In the quest for highly talented scientists and academics, every university is fishing in the same international pond. This is why Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam, together with Leiden University Medical Center and Erasmus Medical Center, have joined forces in the LEaDing Fellows programme.
This joint post-doctoral programme is partially funded by the EU through the Marie Sklodowska Curie COFUND programme. Spread across three consecutive calls for applications, the LEaDing Fellows programme offers a total of 90 post-doctoral positions, each of them a two-year appointment at one of the LDE institutions or medical centres. The final call for applicants opens on 1 September 2018.
The LEaDing Fellows programme aims to help boost the career development of those who have just completed their PhDs by offering opportunities for international, cross-sector and interdisciplinary research. Applicants put forward their own research proposals and coordinate this with the intended faculty or department, which then commits to it. The fellows also complete an internship at another LDE institution and take training courses in professional and personal development.
Midway through the programme, what do people think of it so far? Caroline Kohlmann-Van Noord, the programme coordinator at TU Delft, explains: ‘The LEaDing Fellows programme is proving to be attractive for international talent and a success for the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus alliance. This is demonstrated by the number of applications, the high calibre of the applicants and the fact that we have already been able to successfully appoint 60 post-doctoral researchers.’
Who is participating in the LEaDing Fellows programme and in which research areas are they active?
Caroline: ‘In principle, all of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus research groups are participating. The fellows selected so far mainly work in the fields of life sciences & health and physical science & engineering, with a small group in the field of humanities & social sciences. If we also include the medical centres, there has been a fairly equal spread across the three cities of Delft, Rotterdam and Leiden.’
Her colleague Veronique van der Varst adds: ‘The high calibre of candidates is thanks to the selection procedure, which includes an assessment of the applicants’ research proposals by external peer reviewers. Another key aspect we consider important is for applicants to make use of the wide range of disciplines offered by Leiden-Delft-Erasmus combined. This provides opportunities to look beyond individual disciplines and acquire new understanding that would be slower to develop from a single discipline alone. This partly involves fellows completing an internship at a second Leiden-Delft-Erasmus institution. The sharing of knowledge and collaboration with government bodies and the business community are also encouraged.’
The LEaDing Fellows COFUND-programme* is a part of the Horizon 2020-Marie Skłodowska-Curie campaigns. The LEaDing Fellows will continue until the end of 2021 and the final call for applicants for 30 positions will follow from 1 September - 31 October 2018. https://www.academictransfer.com/nl/49654/leading-fellows-postdoc-programme/
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/335810
Information and contact about the third call from 1 september - 31 October 2018
The last call for applicants for the LEaDing Fellows programme starts at 1 september 2018 and ends 31 October. Read all about it at http://leadingfellows.eu or contact Caroline Kohlmann-Van Noord or Veronique van der Varst: leadingfellows@tudelft.nl
* This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 707404.
Leading Fellow Dr Andrea Gutierrez:
The LEaDing Fellows programme offers great opportunities for personal development.'
