Post-doctoral students have the opportunity to develop skills and increase their research capacity

Author
Ministry of Education and Science

August 12, 2024

In order to give young researchers the opportunity to develop their careers and contribute to the development of the research industry in Latvia, the Latvian Science Council has announced the first round of selection for industrial or fundamental research applications not related to economic activity, which can be submitted by scientific institutions registered in the Register of Scientific Institutions of the Republic of Latvia as part of the "Postdoctoral Research" event.

The purpose of the event is to develop the skills of postdoctoral fellows and increase research capacity by providing opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to start their careers in research institutions and with commercial companies. Also, promote the development of research competencies, renewal of human resources and increase in the number of qualified specialists.

  • The deadline for submitting research applications is until October 7, 2024 at 17.00

The total eligible funding available within the first round of selection of research applications is 17,000,000 euros, of which 3,400,000 euros are planned for the implementation of fundamental research.

The research application can be implemented individually or in partnership with a foreign or Latvian research institution, university or merchant, which accepts a postdoctoral fellow and provides access to infrastructure or human resources.

In the announced selection round, such research applications will be supported that contribute to the achievement of the goals of Latvia's smart specialization strategy or the development of areas of specialization, including interdisciplinary research applications that correspond to at least one of the defined areas of Latvian smart specialization:

  • Knowledge-intensive bioeconomy;
  • Biomedicine, medical technology, biopharmaceutics and biotechnology;
  • Smart materials, technologies and engineering systems;
  • Smart energy;
  • Information and communication technologies.

The total funding available for the implementation of research applications in the new postdoctoral program is planned to be no less than 25,918,237 euros, including funding from the European Regional Development Fund - 22,030,501 euros, state budget co-financing - 2,317,382 euros and private co-financing - 1,570,354 euros. During the previous planning period, 342 post-doctoral research support applications for a total funding of 42 million euros were implemented in Latvia over seven years.

Additional information about the announced competition.

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