Call for Doctoral Application [CLOSED]

DOWNLOAD THE CALL

OBJECT OF THE CALL

The NeuroMod Institute for Modeling in Neuroscience and Cognition, first interdisciplinary institute created by Université Côte d’Azur, promotes modeling as an approach for integrating brain mechanisms and cognitive functions. It is the 5th year that the Institute opens a call for PhD positions to foster interdisciplinary research and training.

The total funding of the present call will cover two full 3-year PhD positions, one financed by the NeuroMod Institute and one financed by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Artificial Intelligence Côte d'Azur (3IA).

RULES OF THE CALL

ARTICLE 1 – ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• The hosting team must belong to Université Côte d’Azur.
• The main supervisor must be a member of a doctoral school of UCA.
• For the 3IA PhD grant, the main supervisor cannot be a 3IA chair and in addition, the subject must be relevant for one of the four 3IA axis: “Core elements of AI”, “AI for integrative computational medicine”, “AI for computational biology and Bio-inspired AI”, “AI for smart and secure territories”.
• The PhD grant must start before December 31, 2023.

ARTICLE 2 – EVALUATION CRITERIA

• The subject of research must clearly be interdisciplinary, and relevant with respect to the NeuroMod institute disciplines: modeling in a broad sense (mathematics, physics, informatics, data science), neuroscience, and cognition. A co-supervision from two distinct disciplines will be appreciated, but is not a requisite.
• Scientific quality of the project (challenges involved, originality, feasibility within the timeframe of the project).
• Quality of the supervision (CV of supervisor(s) including publications and project management in relation with the project, scientific and technical environment, availability of the supervisor(s) with respect to their supervision load, a recommendation letter of the supervisor).
• Excellence of the applicant (CV, academic records, motivation letter, recommendation letter…).

ARTICLE 3 – DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

The application can be either in French or in English, with a preference for English. The application must clearly state if this is an application for both grants or for a specific one (NeuroMod grant or NeuroMod/3IA grant). In the case of an application to both grants, please do not apply multiple times: only send one file clearly stating that this has to be considered as an application for both grants.

Research Project

• Scientific presentation (max. 5 pages), including references, an argumentation regarding the positioning of the project with respect to the NeuroMod institute and eventually to the 3IA Institute and a workplan summary (Gantt chart).
• Project summary (1/2 page), detailing: primary discipline, secondary discipline, and primary Doctoral School.
• A feasibility statement (signed by the student and the supervisors) explaining that the material conditions for carrying out the project are secured, especially for aspects regarding experimental facilities.
• Optionally: any document likely to support the quality of the student subject.

Supervision

• CV of supervisor and co-supervisor, if applicable with a list of main publications of the past 3 years (max. 3 pages per supervisor).
• Letter from the head of the laboratory or team hosting the candidate, explaining the insertion of the project into the laboratory / team.
• Recommendation letter of the supervisor.
• Optionally: any document likely to support the quality of the student supervision.

Concerning the candidate

• CV of the candidate.
• Motivation letter.
• 2 recommendation letters of previous supervisors, tutors or professors.
• Master diploma (if the degree is not completed yet, a letter of the director of the master stating at the very least that he/she is confident in the fact that the student will obtain his/her degree).
• Transcripts of grades obtained so far at least from the master 1 or equivalent.
• A summary of the master project during the internship and the tasks the student has done.
• Optionally-if available: the ranking among the master students.

ARTICLE 4 – SELECTION COMMITTEE

Applications will be examined by a subset of the Scientific Council of the NeuroMod Institute, assisted by additional expertise whenever necessary. For instance, the principal doctoral school will be consulted for diploma verification or other expert advice.
The ranking of applications will be sent for validation to the Idex UCA^Jedi bureau and simultaneously to the “Maison des études doctorales”.

ARTICLE 5 – IMPORTANT DATES

• March 27, 2023: call opens.
• May 15, 2023: deadline for application for the couple Candidate and PhD supervisor.
• June 5-9, 2023: notification of preselected candidates.
• June 12-16, 2023: auditions (by videocall if necessary) of preselected candidates.
• June 16-20, 2023: evaluation by the 3IA scientific committee.
• June 26, 2023: publication of the results.
• June 30, 2023: deadline for accepting the position.

ARTICLE 6 – APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The application must be uploaded by the supervisor of Université Côte d’Azur at following website:

• https://nuxeo.univ-cotedazur.fr/nuxeo/nxdoc/default/47152963-c2e5-4efa-9f14-9bacd082eac0/view_documents (under "projects")
• The file must be assembled into a single pdf file named as follows: NAME of the candidate_First name_neuromod_doc_2023.pdf

ARTICLE 7 – FUNDING AND RECRUITMENT

• Limited term contract to begin before December 31, 2023.
• The PhD student will have to follow the rules of the corresponding primary Doctoral School.
• The recruited candidate is expected to be working 5 days a week on the project in their host laboratory, except special agreement with the supervisors.
• Monthly salary is comparable to Marie Slodowska-Curie grants (2000€ net per month depending of the university pay scale at the time of employment).

ARTICLE 8 – CUMULATION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES

The position may not be combined with other activities. The recruited candidate will indeed be expected to work full-time on the research project, except for potential teaching duties (in priority within the NeuroMod Institute or the 3IA training program), up to 64 hours/year of teaching and in accordance with the corresponding department head.

ARTICLE 9 – NOTIFICATION IN CASE OF CHANGES

If applicable, the recruited candidate must notify Human Resources about any administrative changes which may occur during the period of the contract.

Contact: neuromod.admin@univ-cotedazur.fr