Important Update on EURIZON Fellowship Programme

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As we alredy announced during summer, the response to the Fellowship programme has been overwhelming, with over 750 applications (10 times more than expected) showcasing the resilient commitment of Ukrainian scientists amid the current war-related severe challenges. To ensure a thorough and transparent selection process, the EURIZON secretariat had to extended the evaluation timeline and opened a call for international volunteer reviewers ( https://indico.desy.de/event/40224/ ) to act as external experts. So far, 400 international scientists from all over the world are generously volunteering to help the review of the applications, in an unprecedented international effort,  but the process is very time consuming and unfortunately not over yet.

In response to the exceptional amount of applications, we have also requested additional funding from our funding agency, which has been positively received. However, final approval is still pending. Despite this is time consuming, the Fellowship secretariat  firmly believe it is worthwhile, as it will enable  the support of a bigger number of deserving Ukrainian teams and projects. It's also important to note that all EURIZON project work packages supporting Ukrainian RIs and scientists (Wp9 and 10), are extended (presumibly to March 2025) to guarantee that all selected research projects will be fully  implemented. 

To ensure the quality of the finalization of the review process and to allow an efficient administrative onboarding process for the increased number of selected teams, it is necessary to implement an evaluation process in 3 shifts.

Here is the revised timeline for the announcement of selected applicants:

  1. The Principal Investigators of the FIRST SHIFT of selected applications will be contacted in the coming days.
  2. The Principal Investigators of the SECOND SHIFT of selected applications will be contacted in January 2024.
  3. The Principal Investigators of the THIRD and final SHIFT of selected applications will be contacted in February 2024.

To streamline communication and ensure efficiency, we kindly ask that applicants (both PI and team members) refrain from reaching out for requesting updates.  With more than 750 applicants the volume of emails can be overwhelming for our small team, and this will allow us to focus on the evaluation process and subsequent communications.

If the PI of a selected team does not respond promptly to our communications, the other team members will be promptly contacted as well, to ensure swift communication.
When the evaluation process will be finished, ALL applicant Principal Investigators will be contacted to announce the outcomes of their application.

We wish to thank our applicants for their  dedication to excellence and we deeply appreciate the trust they have placed in our team. We are fully cognizant of the significance of the support that this fellowship will provide and the impact it might have on their respective endeavors. We understand that the delay in the selection process has  caused inconveniences, and for this, we sincerely apologize. We want to assure you that every effort is being made to ensure that the selection process is thorough, fair, and reflective of the outstanding merit within the applicant pool.

We feel strong the honor and responsibility associated with this important program and we value their continued consideration and trust.

We will keep posting updates on the progress of the programme.

EURIZON Fellowship Secretariat