FAQ

GOT ENERGY TALENT will offer a total of 34 fellowships through 2 open calls for applicants, i.e. there will be 17 fellowships available per call. Please take into account that the two academic host institutions, the UAH and the URJC, will hire 17 fellows each. Therefore, in each call a total of 8/9 fellows will be hired and received by each academic host institution.

The monthly allowance amounts to €4,490.00. This means that the allowance will amount to €53,880.00 per year.

In case of fellows with family duties, the monthly allowance will be €4,890.00. Within H2020, family is defined as persons linked to the researcher by 1) marriage or 2) a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognized by the legislation of the country where this relationship was formalized or 3) dependent children who are actually being maintained by the researcher. There is no obligation for the family to travel with the recruited researcher. Kindly note that family status of a researcher will be determined at the deadline of the call and will not be revised thereafter.

IMPORTANT: Please take into account that €4,490.00 is the TOTAL COST OF THE CONTRACT, IT IS NOT THE SPANISH BRUTO (SPANISH ‘GROSS’) SALARY. As indicated in the Guide for Applicants and the website, figures correspond to the total amount before both employer’s contributions (economic rights and social costs, cuota patronal, días por indenmización) and employee contributions (fiscal obligations and social security and other taxes). Employer’s contributions correspond to approximately 33% of the total amount. The figure obtained after deducting employer’s contributions is the gross. From the gross it is still necessary to deduct the employees contribution (social security contribution and income tax). Employee contributions will depend on age, family situation, applicable deductions etc.

Clarification: in some documents the expression «12 months» has been added to the description of monthly allowance. By «12 months», we mean that  no 13th month’s salary, Christmas bonuses will be paid. The allowance is €4,490.00 monthly (or €4,890.00) for 12 months per year during 2 years.

Each application will be independently and individually assessed by 3 international experts. Under GOT ENERGY TALENT, the evaluation and the selection of evaluators will be provided by the Department for Coordination and Evaluation (Subdivisión de Coordinación y Evaluación, SCE; formerly known as ANEP) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity[1]. The Department for Coordination and Evaluation offers professional scientific evaluation services to both Spanish and international public and private organisations, guaranteeing a fully transparent, high-quality and independent service.

At any rate, evaluators will assess the proposals according to the principles, score system, guidelines and forms provided by GET and described in the Guide for Evaluators, which will be available on this website.

[1] http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.26172fcf4eb029fa6ec7da6901432ea0/?vgnextoid=b93f7014b8daa510VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD

No, you cannot. Only one application per applicant is permitted. 

No, they cannot. The recommendations letters cannot come from the reserach group (mentor, researchers members of the group etc.) where you wish to develop your reserach project, since this would be considered a conflict of interest.

No, there is not. The letters of recommendation do not have to follow any particular template.

Applicants will be contacted within a month after closure of the call to inform them about the results of the basic eligibility check. Within four months after the call deadline, you will be informed about the results of the scientific evaluation. This means that the communication of the final results after the evaluation process will take place in February 2019.

Fellowships are supposed to start in May 2019 at the latest. Please take into account that this is an approximate date that could vary in case longer administrative procedures are needed (e.g. visa applications).

No, you cannot. According to MSCA rules and as indicatd in the ‘Guide for Applicants’, fellows will be employed full-time and you must work EXCLUSIVELY on your research project. Fellows cannot combine several activities. This also means that a fellow cannot benefit from two MCA/MSCA grants at the same time. Complementary skills training (e.g. a teaching activity as part of the research activity) are not incompatible, but must not jeopardise the implementation of the research activities.

Fellows will be recruited under a two-year full-time employment contract.

Each individual fellowship will be a fixed-term non-renewable 24-month contract with either the UAH or the URJC (academic host institutions). Fellows can decide whether to carry out a 24-month advanced research project at the academic host institution or, under certain research lines, to carry out a 12-month advanced research combined with a 12-month period devoted to applied research in one of the partner non-academic host institutions. In the latter case, during this second year, the fellow will still be employed and mentored by the host academic institution. Please note that the possibility of doing a second year of applied research is NOT possible for all research lines.

Please bear in mind that, when applying, you should choose if you want to carry out a 24-month advanced research project at the academic host institution or to carry out a 12-month advanced research combined with a 12-month period devoted to applied research. Applicants are asked to build their proposal taking this into account.

No, they will not. Proposals will only be evaluated based on their quality and excellence, no matter if they comprise two academic years or one academic year plus one year of applied research.

Researchers must be dedicated full time to the research activities. Therefore, they cannot combine several activities. This also means that a researcher cannot benefit from two MCA/MSCA grants at the same time. However, complementary skills training (e.g. a teaching activity as part of the research activity) are not incompatible, but must not jeopardise the implementation of the research activities.

While we expect that you will be excited by the opportunities for career development available within Madrid region, there is no obligation to stay in Madrid after the fellowship. Even if you end up pursuing a research career elsewhere, we hope that you will have formed long-lasting relationships and possible collaborations with UAH and URJC, and the research groups within hosting institutions.

We don’t strictly require the Ph.D. to be in hand when you submit the application. However, applicants must be experienced researchers as defined by MSCA rules, i.e. applicants must be in possession of a doctoral degree OR have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience by the date of the call deadline. Full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree which would formally entitled him/her to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is or was ever envisaged.

Short-term collaborations (e.g. for the use of equipment) with other entities not included among our partnering organisations might be possible. However, in order to guarantee that the proposal is viable, these collaborations will be subject to formalizing the relevant collaboration agreement between the institutions before the publication of the final ranking lists. If the institutions do not reach an agreement before this date and, therefore, the proposal is not feasible, the proposal will be considered ineligible.

Please contact us via email at tecnico.cofund@uah.es. We will answer you as soon as possible.