About MERIT
MERIT is a postdoctoral fellowship programme for incoming mobility for researchers from all over the world. It is supported by the HORIZON EUROPE programme, co-funded by the MSCA-COFUND grant, the Regional Government and the Hosting organisations budgets.
General description
MERIT has 3 strategic objectives: 1) Contribute to a stronger European Research Area; 2) Establish new partnerships and collaborations between academic and non-academic sectors; and 3) Promote science in society among the youth and advocate for more representation of women in technical and life sciences. The programme offers research opportunities accross 5 main application areas: Biotechnology/Biomedicine, Laser technologies, Space technologies, Sustainable energy/Materials and Digitalisation/AI.
2 calls for applicants offer in total 30 fellowships for up to 30 months, including secondments as mandatory part of fellowships with the duration from 2 to 9 months. The large, strong consortium of 19 regional research organisations acting as Host organisations and 36 Associated partners from different sectors offer the selected researchers intersectoral, interdisciplinary and international experience, excellent training options, access to unique research infrastructures and wide networking possibilities.
Terms & Conditions
Central Bohemian Innovation Center has been awarded funding by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) – COFUND, to implement the postdoctoral fellowship programme MERIT. Make sure you understand all the terms and conditions.
Terms & Conditions
Benefits for fellows
MERIT fellows will be provided with an up to 30 months fully paid internationally recognised MSCA COFUND fellowship, employed by a research organisation located in the Czech Republic, a charming and economically developed country nestled in the heart of Europe. The workplaces are mostly located in quiet rural areas of the Region surrounded by scenic landscapes but also in proximity of the capital city of Prague, with possibilities for an active international social and cultural life.
The minimum monthly gross salary is €3 188 for researchers without family obligations, €3 372 for researchers with family obligations not including children and €3 556 for researchers with family obligation including children. In addition to the gross salary, the researchers are entitled to travel and research cost. The salary conditions are superior with regard to living costs and the average postdoctoral researcher’s salary in the Czech Republic. For more information, see the Terms & Conditions.
The fellows will be recruited by the hosting organisations under the relevant employment law with full social security and health security coverage. In the Czech Republic, the employment contracts imply sickness, parental and unemployment benefits.
The fellows benefit from interdisciplinary research options, intersectoral experiences through the secondments and networking events with business partners, and international opportunities (e.g. regular International Researchers Meetups organised by the regional Welcome Office). An ambitious combination of core and advanced research skills and transferable skills training are offered to MERIT fellows:
- Development of core and advanced research skills within and beyond the MERIT fellows’ discipline.
- Development of transferable skills as joint training sessions e.g. Open Science/Open Access, MSCA Green Charter, Gender dimension in research, Leadership skills, Public engagement, Citizen Science, IPR Management and Patenting, Funding opportunities/Grant writing, Crowdfunding, Exploitation of research results, Spin-offs, Entrepreneurial/Communication skills. For more details, see the Guide for applicants.
- Mentoring/coaching in three potential key areas of development: Work-life balance, Leadership and Business.
Complete guide how to apply
How to applyConsortium
The programme consortium is composed of the Coordinator and 51 partners.
Coordinator
The Central Bohemian Innovation Centre (SIC), is a public non-profit organisation established in 2015. It represents the Central Bohemia Region, the biggest region of the Czech Republic. SIC supports businesses from Central Bohemia to attain their ambitions and speed up their growth through innovations. SIC assists in designing new products and services with a high added value, develop an innovation ecosystem in the region and form innovation partnerships. SIC facilitates an acceleration in technologies and research concepts to produce outstanding innovations that will respond to challenges faced by a modern society.
SIC is the author and leader of the Regional Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) and is the designer of new regional programmes to boost the regional economy and its transition to Industry 4.0 while respecting the principles of sustainable development. SIC has fostered a successful and trustworthy network of research and industry partners at the regional, national and international levels. The aim of SIC is to identify the needs and challenges of the strategic partners, including research organisations, of the regional innovation ecosystem and to develop relevant service and strategic interventions to overcome those challenges, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the Region within the Czech and global economy.
Implementing partners
19 Hosting organisations represented by research organisations, all of them based in the Central Bohemia Region, Czech Republic. These institutions will employ, train and supervise selected researchers.
Associated partners
36 Associated partners that include national and international SMEs, regional branches of large enterprises, international universities and local high schools. These institutions will offer secondments.
Management Board
The Management Board is composed of 3 full-time employees of the Coordinator, Central Bohemian Innovation Center. The Management Board provides support to the candidates at the application stage, checks for the eligibility of all submitted application, coordinate the whole evaluation and selection process and the overall implementation of the programme.
