During the session we provided an overview of the C-NEWTRAL Network, introduced members of the Supervision team, outlined the research positions, salary and benefits, in addition to providing guidance on the eligibility criteria and application process. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions in our Q&A segment.
Hello everyone we are here for the applicants webinar first applicants webinar for our senal MSA doctoral network uh the numbers are growing here of attende so we have 12 panelists uh that is uh supervisors that are involved directly in C neutral and we have 23 attendees uh that is uh those that are
Interested to apply for um p the position um we have many more registrations so we will give it a minute or two um to see that our attendees are um have connected let us know if you have issues with um hearing what what we’re saying or even um seeing us seeing the screen
Um and we will start in uh a minute okay um so I guess we can start as we are recording this so the others can um join um later and then can see it at the end so my name is aate and I am the coordinator of senal
Project uh as I mentioned together with all um partnering institutions particularly those posting PhD candidates uh we have a number of Supervisors here and we are going to introduce ourselves in the next few slides uh first of all I would like to mention that um we have a full agenda
For today so we have one hour and Ashling if you can move to the next slide uh we will make as I mentioned introductions we will uh look into what C neutral network is about um we will speak about uh MSA doctoral networks and then we’ll look into the finance
Eligibility how to apply and what are the next steps and at the end we will invite questions from you for questions you can um choose to stay Anonymous or you can show your name it is up to you so C neutral is um an acronym for uh
The long title of uh what we um came up with as a smart comprehensive training to mainstream new approaches for climate neutral cities through citizen engagement and decision- making support for Innovative governance and integrated planning so it’s a very long name but the idea for now we we need to remember
Is that c neutal is a doctoral Network basically a number of doctoral candidates that uh are connected via training and Via institutions that cooperate so um I will move to the next slide because we have uh quite a lot of material to cover today our host institutions um are um
University college Dublin this is the coordinating institution I am also an assistant professor um at UCB then we have University of bolognia in Italy University of Jona in Spain heidleberg University in Germany and the University of Helsinki in Finland along with Quin University Belfast from the UK so um
I will now invite all our supervisors uh to introduce themselves in one or two minutes um I will start by saying that my name is a Strate and I am an assistant professor in UCD in sustainable urbanism and smart communities I am concerned with um topics such as livable streets active
Mobility um integrating nature based Solutions in cities and and um overall mainstreaming or transitioning towards climate neutral cities um I will invite uh Francesco next um he’s also the supporting coordinator of senal and the professor in UCD hi AA thank you so much my name is
Francesco I’m a a professor in smart and sustainable cities in University College Dublin so my my work is mostly around engaging local communities with technology to tackle sustainability issues um so in my team we have several projects several European project that tackle different different that look at different sustainability issues ranging
From sustainable Mobility nature based solution resilience of coastal cities and so on and so forth is that okay our I’ll pass it on to to the next one perfect thank you so much um I will invite Paula um and then Jeremy hi my name is Paula I’m an
Assistant professor here in UCD as well in planning um I’m a planner and did my PhD in and Masters in planning and I have a background in geography and sociology um my research interests are at the sort of interface between planning and governance and I’m particularly interested in how the
Public interact and engage with the planning system I’m I’m I’m also very interested I think I was in in gender issues um and issues of of inequities so those are issues that I’ll bring to the supervision role in C neutral thank you so much Jeremy please hey I’m Jeremy uh I’m a
Geographer and assistant professor in geography at UCD um a quantitative methodologist and Community engag researcher uh come from a feminist and anti-racist space and I look at how um the urban environment uh impacts folks living there particularly around Health transportation and housing perfect thanks a lot um from UCD
Team we also have Ashling with us she’s our project manager in um senal ashing would you like to say a few words um hi everyone I’m Ashlin Jackman and I’m um the C neutral project manager so I help with um Cor Network coordination activities and I’m based at University College
Dublin thank you um so we will continue with uh the team from the University of Bologna we have with us Professor um Ernesto Antonini and Professor yakobo gaspari any of you would like to yes thank you so much I’m yakop I’m a professor of architectural technology at the University of
Bolognia um I will serve also as a super for this and I work with the sustainable design and energ efficiency in sector mainly and my interest is Shifting nowadays towards climate neutral solutions for the Le environment so this is main topic of the of the program I’m
Working with now and uh also the team is including uh leam Mary she was not able to join us today but she will also serve as co-supervisor for the research and there is also nesto to whom I leave the field now thanks are you there hi can you hear me yeah yes I’m
Prof at University of bolog just we are now Focus barriers technical both technical not barriers the transition to less a more sustainable man but then one of the Reon that push has in Define the specific action position for this PhD what Uh thank you Ernesto we couldn’t in this uh not nonic barrier thank thank you uh I think there are some issues with the internet in bologa so sorry for that yopo just mentioned this earlier so connected only Via Mobile but we can continue with our team from Jona and we have Dr Luchia
Alexandra poan Professor Yim kasas um and um Professor ignasi Rodriguez Roda Alex please unmute and now with voice uh hello nice to be here and uh to to greet you all um um I work at the University of Jona as Z was saying at one of the um top water
