Hebrew Version

The PBC Fellowship Program for Outstanding

Post-Doctoral Researchers from China and India

Applications for the Academic Year 2017/2018

Program Goals

1. To enhance the academic and research relations with China and India.

2. To increase the number of outstanding foreign post-doctoral researchers in Israel and strengthen the research groups in Israeli universities.

Fellowships

1. The Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) will award a maximum of 45 fellowships to outstanding post-doctoral researchers from China and India for the academic year 2017/2018. Each fellowship will be awarded for two years, with the option to extend to a third year with the approval of the China-India Steering Committee of the PBC. The Steering Committee is responsible for the evaluation and selection of candidates for the fellowship.

2. The fellowship amount is 110,000 NIS per year. Of this amount 69,000 NIS will be provided by the PBC, and 41,000 NIS will be provided by the Israeli university. This fellowship is intended to cover board and living expenses.

3. In addition, the university will provide 5,000 NIS each year for the purpose of covering international travel expenses ("travel budget"). The travel budget can be utilized for the following purposes: arrival in Israel at the beginning of the fellowship, travel abroad for conferences, workshops, and work meetings throughout the duration of the fellowship, and travel to Israel for up to one year after the conclusion of the fellowship, for the purpose of maintaining and developing connections with Israeli researchers. In the event that the annual amount of 5,000 NIS is not utilized each year, the remaining sum will accumulate in the following year. The universities will be responsible for the administration of the travel budget.

4. The fellowship funding period will commence in October 2017 and end in October 2020. Fellows are required to arrive in Israel by the 1st of March 2018. Fellows who are not able to arrive by this date will forfeit the fellowship.

5. In the event that a post-doctoral fellow wishes to change supervisor or move to a different Israeli university throughout the duration of his fellowship, the fellow must submit a request for approval to the China-India Steering Committee of the PBC.

6. Please note that starting from the 2017/18 academic year, a supervisor may supervise at most 2 PBC fellows of this program (of course there is no restriction on the number of post-doctoral students to be supervised from other financial sources). Thus applications of candidates and supervisors which do not comply with this restriction will not be considered.

7. The awarding of the fellowship is contingent upon the following conditions:

a. The candidate's commitments to the university:

i. To request approval from the university for each suspension in research work of two months or more. The university shall not approve suspension of research for longer than one year. In any case, the fellowship cannot be extended beyond October 2020.

b. The university shall make the following commitments to the fellow:

i. The fellow is entitled to work within the university, according to the regulations of the university and the Ministry of Interior, but the university may not employ the fellow at the expense of the fellowship (i.e.

payment of the fellowship cannot be tied in any way to employment of the fellow);

ii. To provide the fellow with the necessary professional literature and research tools in order to optimize the fellow's research;

iii. To allocate a budget of 5000 NIS per year to the fellow to cover travel expenses according to Clause 5.

iv. To inform the fellow of the rules of the program and the above obligations and rights.

v. To inform the fellow about living costs in Israel.

vi. To provide periodic reports on academic and financial issues relating to the fellow.

Terms for Candidate Selection

1. The candidate shall fulfill the following requirements:

a. The candidate shall be a citizen of China or India, and shall not hold Israeli citizenship. Candidates who have Indian or Chinese citizenships and have completed their doctoral degrees in an institution outside of China or India are also eligible to apply for a fellowship.

b. Candidates must be holders of a doctorate or post-doctorate degree for whom, on the date of publishing this notice (29 September 2016), no more than one year has passed since their last academic position and no more than five years have passed from the date of receiving a doctoral degree.

c. It is possible to present the candidacy of a person who has not yet received his or her doctoral degree before the date of submission, on condition that he or she will provide confirmation from the relevant

authority where the doctorate is being carried out, of the fact that the candidate will fulfil all of his/her academic obligations and is expected to receive his/her doctoral degree during his/her first year of

study in Israel. In any case, if the candidate does not receive the doctoral degree during the first year of his or her stay in Israel, he or she will not be able to continue his/her activities and the institution will terminate

his/her fellowship.

d. The candidates should intend to conduct research in their academic field on a full time basis in an established research team in a university in

Israel, under the training of a researcher who is a faculty member in the university.

e. Candidates who commenced a post-doctoral position in Israel prior to the publishing of this notice (29 September 2016) are not eligible to

apply for the fellowship.

f. Candidates may only submit an application through one supervisor and university in Israel.

