Call for post-docs for Ukrainian citizens and residents affected by the war

The military aggression of Russia against Ukraine forced many Ukrainian nationals to emigrate and Europeans are called to help Ukraine in any possible way.

The Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium, CERIC–ERIC, is an integrated multidisciplinary Research Infrastructure whose objective is to contribute to European top-level research and technological development and demonstration programs and projects, thus representing an added value for the development of the European Research Area (ERA). The activities of the Consortium focus on the integration of national multidisciplinary analytical, synthesis and sample preparation capabilities of its Partner Facilities, operating mainly in the Central European Area, into a unique, EU-level Distributed Research Infrastructure, open to researchers at world level.

With this mission in mind, and for solidarity with the Ukrainian population, CERIC-ERIC will host up to 18 post-doc researchers who will be able to continue with their research activities in CERIC’s Partner Facilities.

Researchers are encouraged to propose collaborative proposals, bringing together one or more Partner Facilities. The research carried out at every partner facility is intended to improve CERIC capabilities and the user support. The research programmes may be proposed jointly with non-CERIC institutions.

The contract offered will terminate on the 4th of March 2023, renewable as long as the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) is renewed.  CERIC’s Partner Facilities will host the post-doc researchers in their premises, providing all necessary equipment for their research. CERIC-ERIC will cover the following costs:

  • Salary of the Post-doc, in line with the practices of the Partner Facility
  • Travels between partner facilities and to scientific events related to the research carried out
  • Consumables

Specific topics and projects for the post-doc positions offered by each of CERIC’s Partner Facility can be found in the section below, divided by country. A number of the post-doc positions are dedicated to research on batteries, fuel cells and electrolysers, in line with CERIC-ERIC Science strategy.

We encourage candidates to discuss Research topics with the local contact provided for each facility.

Eligibility criteria

Applications are open for Ukrainian nationals and/or residents, beneficiary of Temporary Protection or International Protection. Detailed information can be found on the official website of the European Commission at this link: Information for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Candidates must have completed a PhD. For additional requirements (when applicable), refer to the information below for each hosting Partner Facility.

Evaluation criteria

Successful proposals should meet the following criteria:

  • The research proposed should outline a credible plan of how the research will be carried out, specifying the entities involved (CERIC and external);
  • Proposals will need to demonstrate the added value for CERIC user support;
  • Proposals should emphasize the expected impact on the integration of the Partner Facilities, whenever relevant.

Application and Deadline

Candidates are requested to submit their proposal using the “Research Proposal Template” (download available here).

Along with it, please send as part of the application material:

  • your CV
  • copy of your passport / ID document
  • PhD Diploma

The application material must be sent to the following e-mail address: hr@ceric-eric.eu, with the following subject of the mail: “Application for post-doc Ukrainian Researcher”.

The positions will remain open until suitable candidates are found.

The Graz University of Technology welcomes applications of post-docs being interested in research in metal-organic-frameworks, structural biology, fuel cells or batteries. The positions might be partially in Graz and at the synchrotron radiation source ELETTRA in Trieste, Italy.  Currently the following projects are proposed:

Title Partners Topic
Structural Insights into Photo-Switchable MOFs for Carbon Capture and Release

The project goal is (i) to design a photoactive MOF-on-MOF film structures for light triggered CO2 capture and release and (ii) to characterize it with advanced pump-probe spectroscopy and X-ray techniques with up to ps-time resolution. This will lead to a profound understanding of the photo induced movement of azo moieties to the overall response dynamics of the MOF cage structures, i.e. spatiotemporal evolution from the molecule to the macroscopic level

TU Graz

(Institute of Inorganic Chemistry;

Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry),

SAXS Beamline
SISSI Beamline ELETTRA, THz FERMI

General

Material Science/Energy Materials

Combination of NMR and SAXS to model ab initio fiber like protein, peptide – assemblies

Extended protein/peptides assemblies such as fibrils are frequently found in nature with important medical relevance. The project targets to develop new methods to combine SAXS and NMR data for the modelling of extended 1D structures similar to rigid body modelling of globular structures (ATSAS), which are relevant for Biology and Biotechnology

TU Graz (Institute of Inorganic Chemistry);

Università di Ancona

National Institute of Chemistry,

SAXS Beamline, Structural Biology Laboratory, ELETTRA

General
Life Science
In situ investigation of novel fuel cell materials

The experimental capabilities developed within the CEROP Project will be translated to new class of fuel cell materials.
Here the In situ SAXS and EXAFS will provide insights into the ageing of the catalyst layers as well as the water management of the fuel cells during operation

TU Graz
(Institute of Inorganic Chemistry;
Institute of Physical&Theoretical Chemistry)
SAXS and EXAFS Beamlines, ELETTRA, Charles University Prague
Fuel cells
Linking chemistry and phase evolution in metal-O2/S batteries via in situ Small Angle X-ray Scattering and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