Related research groups in Spain I’m an environmental social scientist with a background in political science and a PhD in water science and technology and my research interest are mainly related to the contested politics of water and environmental Technologies from a say theoretical angle environmental justice I’m currently working on have worked on
Issues related to anti privatization movements at the interplay between water food and and energy in the context of um environmental let’s say transitions in in urban context and I work with uh well my colleagues Kim kasas and ignasi so I leave the floor to to
Kim to make a bit of a presentation yes I uh thanks Alex uh hello everybody very glad to be here yes Kim is the short name for Jim I’m full professor at chemical engineering at the University of Jon belonging here at the same research group of Alexandra this is
The laboratory of environmental and chemical engineering and I’m also leading the modeling and decision support research line at the evaluation and Technologies area of the Catalan Institute for water research this is a research institute also located in J uh currently my research main research activity is focused on the development
Of tools and Technologies including natur B Solutions and decision support tools to Foster implementation of circular economy in the urban water cycle so I can pass the word to ignas if it’s here I don’t remember if he could make it ignas is not here from but uh he’s also a full professor
In the University of Jona and he will be involved in the supervision uh we can continue with um the team from the University of Helsinki and we have Professor ciru Yola Alexandra malstrom and Dr Yan Kao please Alex Yanina um hello everyone I’m Alexandra mstr I’m a post at the University of
Hinki I’m representing today the urban Environmental Policy group with Yanni NCO and um also on behalf of the of could make it today um I’ll say a few words about as well so she focuses on Urban environmental policy and more specifically on adaptation to climate risks uh my research focuses on climate
Risks and adaptation as well uh with particular focus on the interactions of climatic and social processes I’ll say a few words about the group um so the group predominantly conducts qualitive and mixed methods research in environmental social sciences and as a doctoral student at our University I’ll
Be also part of the denv doctoral program in interdisciplinary environmental Sciences which is a large network of res students in environmental and sustainability research and I’ll pass on to Yanina to add a few words about her own expertise hi everyone I’m Yan University researcher uh in the same group as
Alexandra at the faculty of biological and environmental Sciences here University of Helsinki uh my research focuses mainly on climate change adaptation practices and policies and their sustainability as well as uh Urban sustainability Transformations uh their practices and policies uh driving and uh and uh governing them perfect thank you so much um uh
We’ll continue with uh the University of Heidelberg and we have here with us Professor Ora Gard please yes hi thank you Ora hello every body it’s very nice to see you here H my name is G I’m a professor for Human Geography of North America at hbec
University and my focus is especially on Urban yeah on Urban Geography Urban developments recent Urban developments so I coordinated a real world lab sustainable Urban Development in the knowledge society and there I really uh enjoyed working interdisciplinary uh with other colleagues and also practitioners in reaching the goal of
Sustainable Urban Development uh however I’m also interested in comparative Urban Development this is my International approach and therefore I’m very glad to participate in this doctoral Network thank you very much thank you Ora and we also have Professor Thomas Rous from the same University of Heidelberg um and I will continue with
Uh the team from the Queens University Belfast we have Professor Gand Ellis Dr Richard Waldron and Dr Christian Silva uh please um good morning uh my name is GIS I’m professor of environmental planning in uh the school of natural and built environment at Queens University Belfast
Uh I’m also editor of the Journal of environmental policy and planning and my research interests are in planning governance and particularly the social dimension of energy transitions uh particularly social acceptance issues so I’ll on to Christian right so hi everyone my name is Christian Silva I’m an architect um
With a PhD in urban studies uh I’m a lecturer in spatial planning here at Quin University Belfast and my research profile lies in the intersections between Urban Design urban planning and I’ve been doing a bit of research on suburbanization Urban Sproul and I’m now focusing on um neighborhood planning
Neighborhood design um so yeah so Richard hi everyone uh my name is Richard Waldren I’m a lecturer in urban planning uh in the school in natural and buil environment at Queens um my research touches on a number of areas but I’m primarily a housing researcher I’m interested in uh the the
Perpetuation of of Social and spatial inequalities through through housing systems markets and policies I’m also interested in the governance of the housing and planning systems generally uh and I’m trained in quantitative uh qualitative and GIS methodologies thanks thank you everyone um for introducing yourself so this is our team uh of
Supervisors um we will be involved in different um research projects um all this information is available on the website um before we move on I see ignasi has joined us ignasi would you like to introduce yourself quickly to our attendees yeah well sorry that uh yeah I
Couldn’t connect I don’t know why it didn’t work my my link my name is ignas brother and I’m Professor chemical engineering at the University of Jona so I think that Alexandra already explained something of the university and probably Kim Comas is also here so I’m their
Colleague thank you thank you so much um so um yeah so we have this is the the key aspect we have six universities involved in the network providing uh supervision and hosting our um doctor candidates um I like to ask Ashling to share yeah so besides these six
Universities we also have a number of Partners uh that are involved in the project as so-called Associated Partners um they will provide some of them will provide network-wide training um what does this mean it means that um every year we will come together as a network with all the 12 doctoral
Candidates and these Partners from Poland Switzerland Germany Ireland Netherlands and Denmark are going to um teach you new skills um this concern um how to adopt how to yeah adopt citizen engagement tools how to use digital Technologies how to maybe um Advance some decision making support system um these we already have
