The FPI-ICIQ 2024 Call 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 Doctoral Thesis will be associated with a research project financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, la Agencia Estatal de Investigación and the Fondo Social Europeo (FSE+) in the framework of the Call 2023 of Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento (PID 2023).

The selected PhD students will have the opportunity to develop their professional careers 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.
• A complementary training programme in both technical and soft skills. The educational framework is designed to ensure a successful career: 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. ICIQ offers a yearly personalized training programme for PhD students, SHARP, which takes place during the course of 2 weeks, with training focused on their given PhD year.
• Opportunities for short stays in distinguished international research institutions.

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

The process of evaluation and selection guarantees the principles of competition, publicity and transparency.

I. Available positions: See Annex 1

II. Application process

The entire application process will be completed online. Applicants must apply via the ICIQ’s Career Portal. Applications sent by email, or any other means will be ineligible.

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, and other relevant merits and references.
  2. A personal statement that describes the applicant’s academic background, research experience and career goals (maximum two (2) DIN A4 pages, in PDF format). The candidate must be able to communicate their interests and how these would align with ICIQ and the PhD training programme. 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 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). Candidates must have completed their Master’s degree by September 2024 to be eligible for the programme (please refer to section III. Eligibility Criteria for further information on the eligibility requirements). For academic records not issued in Catalan, Spanish or English, a certified translation in English should be provided; otherwise, 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, Researchers in industry 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 the Anglosphere (UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) are exempt from this requirement.

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 information is included before the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

III. Eligibility 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, completed by April of 2025, that allows them to be admitted in a Spanish PhD Programme by the time the grant starts (scheduled for June-July 2025).

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

Candidates who fulfil the eligibility criteria will be evaluated according to the Evaluation Criteria described in point IV.

IV Evaluation criteria:

Criteria 1. Academic and/or scientific-technical career path of the candidate (up to 50 points).

Sub-criteria

1. a) Scientific-technical contributions (up to 45 points). The academic record and other curricular merits of the candidate will be assessed, as well as their suitability for the tasks to be carried out based on training and professional experience.

1. b) Mobility and internationalization (up to 5 points). Short stays in national and international institutions, universities and industry will be assessed taking into account the prestige of the entity hosting the stay and the activity carried out therein, as well as the impact of the research stays on the research career of the candidate.

Criteria 2. Adequacy of the candidate to the research activities to be carried out (up to 50 points).

The adequacy of the candidates to the program, project or research activities to be carried out will be assessed based on their previous training and experience. For that purpose, consideration shall be given to the added value that carrying out the project will represent for their research career, as well as the value contributed to the institution and the host research group.

V. Evaluation and Selection Process

The evaluation and selection of the candidates will be performed by the project supervisor supported by the Human Resources 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 will not be possible to modify the application or to add missing documentation after the call deadline.
2. The selection will be based on the evaluation criteria described in Section IV.
3. At the late stages of the selection process, short-listed candidates will be contacted for a personal interview.
4. All applicants will be notified of the final selection decision by the end of early July 2025. The names of the awardees will be published on ICIQ’s website. Candidates may submit allegations they deem to be appropriate, within 10 days of the date of the publication.

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

ICIQ follows in its selection process a gender equality opportunity policy and a non-discrimination policy based on 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 FPI-ICIQ PhD fellowship 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. The Grant Conditions are regulated in the 2023 call of “Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento” and grants for predoctoral researchers associated to these projects, in the framework of the “Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023.”. Articles 3, 12 and 13.
3. The grant includes the salary, the enrolment fees to a PhD program (up to 4 years) and the opportunity to carry out fully funded short stays in other institutions, companies or universities abroad.
4. 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. The time spent with previous pre-doctoral contracts will be deducted from the 48 months granted.
5. The gross yearly salary of the contract shall be split into 12 monthly payments and distributed as shown below:

The first year of PhD: 19.479,01 €

The second, third and fourth year of PhD: 24.348,77 €

The amounts are stated according to the rules of the Estatuto del Personal Investigador en Formación (EPIF) and Article 12.4 of the call 2023 of “Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento”. They will be increased if the EPIF is updated.

1. 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.
2. The FPI-ICIQ grant holders can become Postdoctoral researchers (POP) if they defend their PhD thesis before the end of the grant. In this scenario, the PhD student and the supervisor can agree to sign a postdoctoral contract for a maximum of 12 months. The total duration of both periods (doctoral and postdoctoral) cannot exceed 48 months.
3. The grant holder is entitled to temporarily interrupt the fellowship in the situations regulated in Article 21. C) of the Spanish Law 14/2011, of June 1st, of Science, Technology and Education and in Article 25.7 of the 2023 call of “Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento” and grants for predoctoral researchers associated to these projects, in the framework of the “Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023.” The time elapsed during this interruption will not be accounted for against the total time.
4. The contract will take effect on the date when the awarded student joins the centre.
5. The PhD fellowship awardees will work full-time at ICIQ and may not receive any other fellowship with the same purpose or regular income.

VI. Scientific reporting of the actions for the training of predoctoral researchers associated with the projects.

The pre-doctoral researchers in training will have to report about the activities, objectives achieved, etc to the Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación, using the templates available on the website of the Agencia Estatal de Investigación. The researchers must submit two reports, one intermediate (month 20 of the grant) and the other final, the latter relating to the entire period of execution of the grant, including the POP phase, if applicable.

The Researchers will receive support for the entire duration of the fellowship from the Grants Officers.

Annex 1: Available position

Supervisor: Prof. Arjan W. Kleij

Project PID: Advancing Metal-Assisted Transformations of Functionalized Heterocycles into Novel Stereodefined Scaffolds (AVANT-GARDE)

Project PID Reference: PID2023-149295NB-I00

Number of positions: 1

Reference: FPI-ICIQ 2024-04

Supervisor: Antonio M. Echavarren

Number of positions: 1

Description of the project:

New chiral gold(I) catalysts functionalized with hydrogen-donor groups will be synthesized for the activation of acetylene and other small alkynes, for the cyclization of polyunsaturated substrates, and for the activation of C–H bonds.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

Syntesis of new gold(I) catalysts, development of synthetic methodology, experimental and computational study of reaction mechanisms and experimental work.

Preferred skills or background:

Bachelor and Master degrees in Chemistry with a background in Organic Chemistry from a reputable university. A high level of English is required.

Supervisor: Núria López

Number of positions: 1

Description of the project:

The conversion of CO2 into fuels and chemicals via electrochemical and photocatalytic routes need to be optimized and understood with computational techniques able to derive descriptors for the reactivity. The project goal is to devise new catalytic materials for these electrochemical systems.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student:

Running simulations, analyzing data, writing code, writing drafts, preparing presentations

Preferred skills or background:

Computational Science, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Physical Chemistry

Supervisor: Arjan Kleij & Carles Bo

Number of positions: 1

Description of the project: New transformations aimed at converting CO2 into useful chemicals are being developed in our labs. This project will provide insights about the molecular species involved, understanding of the novel reaction mechanisms and derive guides to optimize the experimental conditions. The final goal is to accelerate the discovery of new catalytic materials.

Tasks to be performed by the PhD student: In this project, the PhD student will carry out computational studies about catalytic reactions involving CO2 as a reactant and atomistic simulations 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.