”la Caixa” Foundation is offering 25 three-year postdoctoral fellowships to hire experienced researchers of all nationalities to carry out their work at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu excellence award, Institutos de SaludCarlos III and units evaluated as excellent by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of Portugal. The research must be carried out in the research areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), including Bio and Health Sciences. The deadline for applications is 7 October 2021 at 2 pm (Spain time).

About Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA)

Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) is a joint research center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA). Created in 1999, it was the world's first center dedicated specifically to astrobiological research and the first non-US associate member of NASA's Astrobiology Institute (now the NASA Astrobiology Program). It is an interdisciplinary research center whose main objective is to study the origin, presence and influence of life in the universe. Its staff includes scientists specialized in a wide range of fields such as biology, chemistry, geology, physics, genetics, ecology, astrophysics, planetology, engineering, mathematics and computer science. In 2017, CAB was distinguished by the Ministry of Science and Innovation as “María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence”, for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022.

CAB participates in different missions and instruments of great astrobiological relevance, such as CARMENES, CHEOPS, PLATO, the James Webb Space Telescope JWST or the BepiColombo mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). It has also developed instruments for international space missions such as REMS and TWINS, on Mars since 2012 and 2018 respectively, and MEDA and RLS, which will arrive in 2021 (Feb.) and 2023 respectively. In addition, since its creation, the center has been working on the development of the SOLID instrument, aimed at the search for life in planetary exploration.

Requirements

In order to get accepted in the Incoming program, candidates must meet the following requirements:

    Experience: They should have earned their doctoral degree two to seven years prior to the deadline of the call for applications. The date of the doctoral thesis defence will be understood as the date when the doctoral degree was obtained. In the cases of interruption of the research activity between the date of obtaining the doctoral degree and the call deadline, the candidate may request an extension of the period in which the doctoral degree must have been obtained.
     
    Geographic mobility:
    For candidates applying to Spanish centres or units: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately preceding the closing date of the call. Short stays, such as holidays, will not be taken into account.
      For candidates applying to Portuguese units: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three years immediately preceding the closing date of the call. Short stays, such as holidays, will not be taken into account. Special mobility condition could apply for the in the cases of interruption of the research activity or researchers who have spent time in the procedure for obtaining the refugee status under the Geneva Convention.
     
    Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

More information in «la Caixa» website

Application: ”la Caixa” fellowship application website