End-of-PhD funding 2023
Call for applicants closed Interview and/or deliberation closed Results announced
The call is closed.

Presentation of the call

NeuroSchool and its PhD program are launching a call for applications for 6-month end-of-PhD funding, open to students enrolled in the NeuroSchool PhD program during the 2022-2023 academic year. Up to 30 months of funding will be distributed in total among 5 laureates.

The objective of this funding is to allow a student at the end of his/her PhD to finalize his/her research project and the associated publications in order to ensure a necessary background for the pursuit of his/her scientific career. These extra 6 months are not dedicated to starting new experiments (except in the case of a paper revision), to answering a new question nor to writing a PhD thesis : they aim to help PhD students finishing ongoing experiments or revising a publication.

Among the criteria for evaluating candidates (detailed below), the PhD program wishes to take into account their attendance and involvement in the PhD program. Indeed, the success and quality of the program depend on the active participation of students in the organization and follow-up of these events. It is therefore important that we recognize their investment and support them in this process of personal and collective training.

Eligibility criteria

  • Applicant profile: PhD student at AMU enrolled in their 3rd or 4th year at the time of application. Note that PhD students can apply twice during the course of their PhD, in case the  first attempt fails. However, PhD  students who obtain the 6 months End-of-PhD funding will have to defend their PhD before the end of their 4th year : the 6 additional months should in all cases not lead to registration in a 5th year of PhD.
  • NEW: To be allowed to apply, PhD students must have validated at least 20 hours of PhD training through the courses and events of the NeuroSchool PhD program. (Added on Jan. 16, 2023 : in the specific case of co-directions and co-tutelles with research done partly outside Marseille, the threshold of training hours to be reached in order to apply is calculated in proportion to the time spent in Marseille since the start of the thesis, so please provide the number of months in each location as well as a list of doctoral courses you have taken abroad. E.g. : if you’ve spent 12 months in Marseille out of a total of 30 months of PhD at the time the call closes, then you must have validated 20 x 12/30 = 8 hours at NeuroSchool to be eligible.)
  • Host laboratory: associated with AMU
  • Mandatory registration to an AMU Doctoral School for the 2023/2024 academic year if the defense takes place after 31/12/2023
  • Enrollment in the NeuroSchool PhD Program before 2023

Documents to be provided

Documents to be provided in the form of a single PDF file named “yourname_EndPhD.pdf”:

  1. CV of the applicant (2 pages maximum) detailing his/her academic and professional background : education, research experience and internships, teaching experience including monitorat, skills, conferences, mobilities, prizes and awards, scholarships and funding…
  2. A document entitled “Report, justification and timetable” that will summarize in ENGLISH the results of previous PhD years, justify the request for additional months, show the feasibility and detail the calendar for the end of the PhD. This document should clearly show how the additional months of PhD funding will allow the candidate to make significant progress in his/her PhD. Please make an effort to present the research project in a manner that is accessible to a scientific audience who may not be experts in the field.
    Recommendations for the “Report, justification and timetable ” document to be provided:
    – PhD project title and name(s) of PhD supervisor(s), type of PhD scholarship, and start and end dates of that funding
    – Did you apply or are you planning to apply for an end-of-PhD scholarship at another organization? If so, which one and when are the results expected? If not, explain why not. Did you ask for and/or obtain a funding extension in the context of the Covid pandemic?
    – PhD project description and progress report (2000 charac.*) Include the recommendations made by the PhD monitoring committee and how they were taken into account.
    – Publications (1000 charac.*): detail the number of the PhD publications (or patents) and their status (how advanced they are : data missing, submitted, under review?).
    – Justification of the 6 additional months: How will 6 additional months significantly change the PhD outcome?  (2000 charac.*)
    – Feasibility, including work program for the 6 months. Specify timetable and expected results. (2000 charac.*)
    – Longer-term professional project  (500 charac.*)
  3. The report(s) from the PhD Advisory Board (“rapport(s) du comité de suivi de thèse”)
  4. The checked checklist

Parts 1 & 3 can be in French or English, Part 2 must be written in English.

*Charac.: maximum number of characters, spaces included

Recommendation letters

Please have the following persons send their detailed opinion (=recommendation letter) of the candidate (1000 charac.) directly by email to neuroschool-phd-program-direction@univ-amu.fr :

  • PhD supervisor(s)*
  • External member of the PhD Advisory Board*

* In addition to recommendations, please include a justification of the need for 6 additional months and indicate one of the following opinions: Unfavourable / Favourable / Very favourable.

Submission procedures

  • Your application (a unique PDF document named “YourFamilyName_endphd.pdf” must be submitted via the form below.
  • NEW : The application file must include the checklist (downloadable here) with each item ticked.
  • PhD supervisors and external members of the PhD monitoring committee are requested to send their recommendation letters by email before the application deadline.
  • Deadline for application: Sunday, March 26th, 2023, at midnight.
  • The jury will deliberate in late May, 2023.
  • Due to HR delays, the end-of-PhD contract is expected to start in October, 2023, or later.

Rating criteria (total /20)

The ponderation has slightly changed compared to previous calls.

  • CV,  including all the information indicated in the checklist (2/20)
  • Presentation of the PhD research and of its progress, and justification of the additional 6 months (5/20)
  • Feasibility and detailed planning of the additional 6 months (5/20)
  • Report of the PhD monitoring committee + letter from the committee’s external reviewer (rapporteur) + consideration by the PhD student of any recommendations made by the committee (3/20)
  • Involvement in the PhD program since the beginning of the PhD (5/20).

The evaluations by the PhD supervisor(s) are important and help to shed light on the elements of the file provided by the candidates.

Funding

  • Employer: AMU (A*MIDEX funding)
  • Duration of the funding: 6 months, non-renewable. The contract will not continue beyond the PhD defense date.
  • Type of contract: full-time fixed-term contract (“contrat à durée déterminée”, CDD
  • Monthly gross salary: 1,771€ (net salary around 1,424 €, subject to revaluation and contribution rate changes.)
  • Start of the contract: from the end date of the current PhD contract.
  • After the PhD program selection, the laureates must provide an attestation from the Doctoral School stating that it validates his/her registration in the 4th PhD year before the funding can be granted.

Jury and results

Jury

In addition to Anna Montagnini and Wafaa Zaaraoui, heads of the NeuroSchool PhD Program, and to its president Pascale CHAVIS (INMED), the jury will consist of representatives from each neuroscience laboratory:

  • Ede Rancz (INMED)
  • Emmanuel Nivet (INP)
  • José Boucraut (INS)
  • Rochelle Ackerley (LNC)
  • Marie Montant (LPC)
  • Jan-Patrick Stellmann (CRMBM)
  • Oussama El-Far (UNIS)
  • Florence Molinari (MMG)
  • Patrick Decherchi (ISM)
  • Françoise Helmbacher (IBDM)

Laureates

We are happy to annouce that the laureates are :

  1. SCHLIENGER Raphaelle (LNC)
  2. DARY Zoé (LNC)
  3. AMROUNE Kenza (INMED)
  4. AL HADDAD Gaëlle (LNC)
  5. DOLLOMAJA Borana (INS)
  6. JANA Shrabasti (INT)
  7. MOHAMED Isaih (INS)
  8. CORBIERES Léa (INMED)
  9. ROGER Coleen (CRMBM)

On the waiting list are:

  1. FREBOURG Guillaume (CRMBM)
  2. PAVAILLER Nathalie (LNC)
  3. CHATEAUX Manon (ISM)
  4. SURBHI (IBDM)
  5. GRIMALDI Antoine (INT)