Call for application for EWRS travel grants for bilateral cooperation 2025

Purpose: The EWRS Travel grants for bilateral cooperations will enable students (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) to have a short-term visit (from a minimum of 3 weeks to a maximum of 3 months) to a laboratory of another EWRS member. The research visit must be conducted in countries within Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Application Requests

Deadline:

The application should be submitted by March 31, 2025 by e-mail to Lena Ulber (lena.ulber@julius-kuehn.de), Aleksandra Savi? (aleksandra.m.savic@gmail.com), Husrev Mennan (hmennan@omu.edu.tr) and Maor Matzrafi (maorm@volcani.agri.gov.il), with “EWRS Travel grants for bilateral cooperation” in the subject line.

Description of travel grant: Recipients will receive a travel grant to visit a lab/research group of their choice to conduct joint experiments or learn new skills and techniques. Each recipient will receive a maximum of 2,000 (two thousand) euros from the EWRS to support their expenses (travel and accommodation).

 

Eligibility Requirements: Applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Enrolled as a current degree-seeking student (M.Sc. or Ph.D.) at an accredited university.
  • Currently conducting research in weed science.
  • Be an active member of the EWRS at the time of application.
  • Prepare a short report after the cooperation that will be published on the EWRS website and newsletter (specifics will be provided directly to recipients) not later than 2 months after the end of the visit.
  • In case of publishable results, a paper should initially be submitted to the Weed Research journal.

Application Procedure: Submission of the following information as a single PDF file:

  • Cover letter describing the applicant’s interest in weed science (1 page).
  • CV (maximum 2 pages).
  • Part A: Description of the project to be conducted at the host institution (background, aim, methods, expected outcome; max. 6 pages).
  • Part B: Estimation of the travel budget (travel and accommodation; 1 page).
  • Two letters of support, one from the applicant’s supervisor and one from the researcher that will host the applicant.
  • Academic transcripts provided by the home institution (unofficial copy is acceptable).
  • The application should be submitted as one PDF document. 

Selection Criteria and Process: Applicants will be evaluated based on their research contribution to the discipline of weed science and the EWRS objectives, their academic record, and their potential contributions to the future of weed science. The EWRS SciCom and review committee will select three students considering gender balance and variation in the geographic origin of the applicants. To avoid conflict of interest, if a SciCom member has any personal affiliations with the applicants, the SciCom member will be excluded from the election committee.

The selection process will be completed not before April 15, 2025. The travel grants recipients and their host(s) will determine the timeline for the visit. Students need to travel to their hosting labs within 12 months starting from the date of travel grant acceptance.

 

A) Description of the project  (maximum 6 pages)

  1. Introduction: introduce your project's general subject or topic; explain why this topic is relevant; clearly state the specific problem or issue that your project aims to address; highlight any gaps; why your project is needed to fill these gaps.
  2. Objectives: clearly state your project's objectives and what you intend to achieve through your research. Objectives should be clear, measurable, realistic and achievable.
  3. Concept and methodology: describe and explain the scientific concepts and methodology underpinning the research idea (project), models and assumptions.
  4. Demonstrate the benefits of your visit to another lab: highlight the potential benefits of your visit to another lab. If the research idea was created as part of a larger project, explicitly state which part will be carried out through bilateral exchange for the specified period.  Note: the proposed activities should be manageable in the visit period (from min. of 3 weeks to a max. of 3 months)
  5. Contribution of the student: specify precisely your contribution through the research exchange and what knowledge and skills you will acquire.
  6. Significance, impact, ambition and expected outcome: describe how your project addresses broader societal or scientific issues, the expected impact on the scientific community, and how it will advance existing knowledge or address gaps in the literature, etc.
  7. Deliverables of the work: please indicate the output you expect to have at the end of your short-term visit 

B) Estimation of the travel budget: please provide an estimation of travel and accommodation costs.

Please download here the PDF of application instrucitions.

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