Fondazione CON IL SUD has launched the 3.5 million euro Call for proposals “Brains2South“, at its fourth edition now, addressing Italian and foreign researchers who are currently carrying out their research activities abroad or in Italy (outside Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily).

The initiative aims at “attracting” young excellences in research centres and university departments in Southern Italy, in order to increase connections with the rest of the world and to provide a chance to develop and strengthen independent careers.

The call is open to young people, who have conducted research in institutions located outside the geographical scope of the Foundation and who choose to carry out their research within a host institution in Southern Italy (Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily). Proposals must be submitted on-line (deadline is October 7th 2015 at 1.00 PM), through the Igrant platform (available at the following link), directly by the researcher, who will take the role of main investigator and thus have the opportunity to conduct a research project on his/her own responsibility, without the superintendence of a supervisor.

The host institution will have the opportunity of enhancing and improving the quality of internal research – resulting from the new skills and experiences provided from different parts of the world. In addition to covering the costs of the researcher, the grant of the Foundation will also cover the costs of his/her research proposal (i.e. necessary equipment, any human resources support, consumables, etc.).

The Foundation will support solely initiatives of applied scientific research with a strong innovative value aiming at finding practical and specific solutions to the study and preservation of cultural or environmental heritage in the fields of technology, energy, manufacturing, nanotechnologies, ICT, food processing, biomedicine, pharmaceutics, diagnostics. Purely theoretical research proposals will not be admitted.

In order to be eligible to become main investigator, who is the only person entitled to submit a RP and to be granted access to grants allocated by the Foundation – at the date of publication of the call (July 14th 2015) – researchers must:

1. a) held a PhD (or equivalent degree) from universities located outside the regions where the Foundation operates, or abroad;
2. b) have from 3 to 7 years of experience following their PhD (or equivalent degree), preferably within foreign research facilities; in case of multiple qualifications reference will be made to the first;
3. c) have been actively and continuously involved in research project in institutions located outside the regions in which the Foundation operates (Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily) over the last 36 months;
4. d) be carrying out scientific research primarily in one of the areas of intervention defined in section 1.5.

In order to be eligible the investigator must further:

1. have published at least one research article as lead or last author in a peer reviewed journal;
2. present a single RP. In case of multiple proposals submitted by the same researcher, these will all be considered ineligible;
3. indicate at least a host institution inside which he/she intends to develop his/her own research project.

Do you want to know more? Please visit the Fondazione CON IL SUD website to download the call for proposals and the FAQ.