About MERIT

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 Central Bohemia region in the Czech Republic, which ranks as the 8th safest country in the world. 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 (not including employer’s social contributions) is approxiately  €3 078 for researchers without family obligations, €3 262 for researchers with family obligations not including children and €3 446 for researchers with family obligation including children. In addition to this gross salary, the researchers are entitled to €700/month for travel and research cost and to €300/month for the training in research and transferable skills and coaching/mentoring. In addition, Special needs allowance will be ensured for researchers with disabilities. The Programme 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 will 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). In order to develop the skills of new generations of scientists and meet the industry and research organisations’ needs, an ambitious combination of core and advanced research skills and transferable skills training will be 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: Life coaching designed to support researchers to achieve their personal potential, especially to balance mental health and overcome academic challenges, Leadership/career mentoring/coaching for those who want to focus on leadership skills and/or become principal investigators, and Business mentoring/coaching for those who want to create their own business or commercialise their research results.