REACH scholarship programme, by SPACEBRAINS™
The SpaceBrains Foundation, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), is glad to announce the availability of up to three €10,000 scholarships for last-year university or college students, as well as post-graduate or PhD students, from ESA Member and Associate Member States.
The scholarships, offered through the SpaceBrains’ REACH (Research Empowered Achieves Change) programme, is meant to encourage particularly ambitious and disruptive projects in a number of research areas defined by ESA.
Applications close on 31 October 2020.
About SPACEBRAINS™
SpaceBrains is a not-for-profit foundation whose objectives are to finance new ESA activities without relying on additional contributions from Member States. Its aim is to promote entrepreneurship in order to sustain the future of European space industry, as well as initiatives and concepts with potential high business impact. It also aims at fostering the study of disruptive concepts relevant for space which could not be funded through ESA activities and programmes.
At the heart of SpaceBrains is a sustainable funding mechanism: financial resources are raised by auctioning primarily redundant or unserviceable ESA assets or those of its Member States willing to participate, as well as grants, gifts or legacies from those like-minded and benevolent supporters of the SpaceBrains mission.
The three scholarships are funded thanks to the successful raise of funds obtained during the Space Rarities auction held at the occasion of Yuri’s Night on 12 April 2018.
What’s expected from you?
Any interested Academic institute or university shall submit a research proposal for one or more of the research themes selected by ESA. The proposal shall be related to a Master Thesis, PhD position, Post Graduate Diploma research project, or a joint Academic-Industry research programme position, whose candidate(s) and supervisor shall be explicitly mentioned.
The submitted proposals will be evaluated by the REACH selection board - composed of SpaceBrains and ESA experts - and up to 3 winning proposals will be selected.
The three winning proposals will be granted €10,000 for the exclusive benefit of each winning candidate to enrich his/her research project and student academic curriculum.
In case of particularly interesting winning projects, ESA reserves the right to offer the respective student the chance to be interviewed for an ESA Young Graduate Trainee (YGT) or Research Fellow contract.
A final presentation of the three winning projects will be organised during an ESA or ESA-supported event.
How to apply?
All research proposal can be submitted exclusively via this link by 31 October 2020, 23:59 CET. All applications shall contain:
- Name and contact details of researcher candidate and of his/her academic supervisor(s), including their respective CVs
- Letter of endorsement of the Academic or research institution
- Description of the research project proposed
- Envisaged outcome of the research and additional ambitions such as publications, patents, commercialisation.
Timeline
- 15 August 2020: Call for applications opens
- 31 October, 23:59 CET: Deadline for proposal submission
- November 2020: Proposals evaluation
- 30 November 2020: Project presentation and award ceremony for the three winning proposals
- 12 April 2021: Presentation of the scholarship recipients during Yuri’s Night 2021 event
For more information
elia.montanari @ esa.int
spacebrainsfoundation @ gmail.com