Grants for Co-Supervised PhD on SmUCS

EU-CONEXUS AMBITION

The European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (EU‐CONEXUS) is a transnational European higher education and research alliance. It addresses global and local challenges by tackling coastal environmental, technical, economic and societal needs. EU-CONEXUS is a fully-fledged university, offering education, training, and study programs and supporting innovation through research and links with socio-economic actors. The partners of the alliance are La Rochelle Université, Agricultural University of Athens, Catholic University of Valencia, Klaipeda University, University of Zadar, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, South East Technological University, University of Rostock, and Frederick University. To learn more, please visit the EU-CONEXUS Website.

OBJECTIVES OF THE EU-CONEXUS PhD GRANTS

The EU-CONEXUS community aims to develop PhD co-tutelle and co-supervised programs in Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability topics between 2 EU-CONEXUS partners. PhD students in co-tutelle or co-supervision are eligible for PhD Grants.

The general objectives of the PhD Grants are to:

1. Boost collaboration between EU-CONEXUS partners, allowing PhD students and supervisors to work jointly and across disciplines in PhD programs on SmUCS topics;
2. Drive international networking and enhance the skills of PhD students by providing them with mobility opportunities aimed at studying, training, teaching, and doing research in partner institutions;
3. Support the development of new joint, flexible, and innovative PhD co-tutelle / co-supervised programs.

As eligible beneficiaries, PhD students from EU-CONEXUS partner universities with co-supervised or co-tutelle theses between 2 EU-CONEXUS partners can apply for funding through the PhD Grants once the bilateral co-tutelle agreement or the decision for co-supervised theses between the 2 universities has been concluded. The grant is awarded to the PhD student in co-tutelle or co-supervision and can be granted only once during the PhD studies.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

• An application proposal must be submitted;
• The co-tutelle or co-supervised thesis shall be in the field of Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SmUCS);
• A bilateral co-tutelle agreement or a co-supervision agreement between the 2 partner universities in EU-CONEXUS must be signed at the moment of the application;
• Both supervisors from EU-CONEXUS partner universities must agree with the application;

All applicants are requested to submit the completed application form via the following email address: doctoralschool@eu-conexus.eu.

The call is open until July 2026, and the maximum number of grants is 15.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The proposal will be assessed in reference to two main criteria:

• Relevance: The PhD thesis must be relevant to the topic of Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability;
• Eligibility criteria: Existence of a bilateral co-tutelle or co-supervision agreement between 2 EU-CONEXUS partners (must be signed and in force) and agreement of the 2 co-supervisors on the application.

The EU-CONEXUS Doctoral School working group (WP4 EU-CONEXUS PLUS) will evaluate the application. If approved, it will be sent for validation to EU-CONEXUS Research and Academic Councils. A response for each application will be received by the applicant no later than 30 days from the day of submission.

FUNDING CRITERIA

• The funding/grant is €3000 (VAT included) per student, and it can be used for one or more mobilities during the PhD studies (for visiting the partner university or any other partner in the EU-CONEXUS alliance);
• Co-funding is allowed whether it comes from the partners’ own funds or from public or private funds;
• The grant will be awarded to the PhD student by the EU-CONEXA organisation;
• The process will be managed by ISBL. Please refer to their procedure for the justification papers and other matters.

In case of other questions or queries, please contact doctoralschool@eu-conexus.eu.