MEDAL Mobility Scheme Guidelines

MEDAL mobility funding applications are open to individuals with a MEDAL consortium affiliation, specifically:

• Early career researchers (ECRs), defined as:
  • Postgraduate students (MA/MSc or PhD) at MEDAL consortium partner institutions;
  • Other researchers at early stages in their career (e.g., postdoctoral fellows), employed at MEDAL partner institutions, defined as having been awarded a PhD degree no more than 7 years before the application is submitted (with exceptions made for parental and other relevant leave).

• Other scientific and academic staff at MEDAL consortium partner institutions

• Administrative staff at UT whose work is directly related to MEDAL goals and activities as outlined in WP5 on Institutional Capacity Building

• In special cases, other individuals not included in the above categories

• MEDAL funding can only be used for MEDAL-related events and activities (see the inventory of events and activities). It is only for travel-related costs (e.g., international and local transportation, accommodation, daily allowances, and in special circumstances, visa costs and participation fees) and is subject to each institute’s own regulations.

• MEDAL mobility funding can only cover the costs of one person; group applications are not accepted. 

• An applicant may only submit one application for a given event or activity.

• The application and any additional documents should be in English (each partner’s MEDAL mobility committee can make exceptions as appropriate). 

• Applications must be submitted using the online MEDAL mobility application forms.

• Any supplementary documents must be uploaded to the application system in digital format (i.e., scanned if the original is on paper). 

• Incomplete applications will not be considered.

• Any applicant who has not submitted a mobility funding report (where relevant) within 4 weeks after the deadline will be excluded from future MOBILITY funding.

Applications meeting the formal criteria are assessed by the MEDAL Mobility Committee at the applicant’s home MEDAL partner institute. A ranked list of applicants is compiled based on the quality of the application and the applicant’s status as ECR, as well as other factors stipulated for each mobility application type, including the availability of other funding. This list is the basis for the decision made by the MEDAL Mobility Committee.

The Mobility Committee evaluates the overall quality of each application and its relevance for MEDAL. The main assessment criteria are:

• The applicant’s academic record (based on the cv and any other information provided in the application)

• The relevance of the mobility to the applicant’s work, skills development and/or career prospects (based on their letter of motivation);

• The relevance of the applicant’s participation in the mobility event/activity for the fulfillment of the MEDAL project goals;

• Clarity of the objective of mobility and plan for achieving this objective.

Other aspects may be considered as well, such as whether the applicant will have an active role in the event/activity, whether the applicant is motivated and prepared for the mobility opportunity, to what extent is the mobility opportunity related to the applicant's current academic/administrative activities, etc.

It is within the Mobility Committee's discretion to decide which applications should be supported. If several applications are ranked equally, but the budget does not allow support for all of them, the Committee may prefer applications from PhD students over MA students and may give preference to applicants facing financial hardship. The decision to allocate funding is fixed in the minutes of the MEDAL Mobility Committee meetings. The length of the assessment procedure depends on the application type (see the details for each type).

Each MEDAL mobility type has its specifications concerning the application process; see the different mobility types in the navigation bar on the left.