2x Postdoctoral Fellowships - Brain Circulation Scheme

Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) introduces a new European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Cofund program “Co-Funded Brain Circulation2 Scheme (CoCirculation2)”.

CoCirculation2 is a 5-year project aiming to invite experienced researchers to both academic and non-academic research performing organizations located in Turkey. Within this context, 100 experienced researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in incoming mobility and to implement a research project in Turkey will be able to apply for a fellowship. 4 calls for proposals will be published, fellowships for calls 1 – 3 will last 24 months, fellowships for call 4 will last 12 months.

In line with the spirit of the H2020 MSCA, the ERs will have full freedom in the choice of their research topic and of their mentor. This individual-driven and bottom-up approach guarantees that they can prepare a proposal that follows their research interests and their training needs. Applicants can choose as their main host organisation any academic or non-academic research institute in Turkey with a high international research reputation. To facilitate this process, TÜBİTAK has already received Letters of Commitment from 51 Partner Organisations that have expressed their wish and commitment to host CoCirculation2 fellows.

CoCirculation2 offers a very attractive salary and TÜBİTAK hopes to receive applications from excellent and well-placed researchers.  The researchers will enjoy attractive conditions of funding and/or salaries with adequate and equitable social security provisions.

Living allowance: An amount of €4.500 per month will be paid to recruited researchers. This refers to the basic gross amount, for the benefit of the researcher, to be paid (via the host organizations) to the fellows. The living allowance is a gross contribution to the salary costs of the researcher and is taxable in Turkey.

Mobility allowance: An amount of €550 per month will be paid to recruited researchers. The mobility allowances are flat rate amounts and taxable in Turkey.

Research, Training and Networking costs: An amount of €800 per month will be provided. It will managed by the host organization of the researcher and used to contribute to the expenses related to research activities involved in the researcher’s project such as participation in training activities, conference visits, work visits etc and expenses related to research costs. Fellows must report on the use of this budget in their 6-monthly reports.

Special Needs budget: €400 per month allocated for researchers with special needs who need financial support for their daily work. Provisions are made for maximum 5 fellows.

 

Funding Breakdown

Amount (per month)

Living allowance: €4.500

Mobility allowance: €550

Research, Training and Networking costs: €800

Special Needs budget (for eligible researchers, it is subject to  SC approval): €400

 

1. Evaluation & Selection Process

TÜBİTAK will ensure that the selection workflow is guided by the principles of Excellence, Transparency, Fairness and impartiality, Efficiency and speed, Ethics and security. The entire evaluation process, from Call deadline to funding decision will normally take 8 weeks.

 

1.1. Timeline

The selection workflow of CoCirculation2 will include four main steps:

Eligibility check,

Remote peer review evaluation and ethics check,

Selection committee meeting (including consensus) and ethics check,

The funding decision.

 

1.2. Eligibility Check

The eligibility check will be carried out by the Call Secretariat via the eBİDEB Portal, on anonymous proposals and according to the criteria. All proposals that are considered ineligible will not proceed to the next phase of the process. Applicants with ineligible proposals  and their supervisors will receive an e-mail informing them of the ineligibility of the the proposal, detailing the reasons of ineligibility within two weeks of the call deadline.

 

1.3. International Peer Review

Experts will evaluate all proposals following the evaluation criteria and sub criteria mentioned in section 1.13.

In parallel to the remote peer review evaluation, all eligible proposals will be sent to the Ethical Committee (EC). The EC will evaluate which applicants/proposals need to provide an official approval letter from the ethical committee of the host organization

 

1.4. Funding Decision

The Call Secretariat will prepare a proposal for a funding decision, according to the results of the Ranked List and the available number of fellowships (25) for each Call. The formal funding decision is taken by the President of TÜBİTAK. There will also be a reserve list of 8 proposals per call. Applicants on the reserve list may be offered a fellowship when an applicant on the main list withdraws his/her proposal.

 

1.5. Feedback

The eBİDEB portal will be used for informing the applicants of the outcomes of the evaluation and selection process. Applicants will receive feedback at various points in the selection process. Supervisors and applicants can monitor the steps of the evaluation process through the eBİDEB portal. Applicants will be provided with an Evaluation Summary Report (ESR), which comprises full feedback of the selection committee and the (anonymous) comments.