Organized we are yet to Define it um you know completely or entirely but basically every year we will have workshops and Summer Schools um to which these Associated Partners providing Network worldwide training uh will be invited um besides we also have on the next slide um more Associated Partners
Involved for providing secondments these are individual secondments they are nonacademic so basically as part of each research project there will be a three months non-academic secondment this is a requirement of U this type of doctoral networks because the idea is at the end of this um this project or at the end of
Your uh training three years training you should obtain a PhD but at the same time you should also be skilled or ready to uh join uh the industry as well as um the academic environment so you have basically a wider choice of um career paths and these Associated partners are
From uh multip countries across Europe including Finland um Ireland Germany Belgium Spain Italy as well as Eastern Europe such as Hungary and Romania um and the UK um this so one nonacademic secan has been um established already for each project it’s available in the project description and then we will give you as
Uh our doctoral candidates the the choice of a second non-academic secondment each non-academic secondment would be around 3 months okay we can continue so to go uh quickly through um what C neutal is about um C neutal aims to tackle a challenge um and that particularly stands in the fact that
Achieving climate neutral cities is an EU priority but it faces many challenges because of the complex Urban activities and the vast range of stakeholders that are involved cities require enhanced capacity and ongoing support for implementation of climate neutral Solutions and assessment of how they may impact different sections of
Society and to uh tackle this challenge we need more highly skilled highly trained interdisciplinary researchers and professionals and we are a to provide um these professionals or interdisplinary researchers through C neutral basically you are going to be those um uh you know professional that are highly skilled and highly trained
And able to put forth um solutions for transition Into Climate neutal cities we can’t see the full slide and I don’t know why um there might be a problem with the sharing but here in this diagram we have uh five thematics that we are approaching in C neutral these
Include um Urban build form transport and Mobility Urban nature and biodiversity circularity and waste and energy infrastructure there are methodologies that we particularly um Target and these include participative methods and governance and planning tools but with the use of um Ai and digit digital Technologies at least for some projects and among
Um European Union’s um City Mission enablers we are tackling those concerning participative City governance and integrated urban planning so the project is very much um aiming to Target current challenges that we are experiencing in Europe but also beyond the next slide um we can see that
Indeed the aim of C neutral is to Advance um new approaches for integrated planning of climate neutral cities through citizen engagement and City governance decision making support I mentioned already the topics that we are um we will approach and you can see here in this diagram how we basically
Interconnected these um five topics and we position each project so we have 12 projects in the in the network how they would feed to you know provide a more more comprehensive understanding um and research approach for climate neutral cities especially from an integrated planning perspective which requires understanding from different uh
Disciplinary uh points of view the next slide here we have um a more detailed description of our projects again um these are all available on the website um and you can see which uh some of them feed more directly into um a certain War package so our project is also organized
In war packages so one is related to Citizen engagement and participation and the other related to City governance decision- making support um here we also would like to emphasize that uh the application deadline for the 12 PhD posts we have in Cal is the 1st of March and uh while the
Project last for four years uh the post the PHD uh research post is for 36 months the starting time um is between August 2024 and November 2024 because uh each institution so from those six six host institutions that are involved um each of us have a certain uh
Time of commencing um a PhD program however we will come together so there is not much time in between uh the start of the project and we will come together to um Network wide workshops and summer schools and all of you will will be trained um in using certain tools or
Certain research approaches uh like I mentioned in the beginning let’s move on to the next slide ashlink yeah here it’s an even bigger table with um our supervisors and um the names of those supervisors involved in each uh project and um the first uh two supervisors or the primary
And the co supervisor are from the host Institution for each project we also defined a third supervisor from another academic institution they will provide an academic secondment so that is an exchange period in which you will go let’s say for three months or so or four
Or we decide for for each of you yeah uh together with each of you uh after you start um how many months would be useful for you to go and experience and work with um another supervisor at another institution located in a different country so in um one of the six uh
Institutions that we have involved in sen I’m not going to stay too long on this uh table because again it’s available on our website so you can look for each uh project uh who are supervisors involved and what is the department or the school um that um is going to host the the
Candidate we’ll move on uh to the next slide uh yeah so here um this is supposed to um show how uh your training each of you yeah should experience this training in our C neutral Network and what type of training we have available so there will be local training at the host
Institution of course there are certain uh sometimes even credits to uh to take from the host institution the first two supervisors are from the host institution and they will provide you ongoing supervision and Direction um for your research then as I mentioned we have what is particular about coming
Together as a network as a doctoral network is this um yeah part where we have all the n work wide uh events listed so there will be some online modules in the beginning then we have uh workshops methodology and problem based uh workshops as well as uh learning new skills um and digital
Tools and then we have three summer schools so in each year of your uh doctoral research there will be a summer school associated with it and at the end we will have a conference where all of you will be invited to present your research and disseminate your findings