The Selection Procedure

1. The selection of winners of the fellowships will be done by the China-India Steering Committee of the PBC, which will evaluate the qualifications of candidates.

2. Candidates who have Indian or Chinese citizenship and completed their doctoral degrees in an institution outside of China or India will comprise no more than 50 percent of the winners.

3. The candidates shall apply directly to the contact person at the relevant university. Each university shall independently evaluate its candidates and submit its selected candidates to the PBC, in order of preference.

4. The selection of fellows will be done on the basis of academic excellence and according to the criteria set by the Academic Committee at its discretion. The choice of fellows will be announced during February 2017.

5. There are 45 fellowships to award in this cycle. However, the Academic Committee is not obligated to award all the fellowships if it finds the academic level of the candidates not satisfactory.

6. Each university may submit no more than 2 candidates under the same mentoring professor in this cycle. In Addition, applying a candidate during a certain cycle does not prevent his/her re-applying to another cycle (from 2018/2019 onwards).

7. It is forbidden for a candidate to apply through more than one university.

8. The universities must avoid from submitting candidates who do not answer the fellowship's criteria.

9. The fellowship will be given according to the criteria for academic excellence and shall be based, inter alia, on the academic activities of the candidate, future research plans, list of publications, list of scientific works and recommendations. As stated above, the Academic Committee will take into consideration the universities’ priorities, but is not obligated to act upon them.

Evaluation Procedure

1. At the end of each academic year, an academic report and a budget report will be sent to the PBC as following:

a. During 2018/2019 academic year – After 6 months of work (during April) a report will be sent by the supervising professor, expressing his/her wishes to continue the fellowship.

b. During 2019/2020 academic year – After 18 months of work (during April) an elaborate report will be sent by the supervising professor which will detail the work the fellow has achieved thus far. This report will be evaluated by the Academic Committee, which will decide whether to extend the fellowship to a third year.

c. During 2020/2021 academic year – By the end of September the supervising professor must submit a final evaluation, summarizing the fellow's work.

d. Each year by September 30th the university must submit a budget report.

2. The university is obligated to notify the PBC as soon as possible in the event of a fellow's departure that exceeds two months. The university must state the fellow's reasons for leaving.

3. According to these reports, the sum of the fellowship will be transferred to the university. The renewal of the fellowship each year depends on the judgement of the Academic Committee

Required Documents

1. Applications should include:

1. Completed application form.

2. Copy of academic degree certificates (Bachelors, Masters, PhD if relevant).

Please do not include academic transcripts/grades.

3. For candidates who have not yet finished their PhD, please attach a confirmation from the relevant authority where the doctorate is being

carried out, of the fact that the candidate will fulfil all of his/her academic obligations and is expected to receive his/her doctoral degree no

later than during his/her first year of study in Israel.

4. CV including list of publications. Please mention the impact factor of the journal, if it exists. Please state if the written article has yet to be published. Please refrain from writing over two passages about each patent (if relevant).

5. A summary of your doctoral dissertation (up to one page).

6. A summary of your research plan in Israel (up to 2 pages).

7. The reasons for your choice of institution and academic supervisor and the connection, if any, with your present and planned future work (up

to half a page).

8. Three recommendation letters.
9. A letter of undertaking from the supervisor at the Israeli university explaining his / her reasons for wishing to take on the candidate. Letters
which provide detailed and well-reasoned arguments will increase the chance of the candidate's application being accepted.

The complete application materials should be submitted in 2 copies, by the hosting staff member,
to Ms. Bat-Sheva Cohen, Head, Foundations & Grants Unit, no later than November 13, 2016,
and by e-mail to: shlomita@tauex.tau.ac.il.