The prize-giving ceremony for the two awards is held at the biennial EuroScience flagship event, EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF). The Award consists of a certificate, waiving the participation fee to ESOF, a grant to cover travel and accommodation for the stay in the ESOF city and one year free EuroScience membership.

The 2020 EuroScience Open Forum will be held in Trieste, Italy from July 5 to 9.

Eligibility Criteria

The 2020 call is open to early career researchers, who fulfil the following criteria:

• For the PhD Candidate award: Applicants should have enrolled for a PhD degree at the time of the application deadline or should have successfully defended their thesis after January 1st, 2019.

• For the Postdoctoral fellow award: Applicants should have successfully defended their thesis after January 1^st, 2014 and should have enrolled in a postdoctoral programme at the time of the application deadline.

• Candidates should work in a European country (cf. Council of Europe’s membership rules).
• European and Non- European nationals are eligible to apply.
• Post Docs paid by European funds but currently on a Post Doc mission abroad as part of the funding institution’s requirements (no longer than 2 years and concluding their Post Doc in Europe) are also eligible to apply for the EYRA call 2019.

Evaluation Criteria

All applications are evaluated by a Scientific International Committee based on the following criteria:

1) Quality of the research. The evaluation will be based on widely accepted academic criteria, such as: publications in peer-reviewed journals, other publications, references, prizes, grants, patents.

2) European dimension. The research must have a clear European dimension. It could entail a collaborative project counting with the contribution of several European countries or it could encompass a research project based in one European country with a research topic of European added value.

3) Project engagement.  The candidate’s contribution to research groups or projects, e.g. inspiration to others, further development of a project, leadership experience.

4) Outreach. Involvement in dissemination activities for a general audience, e.g. public talks at a local or national level, media appearance, teaching outside academia, research-based social engagement.

Application procedure and documentation

The deadline for the 2020 call for both awards is Wednesday August 31, 2019 at 12:00 CEST.

• All applications should be submitted online via the EuroScience Conference and Membership Platform (ESCMP) under each relevant call (PhD candidate or Postdoctoral fellow).

• The application must be in English.
• The cover page form (available on ESCMP) should be downloaded, completed and included in the online application.
• Self-nomination is accepted.

Required Supporting Documents: (to be uploaded under supporting documents)

• A Research Outline describing the research and its European dimension (max 800 words).
• A Curriculum Vitae including statement of prizes/awards already received (max 800 words equivalent to 2 pages, please upload under CV).
• A list of publications or other relevant material to support the candidacy. 
• Two reference letters which should be sent directly to office@euroscience.org. It is recommended that the references come from individuals well qualified in the field. At least one of the references should be from a person who has not taken part in or is associated with the research itself.

Applicants who do not have an account will be requested to create one on the EuroScience Conference and Membership Platform (ESCMP). Once registered, click on “Apply for an Award”, select the relevant “call”(PhD candidate or Postdoctoral fellow)” and follow the application procedure. The field “Motivation Letter” may be ignored (write N/A). It is replaced by the Research Outline document, to be uploaded under “Supporting Documents”.

All applications should fulfil the eligibility criteria and respect the application procedure to be considered for evaluation.

For further information please contact the EuroScience office at office@euroscience.org.

Please note that the winners’ names and short biography will be published on the EuroScience’s website.