Making electrochemical energy storage economically and ecologically sensible on a very large scale requires eliminating the critical elements in current Li-Ion batteries (Co, Ni, Mn). Oxygen and sulphur electrochemistry is in many respects ideal: highly abundant, cheap, light, minor energy input for production and recycling. All this comes with amongst the highest theoretical energy storage of all known options. They are best used in the cathodes (positive electrodes) of metal-O2 and metal-S batteries with, e.g., Li, Na, Mg, and Al anodes. The latter are the focus of this study

TU Graz (Institute of Inorganic Chemsitry), ETH Zürich, ISTA Vienna

SAXS Beamline, EXAFs beamline, ELETTRA

Batteries

 

Qualification requirements:  Ph.D. degree (or equivalent) in the field of physics, material science or chemistry.  Experience in the proposed topics are highly desired. It is assumed that the applicant has published his research in the area of interest in peer-reviewed journals. The candidate is supposed to give lectures in English, and to co-supervise student theses.

Conditions: the salary will be commensurate with previous experience and qualifications of the Candidate, ranging from 4.061,50 €/month (post-doc, pre-tax) to 4.454.20 €/month (senior researcher, pre-tax), both 14 x per year following the salary scheme of the FWF-Austrian Science foundation.

Contact:

Heinz Amenitsch

heinz.amenitsch@elettra.eu

The Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb welcomes applications for post-docs in the following topics:

– optimization of IBA (ion beam analysis) techniques for the analysis of energy materials (including batteries);

– ion optics calculation for optimizing microprobe systems at RBI;

– development of ion beam irradiation systems for testing radiation hardness of photovoltaics.

Conditions: the salary for this position is approximately 1470 Euro/month before tax.

Contact:

Milko Jaksic

jaksic@irb.hr

The Charles University in Prague welcomes applications for post-docs at the Department of Surface and Plasma Science in the field of physics or chemistry with a specialization in electrochemistry and hydrogen technology.

Qualification requirements: Ph.D. degree (or equivalent) in the field of physics or chemical engineering, experiences with fuel cell, water electrolysis or a related are welcomed. We would gladly accept practical experience in the field of hydrogen technologies, methods for preparing nanomaterials and studying their electrochemical properties using rotary disk electrodes (R / RDE), cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy, including their testing in hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolysers. The advantage is experience with the development of measuring electronics, firmware and software. It is assumed that the applicant has already published his research in this area in peer-reviewed journals. The candidate must be able to give lectures in English, and to co-supervise student theses.

Conditions: the salary will be commensurate with previous experience and qualifications of the Candidate.

Contact:

Vladimir Matolin

matolin@mbox.troja.mff.cuni.cz

The Budapest Neutron Centre welcomes post-docs proposals to use neutrons to study fuel cells by imaging, Li batteries by diffraction, in strong collaboration with their in-house catalysis experts.

Conditions: the salary will be commensurate with previous experience and qualifications of the Candidate.

Contacts:

Tamas Belgya, Laszlo Szentmiklosi

ceric-postdoc@bnc.hu

Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste welcomes applications for post-docs in the following fields:

  • Batteries, fuel cells and electrolysers and specifically Electrochemistry for energy conversion and storage;
  • Multi-modal analysis of biological samples: how to combine morpho-chemical-elemental sensitivity from the macro to the nano-scale by SR-imaging approaches;
  • From protein expression to the structural determination by X-ray macromolecular crystallography (possible joint project with the National Synchrotron Radiation Center SOLARIS in Poland);
  • 2D materials for quantum information science;
  • Spintronic materials for energy efficient data storage.

Conditions: the salary will be commensurate with previous experience and qualifications of the Candidate.

Contacts:

Marco Marazzi
marco.marazzi@elettra.eu

Current post-doc projects at the National Institute of Materials Physics in Bucharest:

  • Boosting material properties by defects manipulation in advanced nanostructured oxidic materials for batteries, fuel cells and gas sensors.
  • Towards operando characterization of functional materials for batteries, fuel cells and gas sensors.

NIMP will provide access to the experimental facilities already available through CERIC (TEM and EPR) as well as additional techniques of materials synthesis, nanofabrication and materials characterization. The proposed topics offer possibilities of collaborative projects among several CERIC Partner Facilities.

Qualification requirements: background in physics, chemistry or materials science and expertise in materials synthesis and/or characterization.

Conditions: the salary will be commensurate with previous experience and qualifications of the Candidate.

Contact:

Corneliu Ghica
cghica@infim.ro

The Slovenian National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana welcomes any researcher meeting the eligibility criteria who wishes to continue her/his research using NMR spectroscopy in her/his plans. Specific topics are: battery-oriented research, hydrogen storage, and life sciences.

Conditions: the salary for this position is approximately 2.828,62 € – 2.872,55 €, with extras to be included in the net salary.
E.g. Salary before tax: 2.828,62 € / net value: 1.472,43 € + traffic allowance per month 30,00 € + meal allowance per day 4,47 € (x 23 working days on avarage= 102,81 €) = 1.605,24 €

Contact:

Primoz Sket
primoz.sket@KI.si