SRINAGAR: The Vienna International Postdoctoral (VIP) Programme 2024-25 offers fully funded scholarships for international students. The deadline for the fellowship application process is June 15, 2024.
VIP is a three-year postdoctoral fellowship programme at the Vienna Bio Center (VBC), Austria that is available to candidates with backgrounds in biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, engineering, computer science, and bioinformatics. The programme operates under a two-mentor scheme whereby fellows select a main research group and academic mentor according to their specific projects and are supported by a second mentor that can be chosen from the VBC research institutes, the VBC biotech sector, alumni network, and beyond.
Each selected fellow is entitled to a yearly gross salary of 70,040 EUR, paid in 14 installments (12 months plus one Christmas and one holiday bonus, as per Austrian law). Besides that, the fellowship provides full health insurance coverage, Social security benefits, including fully paid maternity leave (16 weeks), the option of paid parental leave (up to 24 months), pension contributions, and accident insurance. Families receive additional support for each child (“Familienbeihilfe”), ranging from 110 – 170 EUR per month per child, depending on the child’s age. Tax deductions are applicable to single-income families. Mechanisms are in place to assist with the relocation costs of the fellows.
The eligibility criteria for the fellowship includes PhD in life sciences or closely related disciplines such as physics, engineering, chemistry, computer science, or mathematics. The proposed scientific project should align with the ongoing research conducted on campus, and applicants are required to specify one or more potential host groups. Fellows are highly encouraged to foster interdisciplinary and inter-lab collaboration for proposed projects. Candidates are urged to engage in communication with their preferred mentor(s) both before and during the development of their individual research proposals.
Applicants must have at least one first-author publication or a manuscript published on bioRxiv or arXiv. At the time of the call deadline (June 15), applicants must comply with transnational mobility requirements outlined by the Marie Curie Action. Specifically, they should not have resided in or conducted their primary activity (work, studies) in Austria for more than 12 months within the 3 years immediately preceding the call deadline.
The documents required for application process include Comprehensive curriculum vitae detailing educational background, scientific training, and achievements, commencing from the Bachelor’s degree and including any honors received, PDF documents containing transcripts and certificates attesting to completed training programmes, a detailed five-page project proposal aligning with the objectives of the host laboratory, a concise one-page public-oriented project explanation, delineating the anticipated societal impact and written confirmation (letter or email) from the selected group leader affirming support for the application.
For further details and process, click here www.vbc.ac.at