And um make connections so that uh this would ensure um more successful career path for you um after um obtaining your PhD along with this uh the secondments there will be nonacademic as well as academic secondments um basically academic secondments you are going to academic institution that is a university and the
Non-academic secondment you are going to go to one of those uh multiple partners non academic Partners i’ I’ve showed on the slide in different parts of Europe again for three months and you are going to work with them and basically try to find maybe um some common um interests
Um in the topic or uh maybe maybe they will give you access to some data sets or maybe access to some workshops with stakeholders and so on so this will expose you to um how is it to work in Industry so outside of the Academia as well and
There will be other training options that um can be defined for each candidate according to their needs and also their um research topic and um their path right so this concern um maybe another conference attendance or um we will also have a career Workshop towards the end of of this um Network so
There’ll be loads of training opportunities um if we move on to the next slide uh we can see that um this provides an even wider perspective of C neutral the main point that you you can you should understand right now is that c neutral is um um an European project it’s find funded
By the European Union and we have to um follow some rules that the European commission has um already put in place and within this so what is in the yellow um um yeah in the yellow rectangle it’s what happens in Seno so we have a supervisory board composed of the super
Um supervisors that some of um them have introduced themselves today we have an external Advisory Board uh and we have several uh committees including um um a subcomittee of uh doctoral candidates so you will also be able to express your voice and maybe um decide a representative select or elect a
Representative and we are going to uh communicate with each other in this network that we’ve formed let’s move on to the next slide so now to understand a bit more about what these uh um msca doctoral networks are so I mentioned just a minute ago that um it’s an a program of
Um Europe of the European Union yeah of the European commission and um its aim is to um train creative entrepreneurial and Innovative researchers who are able to face current and future so societal challenges um it also aims to help early stage researchers so that is doctoral candidates like you to develop their
Research career through excellent and Innovative training in interdisciplinary projects it aims to respond to well identified needs in various research and Innovation areas and expose the researchers to academic and non-academic sectors as well as to offer research training and transferable skills and competencies relevant for Innovation and long-term
Employability so it’s a very competitive program it aims for excellence um and it’s also well funded so we are going to get to this in the next few slides let’s um see the next actually so under this uh marce slov cury actions doctoral Network yeah so MSA stands for marce lury actions we
Have to follow the EU principles for Innovative doctoral training um and this part of this yeah so it’s um it entails competitively selected research and training programs it’s focused on scientific and technological knowledge through research on individual personalized projects yeah so each of you individual personal personalized
Projects refer to uh each of the 12 projects we have already coined or defined and which you are going to develop further the research training is complemented by the meaningful exposure of each researcher to the nonacademic sector so as I mentioned for those uh nonacademic secondment of around three months equal opportunities and
Inclusiveness and um the doctoral network has to consider the principle of physical mobility and um that’s why researchers that are going to receive funding will move from one country to another to acquire new knowledge skills and competences and develop their research career next okay and uh here we come to um the
Financial as aspects so um one advantage of uh joining uh doctoral network besides all the yeah training that is offered um is the package that the European commission um makes available so it’s a very um generous um funding and um doctoral candidates are going to receive a living allowance of around 3
,400 per month um and this you can see that star it depends on the country coefficient so we are going to get to this on the next slide so it can vary slightly between European countries because it depends on the living costs in in each country then there will be a Mobility
Allowance uh for each candidate a family allowance if applicable so if you have um a spouse or children um you can receive family allowance long-term leave allows if applicable and other special needs allows uh let’s move on to the next slide uh and we can see here um we have
Our host institutions yeah from uh six different countries and the country coefficient um correction coefficient defers uh according to again the living costs and there is um information on the gross salaries so what does this mean it means that pension and other uh taxes will be paid for you it’s different than
Um a PhD scholarships so that’s why um it has higher benefits but of course it also expects um more yeah so more results better results um from uh this work and then you can also see here the gross Mobility monthly Mobility allowance and family allows again all this information is available
Uh on the website and we are going to take questions on this uh if you have any and I see some uh that have uh come up I will take them um after we finish the slides uh let’s move on uh ashlink so basically how do need to
Apply um applications um should be Consolidated into one single PDF file and should be submitted um via the website and we have a Google form um there are several um documents that we require from you and this uh concerns a CV a current CV a cover letter a
Research outline uh details of two referees uh an official academic record um and one work sample so that means if you have any published paper it can be a conference or um extraction of your master thesis um whatever you can send us as a work sample and other um requirements are
Outlined in the individual research projects for example in UCD in land we require um English language proficiency uh an academic is uh of over 6.5 or equivalent yeah so it’s an English test uh let’s move to the next slide so all applications have to be submitted via our website we cannot
