PhD Guidelines

Malaria remains a global health problem and the AntiMal consortium recognises the necessity to train young scientists in malaria research. The aim is to sustain Europe’s excellence in this field and to train talented investigators from endemic countries in order to establish a sustainable academic environment in these countries in a research area that is most relevant to their immediate public health problems. The international PhD programme under the aegis of EMBL will support highly qualified scientists to conduct collaborative research projects between two or more institutions.

Eligibility

Candidates must hold, or anticipate receiving before enrolment, a university degree in the life sciences or medicine from an internationally recognized university or institution, that would formally qualify them to enter a PhD or equivalent programme in their home country. In the case of qualified graduates with a Bachelors degree, a Masters degree or comparable research experience is strongly recommended.

Recruitment

Suitable candidates will be selected on a competitive basis and will be interviewed by the project’s Principal Investigator (PI) as well as representatives of AntiMal.

AntiMal (in cooperation with MalParTraining) will solicit applications for integrated and collaborative projects on innovative malaria research by means of an open call, i.e. advertisement in appropriate scientific journals and on the webpages of AntiMal and the participating institutions. Institutions from the European Community and associated member countries are eligible. Only collaborative research projects encompassing two or more institutions are considered. The application should include:

• abstract,
• introduction,
• objectives,
• work programme,
• justification of cooperative research,
• detailed career development plan for the PhD student including nomination of two supervisors, proposed formal training courses, secondments, attendance of national and international meetings,
• Designation of one of the sponsoring institutions as the degree-granting institution.

The applications will be evaluated by the AntiMal/MalParTraining Selection Committee or by reviewers appointed by it.

Supervision of training programme and progress reports

The Director of Graduate (PhD) Studies, the Director of the AntiMal Network and a third AntiMal investigator selected by the Executive Board constitutes the Graduate Committee, to oversee the operation of this programme according to the agreed standards and procedures. Except for special circumstances leading to a different decision by the Executive Board, the length of the PhD studies under this programme is 3.5 years. The Board (or the Director if delegated by the Board) will select two affiliated members to constitute, together with the two supervisors, a PhD Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) for each PhD student. The TAC will review annually the student's progress and make written recommendations accompanying the student's written report. Unless otherwise authorised, the committee will meet with the student in person for each review. The first yearly review will take place within the student's first year in the AntiMal programme, and will constitute a Qualifying Assessment. The student will prepare a Project Proposal that introduces the problem to be solved, reviews critically the experimental approaches that are proposed, and summarises his or her initial results. The quality of preparation and oral defence of the Project Proposal will be judged by the TAC and must be accepted by the committee unanimously for AntiMal funding to be continued past the first year. In the case of non-acceptance, and at the discretion of the Director of AntiMal Studies, a second Qualifying Assessment may take place within two months for a final decision concerning continuation of support. The Director of PhD Studies joins the TAC for this decision.

The PhD fellowships will be met from a special AntiMal fund held by EMBL. All associated costs, such as travel for TAC meetings, courses, conferences and so on are met from a special AntiMal fund held by Heidelberg University. PhD students will be given AntiMal PhD programme contracts by EMBL. Students will have one or more bases of operation, one in the primary PI’s and the others corresponding to the respective supervisor’s institutions.

Students receive a stipend similar to that for EMBL PhD students. This is tax free, but subject to deductions in respect of EMBL Health Insurance. The gross monthly grants in 2006-2007 will be € 1,792.00. There will be no pension contributions or provisions. No financial commitments will be made by EMBL except as requested by the Director of Graduate Studies, and none that extends beyond the end of the European Commission funding of the AntiMal Integrated Project.

AntiMal has adopted the standards for the PhD degree as recommended by the Committee on Education of The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which are also consistent with those of the EMBL International PhD Programme.