Open Call: The Slovak Academy of Sciences’ IMPULZ 2023 Programme

On 1 June 2023, the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) opened a call for applications for the IMPULZ 2023 grant programme.

Internationally recognized scientists and highly talented young researchers have the opportunity to carry out their scientific goals in Slovakia under conditions similar to the prestigious European grant for the third time. Selected projects can apply for funds of up to € 160,000 per year. The call is open until August 31, 2023, the expected commencement of projects is in April 2024.

The IMPULZ Programme aims to improve the excellence of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) and its research institutes by recruiting internationally recognized scientists from abroad or highly talented young researchers who would normally consider leaving for abroad. The task for the excellent scientists will be to create and manage their own research groups to work on new research directions in line with the current world trends. The programme should improve the excellence, internationalization, inter-disciplinarity and competitiveness of SAS in the European Research Area, among other things, by increasing its chances to receive prestigious European grants.

Eligibility criteria:

The applicant must hold a PhD at the time of application (or equivalent).

The applicant must demonstrate sufficient research experience gained at a foreign research institute. Either s/he obtained a PhD degree or completed a long-term stay outside Slovakia, usually not shorter than 2 years.

The applicant must prove that s/he regularly publishes in quality scientific journals in the given scientific field; that s/he has been repeatedly invited to present her/his scientific results at important international conferences; and that s/he has been a leading researcher of a scientific project.

(In the case of a young researcher) The applicant must prove autonomy from the thesis advisor by providing a list of publications which were not co-authored by the advisor. Moreover, the proposed topic of the project must be different from the topic of the applicant’s thesis.

The applicant must demonstrate the capability to lead a proposed research team as well as the ability to obtain other competitive resources for research in the long term.