Accept um or we cannot consider applications that have not been submitted in the same way um so the best thing that you can do is first of all to read the individual research project description and check that you meet the conditions that are specified and then you submit your application containing
Again all the documents into one single PDF this will have to be uploaded using a Google form for those who have any issues in accessing a Google form maybe being in countes such as China or others um please be touch with our project manager Ashling
Um and uh she will be um yeah available at this um email address that we have uh listed here on the on the slide and it’s also listed on the website you can apply to up to three posts so we have 12 projects you can choose three of them that are closer to
Your expertise and your interest and you should sort of rank them which would be your first choice then your second choice and then your third choice when you apply uh yeah so all this um is available on the website and you can see here how uh the Google form would look
Like in the lower part of this slide let’s move on to the next and then we’ll also have time for questions so as part of this uh doal Network um fun fed by the European commission um there is certain uh eligibility criteria that we have to
Um we have to follow or we have to um you know make make sure we um we are eligible so the applicants must not have been awarded a doctorate must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of the recruiting Institution for more than 12
Months in the three years immediately prior to the date of recruitment so there are lots of questions around this um eligibility Criterion and um we also have an example on the next slide so basically um you need you may need to produce a proof of um not having lived in the
Country of the recruiting institution so if you are recruited at UCD yeah in Ireland not having lived in Ireland for more than 12 months in the last 3 years and then um other um compulsory national service short stays or holidays are not taken into account then another Criterion uh is
That candidates should have a high level of English proficiency to ensure full advantage is taken from the network training so all the workshops Summer Schools uh and activities are going to be conducted in English and it’s best that you take full advantage of this and uh other eligibility criteria were
Outlined in the individual research project descriptions let’s move on to the example um to see the mobility rule so this Ashling has put uh forth this example because she received lots of questions around the eligibility so if we have if we take an yeah as an example she’s Irish and grew
Up in Ireland but she H would have been studied at um in Finland for 26 months prior to the date of recruitment she visited her family in Ireland from time to time time to time and would be allowed to be recruited by the university college Dublin in Ireland
Because she only spent 10 months of the 36 months prior to the date of recruitment in irland yeah so it depends a lot on where um and where did you conduct your activity in the past three years basically your studies or work or um yeah whatever activities you might have
Had let’s move on to the next slide so basically there is a process that we’ve put in place um and the 1 of March is the deadline now you have to submit all your documents ments please ensure that you read again once again what you have to
Submit and um put them together into one PDF and apply via the website then we uh will screen the applications for eligibility uh this will take around two weeks uh after um eligibility screening we are going to short list the candidates so basically we expect a high
Number of application and we are going to short list a number of them for interviews uh which are going to take place um most probably online but potentially in person as well um candidates will be selected on the basis of the quality of the application expertise work experience and qualifications
And you may be required to furnish or present a more detailed research proposal um if needed so first of all um you just submit the documents that have been requested and you can find again all the information on the website and then at the end if we
See that uh we need a more detailed research proposal to understand better maybe your point of view or how would you approach the the research project um we are going to invite you to either present a more detailed outline or maybe to uh present some of this during the interview
Process yeah so um the offers are going to be sent between April and September so some offers are going to be sent earlier because for example at the University of Helsinki um they have to be already in place um and start the research on the 1 of August so they are
Going to be the first to to send to send an offer While others for example the University of b in Italy are going to start only in November so November 2024 so the offer will be sent um yeah slightly later okay next slide so now we have time for questions
And we are I’m going to look um through them here how if a work sample is faced work can we present the finished and published stage and mention mention the ongoing part how can it be presented a link and an abstract about the work thanks yeah so basically you can um if
It’s phork so it shouldn’t be too long so if if it’s a research paper you can uh submit it entirely yeah so the full PDF and if it’s a thesis we won’t be able to or you don’t have to send your full thesis um Master thesis um you can
Submit um maybe the conclusions chapter or the results chapter or some parts for example the introduction or uh together with the conclusion that you consider to be the most important and to reflect your um capacities and capability um for this kind of work uh let me see another question does
It increase your chances if your major is different from the host institution particular Department school does it increase your chance if your major is different from the host it’s not necessarily so basically um you should be qualified or you should show some um prior background um that is linked to the individual research
Project so although we we encourage interdisciplinarity uh as much as possible you should also have an idea of um okay what this discipline is about so for example um I don’t know if it’s related to let’s say water technology so we have some projects related to water
Maybe maybe you would have undertaken a master master program that is maybe related to engineering or with uh water consideration or you know you have it’s better to show a bit of Interest or prior background in the specific um research project but again we we encourage High interdisciplinarity
Is there any criteria for awarding the mobility allowance I couldn’t find any on the website many things I would like to invite Ashling for this uh if she can give some more uh information um yeah sure no so each every researcher will receive a Mobility allowance so there’s
