The Fully-Funded PhD Programme offered by The Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) is aimed at exceptional graduate students from all over the world, to support their enrolment in a training and research programme in the field of chemistry, ultimately leading to the completion of a Doctoral Thesis in partnership with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV). The programme will also contribute to their professional career development, in the fields of academia and industry.

This objective is achieved by:

• The performance of an individual research project under the direction of an internationally renowned Group Leader, in a creative and stimulating scientific environment.
• Opportunities for short stays in distinguished international research institutions.
• Opportunities for complementary training in both technical and soft skills. Trainings are designed to ensure a successful career: weekly scientific seminars, hands-on training in the use of state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, IP management, entrepreneurship, research integrity, knowledge and technology transfer, grant applications, project management, communication skills and career development.

The programme is addressed to highly qualified and talented graduate students with a keen interest in chemical research. Candidates should have an excellent academic record, strong commitment to scientific research and a solid working knowledge of English.

Admission to the programme is on a competitive basis.

I. Available positions: See Annex 1

II. Application process

The entire application process will be completed online. Applicants must apply by accessing ICIQ’s Career Portal. Applications sent by email or any other means will not be eligible.

Only one application per person will be considered. In case of multiple applications, only the first application submitted will be taken into consideration.

After completing the online form, applicants must attach the following documents:

• Required documentation
  1. A full Curriculum Vitae (in PDF format). It should include the academic background, work or research experience, publications, conferences, grants and awards, previous participation in ICIQ programmes, other relevant merits and references.
  2. A personal statement that describes the applicant’s academic background, research experience and career goals (maximum two DIN A4 pages, in PDF format). This is a very important section of the application process. The candidate must be able to communicate their interests and how these would align with ICIQ and a PhD training. Candidates should also mention the research group where they would like to carry out their PhD, and the reasons why they are interested in a particular group leader and their research project.
  3. Official transcripts of BSc and MSc studies in PDF format. A scanned copy of the certified academic record of the studies granting access to the PhD programme (BSc and MSc if available). In case that the MSc studies have not yet been completed at the time of the application, candidates must include details on the subjects in which they are currently enrolled (subject name and number of credits). For academic records not issued in Catalan, Spanish or English, a certified translation in English should be provided; otherwise, applications which do not include a certified translation of the academic record will be non-eligible and, therefore, not taken into consideration. For degrees obtained in foreign institutions, the academic record must include the range of marks used in the corresponding countries and the minimum mark to pass, as well as the hours or ECTS and marks for each subject.
  4. Contact details for letters of recommendation of two University professors or other relevant individuals who can assess the candidate’s potential for research. ICIQ will contact the people listed as references only in the event that a candidate is shortlisted. We suggest informing your references.
  5. English proficiency level: Applicants must provide evidence of their proficiency in written and oral communication in the English language. Preferably, by the submission of a B2 certificate, First Certificate, IELTS 6 or equivalent. This certificate is not mandatory but desirable, and alternatively late stage candidates will be interviewed to assess their English level. Applicants from Anglosphere (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) are exempt from this requirement.

Please note that documents sent in hard copy cannot be processed.

Applicants should select only ONE PhD supervisor.

Once the application has been successfully completed, an acknowledgement e-mail will be automatically sent. Candidates must ensure that all the required documentation is included before submitting the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

III. Eligibility and evaluation criteria

The programme is open to graduate students, from any nationality that fulfil the following eligibility criteria:

1. Candidates must have a Master’s or an equivalent degree in the areas of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Physics, Chemical Engineering or related disciplines that must be completed by the time of enrolment in the PhD programme.

When in doubt regarding the eligibility criteria, applicants should contact ICIQ’s People unit at positions@iciq.es prior to submission of the application.

Candidates who fulfil the eligibility criteria will be evaluated according to the following evaluation criteria:

1. Curriculum vitae.
2. Personal statement.
3. Academic marks.
4. English level.
5. Personal interview for short-listed candidates.

