLARNET achievements is envisaged to be of paramount relevance to contribute towards the realization of the European Solar Telescope (EST).

This task will be supervised by the Mobility Evaluation Committee (MEC), which will evaluate and select the submitted applications. It is important to note that mobility is also aimed at private members of SOLARNET, as well as to third entities outside the consortium.

EC funds available for this activity (120 k€) will contribute towards the travel of approximately 30 early-stage researchers and about 15 senior researchers. ESRs will be supported with a minimum of 1 month to a maximum of 3 months research-stays, while for experienced researchers a maximum of 2-3 weeks stay will be granted.

Applications are welcome at any time during the execution of this project (01.01.2019- 31.12.2022), with two deadlines per year: May 31st and November 30th.
The selection of the granted proposals will be announced on June 15th and December 15th.
The mobility has to start, if approved, during the 6-month periods starting in September 1st and March 1st, so that the student has some time to organize the visit.

Applicants will be expected to send a motivation letter, a CV and a brief summary of the proposed work at the host institution (from the list below). They are encouraged to contact the host institution in advance to produce this summary in liaison with them.

In order to promote the advancement of equal opportunities for women and men in science and in particular to increase gender equality within the SOLARNET Mobility Programme, we strongly encourage young women astronomers to apply.

The following organizations are SOLARNET Consortium members and are encouraged to act as hosts for researchers. However, within the framework of the mobility programme highly qualified researchers will also be supported if other EU and non-EU institutions are also willing to act as hosts.

List of institutions

University of Graz  (Austria)

Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van Belgie (Belgium)

Hvar Observatory, Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb (Croatia)

Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i. (ASU) (Czech Republic)

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France)

Leibniz-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS) (Germany)

Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) (Germany)

Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) (Germany)

Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB) (Germany)

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) (Italy)

Università Degli Studi di Catania (UNICT) (Italy)

Università Roma Tor Vergata (UNITOV) (Italy)

National Institutes of Natural Sciences / National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NINS/NAOJ) (Japan)

Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) (Norway)

Skoltech – The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Russia)

Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain)

Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) (Spain)

University of Oviedo (Spain)

Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences (AISAS) (Slovakia)

Stockholms universitet (Sweden)

Haute Ecole Specialisee de Suisse Occidentale / Haute Ecole d’Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton du Vaud (HES-SO) (Switzerland)

Università della Svizzera italiana / Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (USI/IRSOL) (Switzerland)

Durham University (UDUR) (United Kingdom)

University College London, UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (United Kingdom)

University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)

University of Northumbria at Newcastle (United Kingdom)

Astrophysics Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast (United Kingdom)

Members of the Mobility Evaluation Committee

Michele Bianda, IRSOL, Switzerland
Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen, U. of Sheffield, UK
Peter Gomory, AISAS, Slovakia
Arnold Hanslmeier, U. of Graz, Austria
Sarah Matthews, UCL-MSSL, UK
Francesca Zuccarello, UNICT, Italy

Previous Calls
1st Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement__1st_Mobility_Call.pdf
2nd Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement_2nd_Mobility_Call.pdf
3rd Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement_3rd_Mobility_Call.pdf
4th Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement_4th_Mobility_Call (Virtual Mentoring).pdf

5th Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement_5th_Mobility_Call (Virtual Mentoring).pdf
6th Call for Proposals (expired) Announcement_6th_Mobility_Call.pdf

Current Call
7th Call for Proposals (open) Announcement_7th_Mobility_Call.pdf

Travel Formalities
The SOLARNET-Office will contact the recipients of the mobility programme fellowship with travel application forms. The travel shall be organized from the project office. Travel applications received at least 8 weeks before the beginning of the stay shall be considered. The project office will transfer the fellowship to the recipient before the start of the research stay.