As you may know, the European Union funds every year a large number of postdoctoral fellowships to support the mobility of outstanding candidates to a different EU country and not only. We at Charles University of course welcome such prestigious fellows and are happy to receive interest from candidates who recognise our excellence and wish to contribute to our success while enhancing their own career.

This year, in particular, I will be happy to support a truly outstanding candidate who wishes to join our research group as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow (through a standard fellowship, a career restart fellowship, a reintegration fellowship, or a global fellowship). The rules for eligibility and the instructions for applying are published here: https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/get-funding/individual-fellowships-2020_en. The deadline for applications is 09/09/2020, but the preparation is time consuming so we must begin as soon as possible.

Now about the characteristics I am looking for in the candidate.

The project will be carried out under the formal supervision of our director, David Mašín, who is a renowned expert in the field of constitutive modelling of geomaterials by applying the principles of hypoplasticity. However, the fellow will be expected work in my team, on a project that must fit not only the background and interests of the candidate, but also those of the supervisor and myself. My current interests include the advanced (hypoplastic) modelling of slope stability at multiple scales under thermo-hydro-mechanical boundary conditions (including the effects of rainfall patterns and climate change), the effect of pore fluid chemistry on slope deformations, as well as the velocity-dependent behaviour of geomaterials (clays in particular) upon shearing.

Therefore, I am looking for a very specific candidate, who (1) holds a PhD in engineering geology / geotechnical engineering with a focus in one of the above areas, (2) has a significant publication record in the same area, and (3) can contribute to the advancement of our knowledge by bringing specific and unique expertise to the project.

Only with a perfect match that enables a two-way knowledge transfer the project proposal will have a chance to be funded. The call is in fact extremely competitive, with a success rate of only 10-12% (usually corresponding to a grade of 90/100 or above). Each candidate can only apply with one supervisor, while we, as host institution, may choose to support multiple candidates but generally prefer to move forward with only a handful of applications with clear chances to succeed.

If you are eligible (please check the eligibility criteria very carefully!), you match the description of the “ideal candidate”, and are interested in this opportunity, please drop me an email with a brief presentation of yourself and your idea for a project proposal (1-2 paragraphs). I will be happy to discuss it with you and check whether we can build upon it.

Please note that, at this stage, no formal support is guaranteed. For now, I am only surveying (personally and confidentially) the interest of potential candidates. Once it becomes apparent that we have a good match, I will involve our director, who will provide his own remarks. Only then, the selected candidate may be endorsed by our department and the faculty, and we will be able to jointly submit a formal application for MSCA funding.

Interested? Contact me!