No um criteria in terms of um will you or won’t you receive it um and but the amount that you will receive monthly might will depend on the recruiting country in terms of um deductions under their National legislation but um yeah no the EU recognized that you will need
To move country to live and work so this should it’s intended that this will contribute towards your accommodation and travel cost thank you so much um another question how do you prove that I haven’t lived in Dublin for over 12 months so um I also invite Ashling for this um yeah so
They you mention in case of an audit that um the types of proof would be uh for example uh phone bill electricity bills uh rental agreements um yeah basically anything um kind of official documents that you can um that you have that can prove that you were you were
Residing or carrying your main activity within that time frame thank you so much uh next question is it necessary to attach official certificates and transcripts can we upload our unofficial certificate for now well it’s best if you have the official ones because they will have to be verified anyway uh once you enroll
Into the program but if you haven’t obtained that yet then an unofficial one uh you can upload in the first um stage and then we are going to uh request that you will submit the official one once you obtain it okay um a lots of questions can we send a paper in which
We were a second author yes absolutely it’s um it’s very good it’s very good that you’ve already been involved into any research paper by now so without uh having a PhD yet so um please do so is having a publication a hard requirement uh well you know as part of
Um yeah the the program so being a researcher um in the academic environment is required that you publish your research and also as part of this project we have um announced that or we have sort of um made an agreement or added in our grant agreement with the European commission
That around 20 Journal articles that is academic articles are going to be uh published as part of the senal uh doal Network so uh publishing basically each candidate should publish um around two papers uh it’s it’s a requirement of the program so um yeah it will be needed it will be needed
Uh let me see a few others you said you can apply for up to three projects but we will have to rank them can we shed some can you shed some light on that I am assuming we will have to apply for three projects separately but where do
We mention about the preference so in the Google form Ashling would you like to um take this please so in each um so when you apply via the website you when you um complete the Google form there will be an option to um select your uh first priority project
Your second priority project and your third um uh preference so yeah this will be done through um selecting through the Google form thank you so much then another question please regarding English proficiency requirements is there a count towards an equivalent what one second it just disappeared please regarding English proficiency
Requirement is there a waiver for those who obtain their bachelor’s and master’s degree from an english- speaking country yes it is the non-academic orientation is clear both from the timeline and the EU requirements does this mean that candidates with later career aspiration outside of Academia are welcome to apply
And the good fit for the program yes absolutely so those um that already have some um prior expertise in industry or other career path are highly welcome to apply as well um hi thank you for the presentation for The Residency requirement of not living in the respective country for over 12 months
When it says recruitment date is it the deadline of the application in March or the date you will commence your program ashleen please so it is the DAT that you are your appointment starts so that you are um recruited um and also just to mention for anyone who has any um questions on
Eligibility and this Mobility rule um if they want to email into coordinator at C neutral. we can look at any um specific your specific circumstances so um yeah thanks another question what if I have not lived in a country but I don’t have any sort of bills with me but my P
Passport is clean has never been used is it enough to be eligible for that criteria ashing ashlink would you like to um sorry what was the the first part of that um what if I have not lived in a country but I don’t have any sort of
Bills with me but my passport is clean has never been used is it enough to be eligible for that criteria it should be I guess it should be yeah yeah um but again yeah if you have any any anything that will help um to prove that
You were where you were residing or not residing um that would be helpful okay what classifies as family for the family allowances Ashlin please um so in the work program they’ve indicated it’s uh if you have a spouse or a um a depend and children are um under national
Law what would be considered um a space um but just to mention what’s different in this is if you have family obligations at the moment you’ll be you’ll get this allowance but if you obtain um if you acquire family obligations over the course of this project you will be
Entitled to the family Alliance as well so that’s um I know that wasn’t provided um in Pre in a previous um program work program thank you so much Ashling so this is um great Advantage then I have the ISS exam on March 12th can I apply for
Positions okay yes you can apply and then if you are going to be shortlisted uh you might be requested to present your exam um result as well what is your preferred CV style is europass mandatory or other styles design are also welcomed um other styles are also welcom
Just make sure it’s clear sucin and uh well presented some of the projects have a residency requirement for the subject area city as well as the recruiting institution example UCD studying Glasgow is this for all project or just were specified um I would say so please
Correct me if I’m wrong use uh Queen’s team um so this is um it’s not necessarily uh residency requirement so if this candidate is going to be hosted at UCD there is a secondment that or or at Queens there is Aon that is offered in the city of uh Glasgow so that means
You’ll have to go there for three months for a non-academic secondment maybe work with them concerning a particular data set or maybe a specific program that they have you should basically find commonalities or common research interest between um their current project and your research project your supervisor is also going to be helping
You with this so it’s not going to be only you and you have to deal with the municipality but together with the supervisory team and the non-academic secondment um Mentor uh and with you um you’ll have to um we will have to decide what would be the best approach of
