CONEX

Connecting excellence to Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M); that is the meaning of the initials of CONEX (CONnecting EXcellence to UC3M), a talent recruitment program targeting world-class researchers who are interested in continuing to advance in their professional careers for at least three years at UC3M.

In the first call, the sixteen scientists chosen from the 176 applications received came from outstanding scientific institutions in nearly a dozen countries.  Accordingly, the University benefits from the scientific environment created with the arrival of these research fellows at the same time as they contribute their knowledge to the Spanish university system.
The researchers selected in the first call hail from R+D+i centers in diverse parts of the world:   United Kingdom (Kingston University London, University of Sheffield); Germany (Juelich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS); USA (Ohio Wesleyan University, Arizona State University); Belgium(Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics); France (Grenoble Institut Polytechnique); Finland (Tampere University of Technology); Italy (Liceo Classico Carlo Botta – Ivrea, University of Pisa); and the Netherlands (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies).

New call open until mid-February

The second CONEX call is open until February 17, 2015.  Its aim is to select twelve researchers with experience in the three large areas of knowledge: engineering, physics, and mathematics; law and social sciences; and lastly, humanities, library science and communication. Specifically, there are two places available for “Very Experienced Professors”, that is, scientists having more than ten years of postdoctoral experience; and ten places under the category “Experienced Professors”, those having 4-10 years of experience since obtaining a doctoral degree. Candidate selection is foreseen for June, 2015 so that the research fellows can join the University before September 15, 2015.  The minimum duration of these twelve new contracts is 36 months. 

The research proposed by the scholars can be freely chosen within UC3M’s scientific areas.  The  University research group itself or the group supervisor can intervene  in order to seek the maximum benefit for the applicant’s professional research career, provided that it is indeed related to a UC3M scientific area.   The University, at the same time, will benefit from the scientific environment created from the arrival of these researchers.  “Some of them could be Spanish, who are currently pursuing their professional careers abroad. Thus, this could encourage the return of world-class researchers to our system in an effort to recuperate talent that has “drained” from our country”, stated Ignacio Aedo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Faculty and Departments at UC3M.

In this new call the mobility requirements have been modified. In the first one, only researchers who had not resided or worked in Spain during the three years before the close of the call could apply. However, for the second call, this requirement is less strict and researchers can apply who have not resided or worked in Spain during the last 12 months of the three years before the close of the call.

The selected candidates can carry out their research and contribute their experience to one of the University departments or research institutes. In summary, the aim is to connect excellence with UC3M through this mobility program. CONEX, co-funded by the European Union through the European FP7 PEOPLE program (PCOFUND-GA-2012-600371) and by the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (COFUND2013-40258 and COFUND2014-51509), is a complementary program, coherent with others in the University fomenting mobility.

Further information: www.uc3m.es/conex