The Grant Agency of Masaryk University has published a new call for applications for the Muni Award in Science and Humanities, which gives researchers the opportunity to receive funding of 230 thousand USD per year for five years. The university would like to repeat the success of the first round of the grant, but this time, researchers will have more time to submit applications: the deadline is late September 2018.
This prestigious grant competition was first opened in September last year as a direct result of a recommendation by the MU International Scientific Advisory Board to focus a large part of the funding provided by the internal grant agency on attracting world-class researchers from outside the university. The winner of the first round, who was selected as the best out of ten applicants, and accepted the offer to come and work at the MU Faculty of Informatics was Daniel Kráľ, an expert on graph theory and a two-time ERC grant recipient.
“This is exactly the type of applicant we are looking for. The call is open to winners of the Starting and Consolidator ERC grants as well as applicants whose projects were evaluated as A in the ERC grant competition, but who received no funds due to financial constraints. Scientists with individual transferable grants at a similar level and prestige as ERC and those whose career and publications correspond to this level are also welcome to apply,” says Jana Hájková, the grant manager from the Research Office at the MU Rector's Office, and adds that there are no limitations to the field of the applicants and that applicants who were not chosen in the first round are welcome to apply again.
The new round of the Muni Award in Science and Humanities will once again be advertised in Science. “We had a good experience with spreading the word through personal contacts and referrals, so we hope that our researchers will help us by promoting the grant at conferences, summer schools, and during their stays at partner institutions,” says Hájková.
The applicants are offered a three-year contract, which is extended to five years subject to a positive evaluation with the possibility of gaining a permanent contract, funding of five million crowns per year for a five-year period, associate or full professorship at MU, and lab facilities for their research teams. The winner must transfer to Brno and become a full-time employee of the university.
Applications will be received up to 21 September 2018 and the winner will be chosen by the Science Advisory Board, which is a body working with the MU vice-rector for research, and the individual faculties. The final selection will be confirmed by the International Scientific Advisory Board. More details and the time schedule can be found at the website of the Grant Agency of Masaryk University.