PE&RC Graduate School call

PE&RC Graduate Programme 2020 call
(submission deadline: Wednesday 9 September 2020 14.00 CE(S)T)

The PE&RC Graduate Programme call involves the funding of (a maximum of) three PhD positions and aims to stimulate talented MSc students of Wageningen University (WU) to do a PhD research that is embedded in one of the WU-PE&RC chair groups under the supervision of a PE&RC staff member. The grant covers the 4-year salary costs of the candidate plus related overhead (~34% of the salary costs). Direct research costs are to be covered by PhD candidate’s chair group. Applications are written and submitted by candidates who have obtained or will obtain their WU MSc between 1 January 2019 and 9 September 2020. Also candidates without an MSc degree who have completed their MSc work at latest 9 September 2020 are eligible. All applications need to be accompanied by a motivated letter of support from the main supervisor(s) of the project.
Due to the present Corona situation:
Candidates who (1) have completed their MSc courses and thesis work at September 9 but who have not completed their internship and (2) who will complete their MSc study at latest December 1 and are able to start their PhD position at that time are also invited to apply.

Selection of the candidates:
A PE&RC selection committee, composed of PE&RC executive and academic staff members, will assess the submissions based on:
1. Quality of the candidate as shown by the Curriculum Vitae (50%);
2. Motivation of the candidates as shown by the motivation letter (20%);
3. Scientific and/or societal impact of the proposed research (20%);
4. Relevance of the proposed research to PE&RC given its mission: “Understanding the functioning of natural and managed ecosystems to improve the quality of life” (10%).

Regarding the quality of the candidate a rule of thumb of a grade of 8 or higher for an MSc thesis is needed to qualify for the grant (in case a grade is not available yet an argued statement with respect to the expected grade for the MSc thesis should be provided by the supervisor).

From the applications a maximum of six candidates will be invited to present themselves and their research in an interactive session with the selection committee. This will be towards the end of September / beginning of October 2020. On the basis of the presentation and the interview, the selection committee will then conclude its judgement and will announce the grant winners no later than mid-October 2020. The granted PhD projects must start before 1 December 2020.

The application form can be downloaded here and send to office.pe@wur.nl.