Erasmus Mundus (AgTraIn) Scholarships

Overview

Agricultural Transformation by Innovation (AgTraIn) is a three-year world-class Joint Doctoral Programme. AgTraIn is part of the Erasmus Mundus programme initiated by the European Commission to enhance and promote European higher education throughout the world. The language of the programme is English.

AgTraIn has a policy of equal opportunities for men and women and people with special needs.

The AgTraIn Objective and Focus

The main objective of the AgTraIn programme is to develop an elite European school within the topic of successful development and transformation of farming systems in the developing world. Thematically, the AgTraIn programme deals with agricultural production chains, the natural resource base and the involved communities. The scope of AgTraIn will range from the technical aspects of agricultural production, over post-harvest management, processing and value-addition, to market access and commercialisation. A key feature of the programme is the involvement of key stakeholders in identifying research questions and participating in project formulation. The emphasis is on applied research.

The AgTraIn Consortium

The AgTraIn programme provides you with a single entry-point access to top-level and up-to-date research on agricultural transformation within the scientific fields of the programme. The programme is jointly developed and delivered by a six-university consortium consisting of

• University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Universita degli Studi di Catania, Spain
• University College of Cork, Ireland
• Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain
• Montpellier SupAgro, France
• Wageningen University, The Netherlands

PhD degrees

Successful completion of the AgTaIn Programme results in a joint degree. An overview of the degrees is presented in the table below:

Degree awarding institution	PhD degree
University of Copenhagen	Ph.D - Philosophiae Doctor PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Universita degli Studi di Catania	Dottore di Ricerca Ph.D
University College of Cork	Ph.D (Food Science and Technology)
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid	Programa de Doctorado en Planificacion de proyectos de Desarrollo Rural y Gestion Sotenible Ph.D programme in Planning of Rural Development projects and Susatinable Management
Montpellier SupAgro	Diplome de doctoeur du Centre international d'etudes superieures en sciences agronomiques
Wageningen University	Doctorate in the field of Production Ecology and Resource Conservation
University of Padova	Ph.D - Philosophiae Doctor Ph.D - Doctor of Philosophy

Fellowships

Each fellowship is made up of three components: installation grant, operational funds and salary. 

The three main components in AGTRAIN EMJD fellowships

		Category A scholarships(36months)	Category Bscholarships               (36 months)
I	Fixed contribution to travel, installation and any other type of costs	€7500	€3000 - if mobility to associated partners
II	Operational funds (participation costs, insurance coverage, etc.)	€ 21600	€21600
III	Salary	€100800	€100800

Category A and B fellowships are identical except that the first are eligible to receive 7500 EUR to cover travel and installation costs (received in two installments), whereas Category B fellowships include 3000 EUR to cover travel and installation costs when the fellowship holder visits an associate partner outside Europe.

All AGTRAIN doctorates will be employed on contracts within a laboratory-based field.

Application and election Procedures

NEXT CALL  - information available 1 June 2012

AgTraIn only issues one annual call for applications covering both EU and third-country applicants. The annual call announces selected research topics relevant for the application round.  

Application Form and Guidelines

When the call is opened you can access the Application Form here. For directions on how to complete the application, you will also be able to download the Guidelines to completing the AgTraIn doctoral candidate application form.

Main contents of the application form:

• Indication of selected research topic from the AgTraIn PhD Topic Catalogue
• Project synopsis of max 1500 words
• A sample of own scientific text
• Certified copy of second university degree(s) certificate
• Brief Curriculum Vitae
• English proficiency (min score IELTS 7.0 , TOEFL: Paper-based 600/IBT 100)
• Two academic references

Evaluation criteria

Eligible applications are evaluated by the AgTraIn Assessment Committee according to three main criteria:

• Academic potential as indicated by (i) a very good second university degree; (ii) a research synopsis that closely relates to one of the five research subjects announced in the call, and demonstrate insight and interest in the subject, (iii) documented research achievements, e.g. publications in international journals with peer review. This is the most important criterion 
• English proficiency
• Academic references

Short-listing

Based on this, the best applicants are short-listed and invited to develop a full project proposal. Short-listed applicants will be informed by email. They are put in direct contact with the potential supervisors, who will assist the applicant in developing the full project proposal. Within a deadline of 5-6 weeks, the applicant submits the full proposal on a standard format to the AgTraIn Secretariat.

Interview

Each shortlisted applicant is invited, if recommended by their principal supervisor, to present their proposal before a Scientific Committee, consisting of at least two members of the AgTraIn Consortium Commission.  Applicant costs are covered by the Consortium.

Start date

Selected doctoral candidates should expect to start their doctoral studies around 1 September 2013.

Erasmus Mundus Secretariat

For further information on e.g. the programme, admission procedures and deadlines please contact us at

agtrain@life.ku.dk

You are also welcome to write to

Erasmus Mundus Secretariat

University of Copenhagen

Faculty of Life Sciences

Bülowsvej 17

DK-1870 Frederiksberg

Denmark

Phone +45 35332048

http://www.agtrain.eu/



Please quote Scholarization.blogspot.com on your application when applying for this scholarship

Other Recommended Scholarships

Join us and fill in the form below with your email address to get free scholarship information:

Privacy Guarantee: we will not share your personal information with anyone.