Interest for for all parties there a period of two to six months as a student or internship count towards an equivalent certification for the language requirement uh usually not so UCD has this rules so you need to provide usually a certificate at least in the department of planning where I am
Located and where all the three doctoral candidates are going to be uh enrolled for this program that are hosted in UCD so usually you need some kind of certification or having uh conducted your master’s degree in an English speaking Institution but this you’ll have you you still have
Time to um undertake an English test uh if needed so first of all make sure you submit the documents that are mandatory at the application stage and then we can uh if shortlisted so again only shortlisted candidates are going to be um contacted if short listed you are
Going to be uh requested to um make proof of um English uh language abilities that is particular for the UCD um for the UCD post uh the others um supervisors please let me know if your institution has a similar uh request regarding the English skills so the other institutions might be more
Flexible okay um for the research work sample is there a recommended length there isn’t but um you know in academic research we also appreciate suent writing and to the point so we should we don’t need to see the full thesis but like a shorter paper if it’s a conference paper whatever you
Have like a writing sample or even a part of it again as I mentioned results or conclusions or discussion or whatever you have you can submit just it shouldn’t be like the full thesis I would say you mentioned that a more detailed research proposal may be needed is this
Is going to be needed during the first submission not during the first submission at the later short listed stage yeah and before the interviews can you please shed some light on future projects how should we see our future after four years of this program also please can you clarify the
Funding is it for three years or four years if three can you please elaborate funding plans for the fourth year so this is a very good question the funding is clearly only for three years so that is 36 months under this program now for some institutions such as the University of Helsinki they
Require four year for their uh PhD program and um the institution the institution has a agreed that the fourth year will be covered Alex and Yanina if you um agree or disagree please um let me know or you can just add to it so for some institutions where a
Fourth year is required the costs are covered um in UCD we have a structured uh PhD program of four years but again there is a bit of of yeah complication because uh the finding is only for 3 years so we will follow the non-structured PHD um path and that
Is the whole network yeah so most of at least 10 of the PhD students have to finish within three years and obtain a PhD so we will push for this um but if if you need to slightly extended at UCD we can um offer you um
Um a wave a fee wave yeah so not paying for the fourth year because we usually have a 4-year PhD but because this project offers only a three years spunding uh we have agreed this with our head of school however you will be encouraged
All of you to finish your PhD at the end of the three years because um yeah this would be the best for everyone and future prospects maybe I would like to invite garant if he can say a few words um he was um the coordinator of a
Previous doctoral Network as well as Kim if he still here um and maybe they can say a few things about their students and what career paths they embraced afterwards yeah I’ll start so uh I’ve recently finished only last year a doctoral program uh in that case we had
15 students I think 13 of those now have their phds to um had to take some time out so we’re still working on that and almost all of the other students uh that have qualified have got jobs the majority of them have gone on to post-doctoral positions with other
Universities some in the universities they hosted some in other universities within the network and some in completely different universities there’s a few other students that then went on to get jobs in policy organizations and other things some of which were employed by the organizations they had Su condence with and I really
Need to stress that these are very high-profile positions and seen as very blue chip um candidates on this so the amount of Engagement that the the Consortium and the network has with a much wider network of uh academic institutions and organizations M will make you a very very attractive asset to
Be employed that’s my experience anyway thank you so much garant um this is very useful and uh Kim Comas if You’ like to add anything well uh not to extent too much but similar comments together I mean the same experience here I was coordinating doctoral Network finished in 2015 so
Long time ago but 12 um early stage researchers they were doing the PHD most of them they finished a few of them on time others uh they needed an extra some extra months to finish the PHD and after that they all found a very good uh position working position some of them
As well as postdoctoral researchers but also some of them in the industry I mean that was a doctoral Network devoted to the urban water cycle design and operation uh infrastructure so basically was water a lot on on water treatment and Waste Water treatment so they were also as Associated Partners uh and
Private companies and water utilities Etc so some of the people they did the secondment there and since these people well within one of these projects people is very well trained so they some of them they state are researchers in in the Academia or research centers others they they were hired for companies water
Utilities sometimes big companies that may have an R&D department so they want to train people to do some research um so yes all of them they they they easily found very good job positions thank you so much Kim So indeed these are high-profile positions with uh an innovat Innovative training um that is
Offered to you so that um it increases your prospects in terms of career and also you become more attractive to employers um and also we will plan at least some of you that will be willing to um apply for post opal positions towards the end
Of the uh of the program well there are three years of PhD there will be very intense uh research uh years um but yeah we still have some flexibility at least six months after those three years of training and we can look into um yeah applying um for postal
Repositions or with some of you basically um encouraging you to apply and giving you Direction um for this is there a chance for the funds to be adapted according to the INF inflation in the next years I will invite ashlink to um yeah I don’t think I think um the
