CALL FOR 11 EARLY STAGE RESEARCHER PHD FELLOWSHIPS IN

"PANDORA: Probing safety of nano-objects by defining immune responses of environmental organisms"

INTRODUCTION

PANDORA is a European Training Network (ETN) funded in the framework of H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN programme. The PANDORA network aims at the education of promising young scientists who will learn how to assess the impact of engineered nanoparticles (NP) on the immune responses of representative organisms covering all evolutionary stages and hierarchical levels from plants to invertebrates and vertebrates. PANDORA will train 11 PhD students in an overarching training programme involving training-by-research, joint courses of technical, scientific and transferrable skills, participation to public scientific events, and an intense intersectoral networking exchange plan. The PANDORA consortium encompasses academic institutions, research centers, and SMEs, all with proven experience in higher education and training, and state-of-the art scientific and technical expertise and infrastructures.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

The research activities implemented in PANDORA have the following objectives:

1. To identify immunological mechanisms triggered by nano-objects, and predictive markers of risk vs. safety;
2. To do so by a collaborative cross-species comparison, from plants to human, of innate immune defence capacity, using selected, industrially-relevant NP;
3. To design predictive in vitro assays to measure the immuno-risk of NP to the environment and human health, as new approaches to industrial and environmental nanosafety testing.

The 11 Early Stage Researchers (ESR)’ projects are the following:

Each of the 11 ESRs will be enrolled in the PhD programme of the beneficiary’s organization. The beneficiaries which do not award PhD will establish agreements with local and international universities that can provide the degree. The recruited ESRs will participate in the network’s training activities and work placements at the laboratories of the participating academic and industrial partners, including to the Partner Organisation “Applied Nanoparticles” in Barcelona, Spain.

In addition, the training programme of the recruited ESRs will be supplemented by regular meetings and courses within the PANDORA network.

TRAINING PROGRAMME

All the selected fellows will be involved in a highly stimulating training programme, both at the local and at the network-wide level.

The training programme comprises:

1. The implementation of the individual research project at the host institution. The research project will involve collaborations with other PANDORA institutions, to be implemented through secondments.
2. Each researcher will be involved in local training sessions.
3. Joint scientific courses and meetings will be organised by the PANDORA consortium, together with short courses for transferable skills training, including a course on ethics.
4. Final joint workshop on “Immuno-nanosafety: innate immune mechanisms in environmental species”.

ELIGIBILITY RULES

At the time of recruitment applicants must fulfil the following rules:

Experience:

The fellows must have less than 4 years research experience (Early Stage Researcher) at the signature of the contract (measured from the time the Master’s degree has been obtained). Eligible applicants must not have a PhD.

Mobility:

The applicants must not have resided in the country where the research training activities will take place for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment date (i.e. at the signature of the contract), and must not have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in that country.

For more information and details on the application procedure, please visit http://www.pandora-h2020.eu