Ikerbasque Research Professors

Ikerbasque offers 10 permanent contract positions for senior researchers willing to develop a long-term scientific career in the Basque Country. These positions are financed by the Basque Government, the European Commission and the host institution where the researcher will develop her/his research: therefore the acceptance letter of the host institution is mandatory.

The evaluation committee will only consider the strongest candidates with excellent leadership capabilities and an outstanding research record.

Research Professors are expected to perform independent research. They should be capable of attracting competitive funding and establishing their own research groups.

Applications from women are especially welcomed.

Candidates can only apply to one of the annual Ikerbasque calls, Research Professors or Research Fellows.

Contract

Selected Ikerbasque Research Professors are offered a permanent employment contract with full social security under the Spanish Labour law.

Candidates

• The applicants must have their PhD completed before January 2011.
• This call is open to both: young group leaders and senior experienced group leaders 
• Only researchers with a solid research track, senior level and international research experience will be considered.
• Demonstrated intellectual independence and scientific madurity are also required. 
• Researchers with a permanent position in the Basque Country are not eligible under this call.
• At least two reference letters are mandatory. Candidates are responsible for contacting their referees so the letters are uploaded by deadline. Any time a new referee is added to the application, a URL will be automatically generated. The candidate must send it to the referee, so she /he can upload her/his reference letter.
• Acceptance letter by potential host institution is mandatory.
• This call is co-financed by the European Commission; at least 75% of the positions will be awarded to candidates who meet the MSCA international mobility criteria, meaning the applicant has not lived, worked or studied in Spain for more than 12 months out of the three years immediately prior to the deadline of this call.

Host institution

• An acceptance letter from the Vice-Rector for Research or Scientific Director of the host institution is mandatory. 
• These positions are financed by the Basque Government, the European Commission and the Host institution where the researcher will develop her/his research.
• The Host Institution covers 40% of the budget.

Evaluation Procedure

The external evaluation committee is composed of members of the international scientific community.

The list of evaluators was sent to the European Commission at the start of this programme.

The evaluation of the applications is based on:

• Scientific merit and research track
• Relevance of research topic and latest publications
• Concordance with Basque research capabilities

These items are assessed in relation to the average performance of the applicants.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no COFUND-SmartBRAIN2-609403.