So the fundings agreed at the um commence ment of the project so as far as I know it it won’t um change but um um yeah yeah it’s already very generous for um doctoral program uh it’s much more than the usual PhD scholarships so it’s a very very generous funding for for PhD
Research if you are graduate student completing studies in this year December are you eligible for applying well um you so most programs will start before December so that is November um I would say there there will be some constraints into this yeah so um you should ideally uh complete your studies before um
Enrolling into the PHD a new PhD program and a last question do you promote as a network multidisciplinary or specialized postgraduate research profiles among the candidates is there any widely accepted msca guideline on that or it depends on the host partner yeah that’s a very good question
So um so while the MSA guidelines are for yeah multidisiplinary interdisciplinary research or training you will of course have a specialization so for example um some of you will be um enrolled into the urban planning department so you will have something to do with urban planning or some relationship or
Um you will have even through the research project the research project cannot be very wide the topic has to be quite narrow so that you go deep into it so you’ll definitely be specialized in a very um you know quite narrow but very Advanced let’s say uh way of looking or
Approaching a specific topic anyone else would like to add something on this maybe garant I will ask him again what was his um experience I’m sorry I was typing answers to other questions so repeat the question uh it’s the last one do you promote as a network multidisciplinary or specialized
Postgraduate research Prof files among the candidates is there any widely accepted MSA guideline on that or it depends on the host partner so basically what was your experience with those um candidates in your network did they obtain a highly Specialized or were they did they obtain a more multidisciplinary um sort of training
And profile and for their career forward okay this is It’s there’s no clear answer but I think the nature of these doctoral networks are they’re very interdisciplinary and that’s their key strength so you’ll be studying with students in the network from very different disciplines the the supervisors are from very different so
You’ll be exposed to a lot of new ideas on interdisciplinary but you will be registered for a PhD in a specific department so in the case of my University you’ll be registered for a PhD in uh environmental planning so your PhD will be in that topic but it will be
Studied in a very inter disciplinary context so really um how the nature of your actually PhD uh doctorate that you submit the thesis will really be discussed with you and your supervisor so if you would rather it be very very interdisciplinary you that can be negotiated with your
Supervisor if you think you would rather do a very specialized one that would be possible as well thank you so much indeed all candidates that are going to be selected and that are going to commence working into this doctoral network will have uh will develop a personal career and
Training plan uh together with their uh supervisor so it’ll be very much tailored to your own um profile and your own you know skills and um should be able to support you in advancing your career this was the last question so um I would like to thank all of you for
Joining us uh especially the supervisors um who are all um you know um professors at well established universities and programs so you’ll be in very good hands uh once you join the network and you join the doctoral program for more information about this um Network you can visit our
Website and um eligibility and how to apply you can contact the admin email however all um we believe that all our all the major queries or all the basic information is available there so only if it’s something very specialized um you can further uh contact the admin uh
And we have ulria who like to add a few words all right actually I also have a quick question if I may uh uh regarding all these requirements to apply I was just wondering what about candidates who are have handed in for example their Master their Master thesis but have not
Read received the final grades yet can they apply if they certify or the the university can certify that they have handed in their thesis yes so of course they have to be done when the when the PHD position starts but in their point of application because it’s still half a
Year before the whole project starts yes indeed they can they can apply so as long they should make sure that um they finish their program before August in the case of hink before September in the case of other universities um that are hosting them thanks okay thanks
Thanks okay everyone so that’s it thanks a lot for joining one more question separate countries for The Residency requirement two separate countries for so what do you mean can you please um spell out your uh question um okay so if not we will um please send your question um to um Northern Ireland
What I I don’t know what what you mean exactly no so I so I was just replying to that so I think there’s some confusion over whether the island of Ireland is one country or two so for those those candidates applying to Belfast that’s regarded as the UK and
Dublin is regarded as a Republic of Ireland so two different countries with all the attached political problems that go with that okay thanks a lot so ni I refer to Northern Ireland I thought oh and the Republic of Ireland thanks a lot uh garant yeah so good explanation when are the supervisors
Expected to be contacted for reference letters um so you need to provide the contacts of two referees they can be your master’s degree supervisors or professors um they will be contacted um after short listing is done basically but you will be informed um or um yeah before uh your referees are
Contacted for reference letters uh is Visa requests in in Visa request um I can’t understand exactly what you mean but basically um all all nationalities are eligible to apply and um the host institutions are going to support you with documentation to obtain your Visa before moving to the
Respective country ah okay I see the full question Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland can you please tell when are the referees expected to be yeah okay so that’s it thank you all for the last few questions and um we hope it is quite clear and that you are um you
Know inspired to apply and join us we look forward to good candidates and to a good cooperation with all of you okay so thank you everyone bye-bye thank you bye bye bye
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Thank you.