Vacancies

CALL FOR 12 PhD students

General description of the Network

The Tripartite motif (TRIM) family of Ubiquitin E3 ligases plays an important role in many physiological processes and in many diseases including cancer, neurodegenerative and neuro-muscular disorders and rare genetic diseases. As such, they are excellent targets for therapeutic manipulation. TRIM-NET is a training programme for Early-Stage Researchers to identify novel therapeutic targets and to develop the strategies to validate them in preclinical studies. The TRIM-NET network will integrate complementary expertise and multidisciplinary approaches to exploit common targeting strategies for translational applications. The consortium will train a cohort of young researchers in skills and expertise essential for biomedical research focusing on:

  1. determining how TRIM proteins contribute to disease;
  2. developing strategies to modulate TRIM protein activity;
  3. designing high throughput screening assays for drug discovery.

The project consists of 12 individual research projects.

As the scientific work packages are highly integrated, recruited students will avail of techniques and training opportunities, including secondments, across the work packages. Through a unique international partnership between academic and non-academic partners the TRIM-NET training programme will provide young researchers with skills required for biomedical research in industry and academia.

Eligibility and Requirements

  • Not having a doctoral degree yet
  • Less than 4 years full-time research experience
  • A degree which entitles to embark on a doctorate in the host countries
  • Less than 12 months spent in the host country in the 3 years prior to the recruitment
  • A strong background in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Medicine or related fields according to the individual research projects
  • The relevant PhD accession title should be achieved by June 2019 through September 2019 according to the specific PhD programmes and countries
  • Attractive salary
  • 3-year full-time employment contract in accordance with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action regulations for Early Stage Researchers;
  • Enrollment in a PhD programme at the local partner’s institution. In case the student is enrolled in a doctoral programme in a country where the duration of the PhD study is beyond the 3-year- MSCA contract, additional funding for the additional year(s) will be provided by the host group
  • Access to state-of-the-art research and supervision by recognized experts
  • Participation in network-wide training activities, schools and conferences
  • Secondments periods at other network partners’ labs.

Application procedure

Applications in English should include:

  • A cover letter indicating the top three projects of election in the order of preference (see below)  and the indication of the countries of residence during the last 3 years;
  • CV (contact details, education, work experience, list of publications, prizes/awards, language skills, etc....);
  • A motivation letter;
  •  A digital copy of the degree certificate and official academic transcripts of Bsc and Msc studies (Master diploma/certificate or equivalent qualification giving access to the Doctoral Programme + Transcript of Records including examinations and scores obtained. If the documents are issued in a language other than English, a translation must be included, along with the original document);
  • A documentation of English language qualifications;
  • Two recommendation letters sent directly by the referees to trimnet@units.it with the subject:

    “Letter concerning - Surname Name”

    and full contact details of the reference persons;
     
  • Application in a single pdf file should be sent by e-mail to trimnet@units.it with indication of “TRIM-NET application” in the subject line. Equal consideration will be given to female and male applicants.

Deadlines of Application, Evaluation process and Starting date

  • Deadline for Application: April 24, 2019.
  • The merit-based recruitment process will be on a competitive basis across all applicants for each project.
  • Short-listed students will be interviewed via Skype on May 9-10, 2019.
  • Students are expected to initiate their contracts between June 1st, 2019 and November 1st, 2019 depending on the PhD enrollment rules of the different countries.