PhD Guidelines
Preface
Malaria remains a global health problem, with 300 to 500 million clinical cases and 1 to 3 mil-lion deaths annually. The EMVDA consortium recognises the necessity to train young scientists in malaria research and malaria vaccine development, not only to sustain Europe’s excellence in this field but also 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. For these reasons, the EMVDA consortium has decided to establish an international PhD programme under the aegis of EMBL. The PhD programme will support highly qualified scientists to conduct collaborative malaria vaccine research and development 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 case of qualified graduates with a Bachelor degree, a Master degree or comparable research experience is strongly recommended.
Recruitment
Suitable candidates will be selected on a competitive basis and will ideally be interviewed by the two PhD advisors and one other person.
All applications are evaluated solely on the basis of qualification and scientific potential. In general, applicants are expected to be among the top of those qualified to enter a PhD Programme in their home country.
By means of an advertisement in an appropriate international scientific journal and/or their website, and on the web page of EMVDA, and via the participating institutions, EMVDA will solicit applications from students. All complete applications that are received before the deadline of March 7th, 2008 midnight will be considered. For reasons of fairness and transparency and to maintain a high standard in the selection process, only applications that have gone through the online EMVDA application website will be considered. In the event of technical difficulties, application by email will be considered. Applicants will be allowed to apply for a maximum of three projects which they will rank in order of preference.
The EMVDA PhD Programme Project Manager and the coordinator will review all applications and remove any that do not meet the educational requirements necessary to allow them to undertake PhD study.
Through the online application system, each supervisor and co-supervisor will review the applications of the candidates who have nominated their project as the first preference. Should a supervisor not be able to find suitable candidates for shortlisting, then the supervisor may request access to the applicants who listed their project as the second and third preference. Supervisors will be granted individual passwords and will not be able to see applicants for other projects (unless the supervisor requests access to second and third preference candidates). In consultation with the other PIs in their project and any relevant staff, supervisors will form a shortlist of three candidates for interview based on the general suitability of the candidate to complete the duties of the post.
Supervisors will invite shortlisted candidates for interview at their Institution. It is encouraged that supervisors allow the students to tour their facilities and meet other members of staff. If a student turns down the interview, or withdraws, then the supervisor should select another student for interview. If necessary, a supervisor may invite a fourth or fifth student for interview should he/she not be satisfied with the standard of the interviewed students. In the unlikely event that a supervisor is not able to find any suitable student he may consult other EMVDA PhD supervisors for interviewee suggestions from their own applicants. Supervisors should conduct interviews according to their local and national legislation. Following interview, supervisors will be asked to provide:
1) The names of the persons involved in the selection process.
2) The names of the shortlisted candidates.
3) The names of the interviewed candidates (if different from point 2).
4) Declare any conflicts of interest that have arisen during the recruitment process.
Once a candidate has been selected, then the supervisor will forward the name of the selected candidate to the EMVDA PhD Programme Project Manager for transfer to the Academic Selection Committee who will review the final selections.
5. Final approval of the candidates
The EMVDA coordinator will appoint an Academic Selection Committee (ASC) of experienced and impartial academics to oversee and approve the final selections. The ASC will be responsible for reviewing the resume of applicants (they will be provided access to the online application system) for the purpose of:
- Ensuring that the candidates are of a high academic standard.
- Checking applications for possible conflicts of interest e.g. regarding any obvious relationships between supervisors and students.
- Reviewing the shortlisted candidates and questioning any significant differences between the quality of the candidate’s resumés and the candidate selected for employment.
- Scrutinising any declared conflicts of interest.
The decision of the ASC is final and they have power to veto any decision made by the supervisors should they feel that there has been a conflict of interest or any improper behavior. If necessary, the ASC may also hold a teleconference with the relevant interview panel to acquire additional information, or request a detailed written report on any aspect of the interview process. If the ASC finds evidence of a conflict of interest or of any improper behavior, the supervisor may be asked to reshortlist and reinterview three candidates. The composition of the re-selection interview panel will be at the discretion of the ASC.
The EMVDA ASC is comprised of: EMVDA coordinator, two EMVI SAC members and the ANTIMAL coordinator.
Should the ASC fail to reach a consensus on any issue, a decision will be mediated by the EMVDA ESAC.
Supervision of training programme and progress reports
The Steering Committee will appoint a member of the EMVDA consortium as Director of EMVDA PhD Studies, 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 Steering Committee, the length of the PhD studies under this programme is 3.5 years. The Steering Committee (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 authorized, 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 EMVDA 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 summarizes 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 EMVDA funding to be continued past the first year. In case of non-acceptance, and at the discretion of the Director of EMVDA PhD 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.
If possible, the EMVDA PhD Programme will be fully integrated into the BioMalPar/EMBL PhD Programme. If this is successful the above structure will be negated.
Administration of the PhD programme
The PhD fellowship stipend will be met from a special EMVDA fund held by EMBL.
PhD students will be given EMVDA PhD programme contracts by EMBL. Students will have two or more bases of operation, corresponding to the respective supervisor’s institutions.
Financial support
Students will receive a stipend similar to that for EMBL PhD students. This will be tax free, but subject to deductions in respect of EMBL Health Insurance (where relevant). The gross monthly grants in 2004-2005 will be € 1 710.00. There will be no pension contributions or provisions. Additionally, students will be entitled to a family allowance of € 170.00 if they are married or have dependent children and a child allowance of € 185.00 for each dependent child.
No financial commitments will be made by EMBL except as requested by the EMVDA Director of Graduate Studies, and none that extends beyond the end of the European Commission funding of the EMVDA Network of Excellence without permission from the European Commission.
General standards for the PhD degree
EMVDA will adopt 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. If the EMVDA PhD Programme is fully integrated into the BioMalPar/EMBL PhD Programme, then EMBL will be responsible for the administration of academic standards.
The EMBL PhD Statutes will be adhered to if the EMVDA Coordinator is able to establish the necessary agreements with EMBL/BioMalPar. Should this be unsuccessful, these guidelines, and the EMBL PhD model, will be adhered to as closely as possible following recruitment.