University of Essex seeks Expressions of Interest in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships

The University of Essex’s Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan (LaDeLi) would like to invite Expressions of Interest from postdoctoral researchers of any nationality (at any career stage) to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. We are looking to support a small number of high-quality applications under the new round and would welcome expressions of interest from interested researchers, particularly, but not exclusively, in the following areas:

  • Early language development
  • Second language learning and teaching
  • Language attrition, shift, loss and impairment

Essex ranks in the top 20 UK universities for research excellence and the top 5 for social science, and LaDeLi is unique in bringing together researchers working on language development at all stages of the life cycle. The broad range of our research makes us uniquely interdisciplinary, merging theories and methodologies from psychology, cognitive science, sociolinguistics and education. Full details about the Centre can be found on our website – http://www.essex.ac.uk/langling/research/ladeli/default.aspx

Description of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme

The purpose of the Individual Fellowship is to support the mobility, research project and training of researchers. The scheme allows for researchers to move around within EU Member States and Associated Countries, move outside of Europe or move into Europe. The grant typically covers two years’ salary, a mobility allowance, research, training and network costs and overheads for the host institution. Full details of the scheme are available at http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/msca-if-2017.html

Eligibility and Requirements

Candidates should hold a doctoral degree – or have at least four years of full-time research experience – in a relevant social science or humanities discipline. Candidates are also expected to have good problem solving, troubleshooting, and analytical skills, be fluent in English, have good interpersonal and written and oral communication skills, and be able to work independently as well as within an international team.

At the time of the call deadline, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (e.g. work, studies etc.) in the country of the beneficiary for more than 12 months in the last 3 years.

Submitting an Expression of Interest

Interested applicants should submit a one-page CV, an outline of the proposed research (maximum 1,000 words) and a cover letter highlighting why you believe this area of work will be suited to LaDeLi as the host institution (maximum 500 words).

Please submit these in Word format to Prof Florence Myles (fmyles@essex.ac.uk) by Friday 7th July.

An expression of interest is not a promise of funding or position. It is an expression of interest in making a future application with the University of Essex as your host.

Review of expressions of interest will start after the deadline. Proposals will be evaluated based on research quality, the applicant’s future career prospects and the availability of appropriate supervision. The best proposals will be chosen for submission to the MSCF competition.

The successful applicant[s] will be supported in completing their application by the scheme deadline of 14 September 2017.