IV. Evaluation and Selection Process

The evaluation and selection of the candidates will be performed by the project supervisor supported by the People unit team, and following the below procedure:

1. Submitted applications will be checked for eligibility and those not fulfilling all the criteria will be rejected. It won’t be possible to modify the application or to add missing documentation after the application has been submitted.
2. The selection will be based on the evaluation criteria described in Section III.
3. At the late stages of the selection process, only short-listed candidates will be contacted for a personal interview.
4. All applicants will be notified of the final selection decision by July of 2024. The name of the awardees will be published on ICIQ’s website.

Successful candidates will be requested to inform ICIQ whether they accept or decline the offer within five business days after being notified. The offer will be considered declined in the event that the applicant does not respond during this time.

ICIQ follows in its selection process a gender equality opportunity policy and a non-discrimination policy on the basis of age, ethnic or social origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, language and disability.

ICIQ is committed to promoting a work-life balance for its employees and, as such, offers flexible working hours.

V. Grant Conditions

1. The awardees of an ICIQ Fully-Funded PhD position will be considered research personnel in training and they will have an employment contract (a pre-doctoral contract) which is regulated in the Spanish Law 14/2011, of June 1^st, of Science, Technology and Education.

2. Pre-doctoral contracts are renewed annually for up to 4 years. Renewal is subject to satisfactory performance in the PhD studies and related research activities.

3. The gross yearly salary of the contract shall be split into 12 monthly payments and distributed as shown below:

• First and Second year of PhD: 17.823,93€ /year
• Third year of PhD: 19.097,06 € /year
• Fourth year of PhD: 23.871,33 € /year

4. The fellowship includes full social security coverage through the Spanish Social Security system, providing access to the Spanish public health care system and pension and unemployment benefits.

5. The grant holder is entitled to temporarily interrupt the fellowship in the following situations: temporary disability, risk during pregnancy, maternity, paternity and adoption or foster care. The time elapsed during this interruption will not be accounted for against the total time.

6. The contract will take effect on the date when the awarded student joins the centre.

7. The Fully-Funded PhD includes the costs of enrolment in the PhD programme. These costs will be paid by each beneficiary to the university, and later they will be refunded by ICIQ. The PhD thesis has to be completed within 4 years.

8. The PhD awardees will work full-time at ICIQ and may not receive any other fellowship or regular income.

9. The Fully-Funded PhD position is incompatible with any other fellowship with the same purpose.

Calendar

Annex 1: Available positions:

Supervisor: Dr. Katherine Villa

Project: Light-driven nanorobots for Removal of Biological Agents.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-07 KV

Supervisor: Dr. Katherine Villa

Project: 3D-printed photocatalytic materials for energy applications.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-08 KV

Supervisor: Prof. Emilio Palomares

Project: Development of single junction and multijunction solar cells through the application of self-assembled molecules.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-09 EP

Supervisor: Prof. Emilio Palomares

Project: Understanding the relationship between structure and performance of novel materials for energy applications.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-10 EP

Supervisor: Prof. Antoni Llobet

Project: Redox Catalysis for Solar Fuels.

Number of positions: 2

Reference: PhD 2024-11/12 ALL

Supervisor: Prof. Feliu Maseras

Project: Statistical treatments for computational homogeneous catalysis.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-13 FM

Supervisor: Prof. Núria López

Project: Machine Learning for the Analysis of Experimental Data.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-14 NL

Supervisor: Prof. Carles Bo

Project: Computational modelling of inorganic/organic hybrid assemblies for energy conversion.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-15 CB

Supervisor: Dr. José A. Berrocal

Project: Development of polymer materials incorporating photo- and mechano-responsive molecules for sensing applications.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-16 JB

Supervisor: Prof. Pau Ballester

Project: Synthetic receptors and sensors for the supramolecular detection of relevant biomarkers related to human health.

