Evaluation process

The evaluation process will be divided into five stages:

1. Administrative Eligibility check (1 week): once the call has closed, two persons from the administration of CRAG will check that applicants a) fulfil the eligibility rules; and b) obligatory documentation has been provided and that it respects the formatting rules. Ineligible applications will not be evaluated.
   
   
2. Assessment Process and Interviews (5 weeks): A Selection Committee formed by external independent experts from recognized national and international universities, research centers and industry will remotely evaluate the applications. Each application will be evaluated by at least 2 experts (gender balanced if possible) from the same or a close area of discipline as the application being evaluated (avoiding conflict of interest between applicants and experts).
   
   Assessment Process
   The assessment process will be focused on the scientific merit, trajectory of the researcher (i.e., past performance) and the research project proposed.
   
   The Selection Committee will elaborate a ranking list and will propose the applicants selected for interview. All applicants will be informed about the results of the evaluation.
   
   A minimum of two applicants for each vacancy offered in the call will be invited for interview.
   
   Interviews
   Selected applicants will be invited to present their projects to the Interview Committee. All interviews will be conducted in English through Skype or a similar video-conference tool in the same specified date(s) for all applicants, to give equal opportunities to applicants worldwide and avoiding long, environmentally-costly trips. Applicants will be asked to make a 10-minute presentation of themselves and their proposal, followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers. This evaluation stage puts more emphasis on the potential of the applicant.
   
   The final evaluation report will include the score and feedback to the applicant about the strengths and weaknesses of the application with regard to the evaluation criteria.
   
   
3. Final ranking of applicants: After the interviews are completed, the Interview Committee will agree on the final score for each applicant, considering the results of both the Assessment process and the Interview. The Interview Committee will produce the final ranking list that will determine the awardees, and those to be considered as reserve list.
   
   
4. Ethics evaluation: an ethics committee formed by two senior researchers of CRAG, with no conflict of interest in the call, will evaluate the Statement of Research Interest of applicants proposed to be awarded.
   
   
5. Appointment of Selected Applicants: the selected applicants will be invited to initiate the appointment process. Selected applicants will be required to confirm acceptance of the offered position within 10 days. If an offer is rejected or the applicant does not reply to the offer in the allotted time, the reserve list will be activated by order of ranking. Selected applicants will have up to 3 months to join CRAG.