New travel fund call for PhD candidates

Deadline extended: January 9th 2022, 23:59 hrs (instead of December 12th 2021, 23:59 hrs)

Are you a PhD candidate at UU or outside NL who is currently working on complexity research? Would you like to visit a foreign research institute or the Centre for Complex Systems Studies (CCSS) in NL to further develop your research skills? The Swaantje Mondt Fund will provide you a great opportunity to exchange knowledge and develop new research skills on complexity. This is the fourth time that the travel fund is open for applications. Over the past year, the grant helped 16 PhD candidates to work or study at an institute abroad and at the CCSS.

Swaantje Mondt Fund

The CCSS has received a generous gift from Martine and Jaap Mondt. Through the Swaantje Mondt Fund they offer PhD candidates of Utrecht University the opportunity to conduct part of their research abroad to further develop their research skills. Foreign PhD candidates working on complexity research are also welcome to come to Utrecht. Both benefactors of the Swaantje Mondt Fund have gained valuable international experience during their career, and wish to offer young talented researchers the same experience. The fund was founded in memory to their beloved daughter Swaantje. The CCSS will receive €10.000 per year for a period of five years.

Aim call 2022

To offer PhD candidates of Utrecht University the opportunity to conduct part of their research abroad and foreign PhD candidates to conduct part of their research at the Centre for Complex Systems Studies at Utrecht University.

Available budget for the call 2022

€ 20.000 total budget.

Conditions

  • The research of the applicant should focus on complexity research from an interdisciplinary perspective.
  • Research should be related to the field of complex systems.
  • The UU applicant is a PhD candidate either (co-)supervised by at least one of the Associate Members of the CCSS or one of the Junior Members of the CCSS.
  • To ensure an optimal research collaboration during the visit of the CCSS, all foreign applicants are obliged to contact at least one of the Associate Members to explore the possibilities for a joint project. The travel fund will only be granted to the foreign PhD candidate who is invited by one of these members.
  • The final application must be pre-approved and signed by the (co-)supervisor or inviter.
  • The academic activities of the foreign PhD candidates should mainly take place at the CCSS, and the CCSS will provide them office facilities and meeting place.
  • Other hosting agreements with foreign institute or institute at UU should be arranged by the applicant.
  • For the current call, research will preferably take place in 2022 and the length of the visit should be at least one month.
  • A maximum of € 2500 is available per application. Declarable costs are for travel, housing and if applicable the followed course. Costs such as consumable research resources are not declarable.
  • Each applicant can submit only one application for this call.
  • The application must be submitted in the enclosed format with all the required information.

Assessment criteria

  • Track record of the PhD candidates.
  • The quality of the application. The application gives a brief impression of the nature of the travel, the PhD candidate, the study/research area, the scientific contribution to complexity research, the length of the stay, and the requested budget.
  • Added value to the CCSS and community at Utrecht University.

Jury Members

Procedure and timeline

  • Submit by email to the CCSS coordinator dr. ir. Qingyi Feng (q.feng@uu.nl).
  • Deadline is January 9, 2022, 23:59 hrs.
  • The applications will be checked on eligibility. Non-eligible applicants will be informed before January 14th 2022.
  • Members of jury will discuss all eligible applications. Members of the jury will not contribute to the decision process on applications of their own group.
  • All applicants will be notified at the latest by the end of February 2022.

Other obligation

  • The successful applicant will be asked to write a short article about his/her experiences afterwards for both the benefactors and the media, for example, the website or newsletter of the CCSS.

Questions

If you have questions about the call, please contact dr. ir. Qingyi Feng (q.feng@uu.nl).

More information
Application Format