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The Microsoft Research European Fellowship programme
recognises, encourages and supports outstanding early-career scientists who are
making a unique and important contribution to science and computing and
who are becoming leaders in their field.
The programme gives recipients
considerable freedom in planning the focus of their academic research
and encourages new faculty to develop and maintain intellectual independence
at a critical time in their careers. The funds can be applied to a wide
variety of uses to pursue novel research. They are not a replacement to
standard sources of funding but an addition to help the Fellow boost
their research.
Selection Process
The selection starts by the nomination of candidates in one of the
two eligible research areas by a full time
professor familiar with the work of the nominee. After an
initial screening of the nominations, some of the nominees will be invited to send a full
application.
Applications will then be reviewed by experts in the field and some
of the applicants will be interviewed in Cambridge by a panel of experts
and non-experts.
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Deadline for nominations: 9 December
2007 midnight (GMT)
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Notification of nominees: 17 December 2007
- Deadline for applications:
19 March 2008 midnight (GMT)
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Notification of interviews: 27 May 2008
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Interviews: 23 July 2008
Eligibility Criteria
The nominees should be European nationals and be no more than 5 years
from the completion of their most recent doctorate. They should have
begun to establish an independent research profile and have been awarded
a faculty, tenure track, or other individual funding such as a
competitive research fellowship and be on university payroll by the start of their fellowship around October 2008
(the funding cannot be used to pay the fellow’s salary but part may be
used as a top-up to their existing salary).
Nominees should be carrying research
in one of the two following areas:
Computational Systems Biology
Research should focus on the development and use of computational
methods and tools for modelling complex biological systems. Examples of such
systems include gene networks, metabolic and signalling pathways, immune
subsystems, cell cycle control, chemotaxis, cellular development, whole
organ and whole organism models, etc. The research should provide
new insights in understanding the biological behaviour and also develop
and improve upon the state of the art in systems modelling.
Computational Ecology and Environmental Science
Research should be broadly focused on problems in biodiversity
science, biotic-abiotic interactions and feedbacks in the earth system
or microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Research should use
novel computational methods to advance basic scientific
understanding and application of scientific knowledge to policy
questions in these areas. Areas of interest include tools and
techniques to underpin improved theoretical understanding and modelling
of important biological and ecological components of the earth’s
biosphere, models to understand and predict changes to the biosphere and
the potential impacts of those changes at scales from local to global
and tools that facilitate the collection and accessibility of the
ecological and environmental data necessary to test these models.
Nominations
Nominees for the European Fellowship Programme must be nominated by a
full time professor familiar with their work. Direct applications from
new faculty members are not accepted. Nominee and nominator do not need
to be at the same institution.
No more than one nomination from each university will be accepted.
Nominations should be sent by email to
fabienpe@microsoft.com.
Nominations should be at most about 1,000 words (to which a CV of the
nominee should be added) and should answer the following questions:
- Why is the nominee considered to be an outstanding candidate?
- Why would the Microsoft Research European Fellowship be timely
for the nominee?
- What is the innovative merit of the nominee’s research?
- How does the nominee’s work have the potential to advance the
state of the art?
- How is the University currently supporting the nominee’s work?
- Does the nominee’s current work receive funding from other
sources? If so, please list.
The nomination should include the full contact details (including
email) of the nominee and the nominator.
Applications
Selected nominees will be invited to send a full application. The
application will consist of:
- Completed application form;
- Four strong letters of reference (in English) supporting the
application. One of them should be from the head of the host
institution (e.g., head of the university not head of department).
The other three should be from researchers who are not at the same
institution as the nominee.
- Suggestion of two reviewers;
- Extended CV including list of publications, prizes or awards
received in recognition of scientific achievement, previous
positions, current and past sources of funding, research
collaborations.
- Description of the research project (maximum of ten A4 pages in
12pt size font) that addresses:
- Basis of the research (motivations and brief
state-of-the-art, including references);
- Overall aims and objectives of the research;
- Proposed methodology to be used;
- Novelty and groundbreaking character of the proposed
research;
- Details of any foreseen collaboration with other
departments or research institutions;
- Positioning of the project in the international context of
research in the field;
- Expected results in relation to the current international
status of research in this field;
- Impact and potential for promoting scientific innovation,
both inside and outside the field;
- Working plan (maximum of one side of A4 in 12pt size font)
with milestones and targets;
- Budget (how the fellow intends to spend the grant);
Awards
Each fellowship award will
consist of a cash grant of up to €250,000 and a laptop with a selection
of software applications.
Microsoft Research will award up to 2 European fellowships this year.
Payment will be made to the host university.
The terms of the agreement between successful applicants and their
university with Microsoft Research have been developed over the course
of the last few years with input from numerous research organisations
around Europe to ensure that they are appropriate and equitable.
Privacy Statement
The information provided in the nomination and the
application will be used for making our decision for the Microsoft
Research European Fellowship only. We may pass this information to
external academic reviewers who have agreed to help us review the
applications. All information contained in this application shall be
considered by Microsoft to be non-confidential. Universities should not
submit information that is confidential, restricted, or sensitive in any
way and Microsoft will assume no responsibility for protecting or
disclosing any such information, once submitted. Microsoft is committed
to protecting your privacy. For more information, see the full
Microsoft Online
Privacy Statement.
Contact us
If you have questions that are not answered on this page, please
contact fabienpe@microsoft.com.
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