Number of positions: 1

Reference: PhD 2024-17 PB

Description of the project:

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

Preferred skills or background:

Nanotechnology, Microbiology, Chemical
Biology, knowledge of spectroscopic techniques and hands-on experience on fluorescence microscopy.

Description of the project: The project consists of the study of the design of
photoactivity materials by 3D printing. The performance of these supported materials with hierarchical structures will be evaluated in the degradation of different types of water contaminants as well as for the generation of solar fuels.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student: 

- Synthesis and characterization of photocatalytic materials.
- Fabrication of filaments.
- 3D printing of the as-synthesized photocatalytic materials.
- Photocatalytic tests for the generation of solar fuels and pollutant removal.

Preferred skills or background:

Nanotechnology, Chemistry of Materials, knowledge of 3D printing techniques and hands-on experience on gas chromatoghaphy.

Description of the project:

Fabrication of perovskite and/or organic-based solar cells using self assembled molecules as charge selective contacts in their structure. The devices will be prepared as single junction or tandem devices. The characterization of the performance and the charge kinetics of the devices will contribute to the understanding of the role played by the selective contacts and their optimization.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student: 

• Characterization of the structure and electrooptical properties of novel materials.
• Deposition of the materials onto adequate supports.
• Fabrication and JV characterization of the solar cells.
• Analysis of the performance of the materials when forming part of an optoelectronic device.
• Photophysical characterization of the devices.
• Analysis of data and preparation of technical reports.

Preferred skills or background: 

Strong background in materials science and fabrication of solar cells. Knowledge on the interpretation of data obtained from techniques such as atomic force microscope (AFM), electronic microscopy, X-ray diffraction data, absorbance and photoluminescence spectroscopy.

Description of the project:

Design, synthesis and application of molecular materials with electrical and /or optical properties of interest for solar cells, including principles of supramolecular chemistry for the design of novel materials exploiting non-covalent interactions.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

• Synthesis of organic or hybrid materials by standard laboratory procedures.
• Characterization of the structure and host-guest behaviour of the resulting materials by spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques.
• Characterization of the electrooptical properties of the material.
• Deposition of the prepared materials onto adequate supports.
• Analysis of the performance of the materials when forming part of an optoelectronic device.
• Analysis of the results and preparation of technical reports and presentations.

Description of the project: 

Preparation of molecular redox catlaysts for the generation and use of solar fules sucha as H₂, MeOH, NH₃ and their anchoring in condutive and semiconductive electrodes.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

- Syntheis and purificaction of organic compounds and their transition metal comeplexes.

- Analytic and spectroscopic characterization of ligands and complexes

- Descriptinof their redox properties

Preferred skills or background:

Degree and Masters in Chemistry

Strong synthesis background

Description of the project:
Generation of computational results in computational homogeneous catalysis with DFT and DFT/MM methods. Application of the hidden descriptor treatment to their statistical analysis.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:
Bibliographical research, high performance calculations with DFT, hidden descriptor analysis with Phython, writing of reports and publications, oral presentations.

Preferred skills or background:
Master degree in Chemistry, Physics or related topic. Experience on DFT calculations with Gaussian or similar code,

Description of the project: Materials based on inorganic/organic hybrid assemblies display promising properties for energy and molecular electronics applications. This project aims at applying multi-scale computational methods to atomistic models of such complex systems so to shed light in the relationship between structure and properties. The final goal is to develop predictive computational protocols to accelerate the discovery of new materials and optimize their performance.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

In this project, the PhD student will carry out computational studies and atomistic simulations on inorganic/organic hybrid assemblies using start-of-the-art computational chemistry software. Also, it is expected that he/she will interact with experimental chemists to share information, perform literature surveys, create scientific reports, and present results in scientific meetings.

Preferred skills or background:

• Candidates must have a Master’s or an equivalent degree in the areas of Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering or related disciplines that must be completed by the time of enrolment in the PhD programme.
• Programming skills (Python is highly desirable), good communication skills in English, teamwork abilities.

