2 PhD (ESR) positions in vision restoration – ITN project

2 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs; PhD students) positions are available for 3 years within the framework of the European training (ITN) project ENTRAIN VISION at Faculty of Mathematics of Charles University.

=> Submission deadline: 13th April 2020

About the project ENTRAIN VISION

Blindness is the most feared handicap leading to the greatest exclusion from society by reducing patient autonomy and mobility. Clinical trials have demonstrated the possibility to regain some useful vision with retinal prostheses in patients having lost photoreceptors. New approaches are entering into clinical trials such as photovoltaic implants, optogenetic therapy and even cortical prostheses for patients having lost eye to brain connection.

In the ENTRAIN VISION project, the Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) at several European institutions will work collaboratively on these innovative technologies for restoring vision in blind patients. Their training in academic institutes or industry will be completed by several secondments, including at least one at an industry partner. In addition, several summer schools will address scientific subjects on vision restoration and transferable skills in technology transfer, clinical trials, start-up creation, and communication to the media.

The project partners are: Sorbonne Université (Paris, France), EPFL (Geneva, Switzerland), UMFCD (Bucharest, Romania), NMI (Tübingen, Germany), Aalto University (Aalto, Finland), UMH (Elche, Spain), Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic), IIT (Genova, Italy), Streetlab (Paris, France

ESR positions available at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic:

ESR11: Simulation of prosthetic stimulation in neural substrate
- CUNI (Prague, Czech Republic)
ESR12: Optogenetic encoding schemes in retina, LGN and V1
- CUNI (Prague, Czech Republic)

Application

Candidates are requested to read details about each position and the application and selection process in the recruitment guidelines.

=> The recruitment guidelines are available to download here.
=> The application form is available to download here.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates must be in the first four years of their research career and not hold a PhD. They must not have resided in the Czech Republic more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to their recruitment.

Benefits

ITNs are financially supported by the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) because they provide excellent research, training and career aspects. The benefits of being a PhD student in an ITN network include:

The chance to participate in specially developed courses (e.g. on specific techniques, academic soft skills)
building your personal professional network at a very early stage of your career due to the embedding of our PhD projects in an academic/industrial network
being exposed to industry and the challenges in industry already during the PhD, as all ESR will be either hosted or seconded to a private sector partner
the opportunity to spend some time in the labs of other partners (and get familiar with other disciplines, techniques, cultures etc.), as the research projects are designed such that they will mostly have interdisciplinary components
Being advised by excellent group leaders – they are all outstanding in their research and training

The ITN programme offers a highly competitive and attractive salary and working conditions. The successful candidates will receive a salary in accordance with the MSCA regulations for early stage researchers. The salary includes a generous living allowance, a mobility allowance and a family allowance (depending on family situation):

Salary is according to standardised EU rules for ITN grants, which at current exchange rates leads to a net salary of about 40 400 CZK (approx. 1 580 EUR) monthly.
Family allowance of €500/month, which will be subject to taxation, depending on family situation.

The ESR will be contractually employed for total 36 months by their host institution and will be covered under the social security scheme of the enrolling country.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.