About YIA
The Young International Academics (YIA) Postdoctoral Programme is a career development programme hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies Luxembourg (IAS) of the University of Luxembourg (UL) to nurture early-career postdoctoral researchers to gain momentum in interdisciplinary research. YIA candidates are international talents holding a recent doctoral degree and willing to propose and realise their own interdisciplinary research projects through a bottom-up approach. YIA will welcome 10 postdoctoral fellows with individual fellowships of 36 months each.
YIA is explicitly open to all disciplines and sectors, involving the entire university in the drive towards increased interdisciplinarity, which is considered strategic for UL, for the country and Europe. The University’s rationale is based on the consideration that the world’s challenges are so multifaceted and intricate that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches.
A unique aspect of YIA is its integration into UL’s Institute for Advanced Studies created in 2020 to promote interdisciplinarity and currently hosting 15 Audacity projects and 10 Young Academics PhD projects.
This integration provides the YIA candidates with:
- an institutional supervision frame for interdisciplinary and intersectoral research with more than 350 potential supervisors and co-supervisors, and about 250 potential public private partners,
- peer and cross-generational interactions/mentoring through IAS fellows, invited distinguished senior scientists, early career researchers, and a mandatory secondment, and
- a truly international flavour in an environment that cherishes diversity and excellence.
The YIA provides an open, transparent and validated selection process involving international experts and the IAS Scientific Council to recruit the most deserving, talented and pioneering YIA candidates. YIA fellows recruited at UL will be offered competitive contracts for mobility fellowships, with access to state-of-the-art research infrastructures as well as opportunities to meet and organise events in places of historical European significance, all the while, researching in at least two distinct disciplines.
The YIA fellows will be offered an “à la carte” training to suit the fellow’s career aspirations. A specific team will be set up to provide support to candidates, fellows, and supervisors to implement the YIA project in all its aspects. The ultimate purpose of the YIA programme is to provide excellent training and career development opportunities for outstanding postdoctoral fellows, with the view to increase their interdisciplinarity and employability. In turn, UL will strongly benefit from this vivid young community of interdisciplinary YIA fellows.
In brief
The new fellowship programme
Young International Academics (YIA) is an individual-driven research training and career development programme for early-career researchers, based on incoming mobility. YIA aims to provide early-career researchers with the expertise and experience needed to become the next generation of leaders with strong expertise and interdisciplinary skills.
YIA will offer 10 full time fellowships of 36 months each
YIA implements a bottom-up approach, which means that fellows will be free to choose their research topics (provided it falls within the competence of the University of Luxembourg) and their principal supervisor.
Expand your range of scientific skills
10 fellows will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of their core scientific discipline while broadening their range of scientific skills in other domains. They will implement a research project with a strong interdisciplinary focus. They will have the opportunity to widen their professional networks at the international level, which will provide them with advanced career opportunities.
Supporting the career development of early-career researchers
YIA offers an extensive training programme, including research-based training, secondments, summer/winter schools, options for additional scientific and transferable skills such as leadership, ‘out of the box’ thinking, Open Science and presentations of research results.
Contract and research
YIA will offer a competitive contract and excellent research conditions to attract outstanding early-career researchers. The evaluation and selection process will follow the principles of the Charter & Code, following the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles, and will use international peer review.
YIA Work Breakdown Structure
The project structure is defined with 5 Work Packages (WP) as follows:
- WP1: Ethics requirements
- WP2: Management
- WP3: Dissemination and Exploitation
- WP4: Evaluation and Selection
- WP5: Training and Career Development
Clear roles and responsibilities, including overall management, programme communication and coordination, and progress monitoring are defined for each WP.