Description of the project:

The student will employ the most advanced machine learning techniques to deconvolute and map the computational results to tridimensional structures for active materials. The project will be carried out in collaboration with the best experimental groups in Europe.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

Simulations for the processes or systems to be investigated

Analyzing the data with ML tools

Writing drafts and preparing visual material

Preferred skills or background:

Computer Science

Physics

Physical Chemistry

Description of the project:

The overarching goal of the project is to develop stimuli-responsive polymeric materials, namely plastics that change properties upon application of external stimuli. In particular, this project focuses on developing smart plastics that can sense and "communicate" the exposure to light of an appropriate wavelength and, more importantly, the application of mechanical force. The force-sensing capability can be achieved by covalently incorporating mechanophores, molecules that possess chemical bonds labile to mechanical force, into macromolecules.

Our research group develops mechanophores that communicate the application of mechanical force on polymers (in solid state or in solution) through color changes (absorption of light in the visible) or through fluorescence. Depending on the design of the mechanophore being used, the force-sensing function can be further exploited to activate latent chemical functions (such as catalysis, release of pharmacologically active molecules, induce pH changes, ...) or induce changes on the mechanical properties of the material (strain/stress-strengthening behavior, for example).

In the context of this project, we are particularly interested in developing two research applications that exploit the mechanical stimulation of polymers:

1) Converting atmospheric moisture into fresh water (i.e., atmospheric water harvesting).

2) Inducing the complete depolymerization of plastics into its basic constituents (monomers or building blocks) (i.e., closed-loop recycling).

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

• Synthesis of photoresponsive small molecules
• Study of the structure-property relationships on the photoswitching behavior
• Incorporation of the latter in polymer materials via different polymerization techniques (UV curing, RAFT, ATRP, click chemistry, …)
• Characterization of the thermal and mechanical properties of the realized polymer materials (techniques: DSC, TGA, DMA; tensile properties, …)
• Investigation of the responsive behaviour of these polymers upon irradiation with light, and under mechanical deformation (with a in house built setup that combines instruments providing optical and mechanical properties)
• Update the group/supervisor on latest results in the form of presentation and written reports
• Active participation in discussion meetings and brainstorming sessions.

Preferred skills or background:

• Masters degree in Chemistry or Polymer Chemistry
• Previous experience in synthesis of macromolecules or small organic molecules, and/or background in photoswitches, supramolecular chemistry, or physical organic chemistry.
• Ability to work independently but also in teams, due to the interdisciplinarity of the project.
• At least an intermediate level of English (B1 or higher).
• Willingness to undergo a robust training in soft skills (e.g., scientific writing and communication) and mentoring (e.g., organization skills and career planning), which the supervisor commits to provide.

Description of the project: 

The group of Prof. Ballester is looking for a highly talented and motivated national or international student who wish to do their PhD under optimum conditions in a modern and stimulating environment, equipped with high-level instruments and technological resources. In partnership with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), ICIQ offers the PhD program “Chemical Science and Technology”. The candidate will mainly work on the synthesis and characterization of molecular receptors and sensors and will evaluate their affinity and selectivity towards different substrates. The main targeted applications for the prepared containers include molecular recognition, sensing, transport of molecular cargo through lipophilic membranes, and supramolecular catalysis.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

• Synthesis and characterization of molecular receptors and sensors.
• Evaluation of their binding affinity for biologically relevant polar guests.
• Study the applications of the developed receptors as sensors for biologically relevant molecules.
• Study the application of the developed receptors as transporters of molecular cargo across liphophilic membranes.

Preferred skills or background:

- Master’s degree in Chemistry.

- Good communication skills.

- Good level of spoken and written English.

- High motivation for scientific research.

- Excellent academic transcripts.

- Strong commitment for scientific research.

- Capable of working in a team.

- Creative thinking and problem solving.

- Effective organization skills.

- Reliable in meeting commitments and deadlines.