PhD Program

 

The ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program supports excellent young researchers across Europe by connecting them to leading researchers and offering a variety of networking and training activities, including boot camps, summer schools and workshops. ELLIS PhDs and postdocs conduct cutting-edge curiosity-driven research in machine learning or a related research area with the goal of publishing in top-tier conferences in the field.

 

Apply by November 15, 2021, to join the ELLIS PhD Program in 2022

 

Tracks

There are two tracks within the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program: the academic track and the industry track. These tracks have separate requirements for admission and criteria for activity during the appointment, but otherwise offer the same benefits, network and resources to the applicant. 

Academic track

PhD students and postdocs in the academic track strive for international collaboration as they partner with two European academic institutions in their research. These candidates are supervised by one ELLIS fellow/scholar or unit faculty and one ELLIS fellow/scholar/member from different European countries, and they visit the exchange institution for min. 6 months (the partitioning of this time is flexible). Normally, the exchange is partially sponsored by the exchange institution; ELLIS PhD students and postdocs are also eligible to apply for the ELISE mobility grant

Industry track

The industry track is open to PhD and postdoc candidates that will be part of a collaboration between an academic institution and an industry partner, and will spend time conducting research at the industry partner during their PhD or postdoc. The candidate will spend a minimum of 50% of their time at the academic institution, and at least 6 months (cumulative) with the industry partner. 

 

For this track, both advisors may be located in the same country. One advisor will represent the academic institution and the other the industry partner. Both the academic and industry advisor must be ELLIS members and at least one of them a fellow, scholar or unit faculty. 

 

How to join ELLIS as a PhD or postdoc

 

There are two ways to become an ELLIS PhD student or postdocs: (1) via our central application process (if you want to start a PhD with one of the ELLIS fellows/scholars or unit faculty); (2) via a nomination process (if you’re already working with one of the ELLIS fellows/scholars as a PhD or postdoc).

1. Central application (open call - deadline November 15, 2021)

Prospective students may apply through the central ELLIS application portal to become a PhD student within the ELLIS network (deadline once a year in November). In their application, applicants choose from a set of ELLIS research areas and indicate preferences for ELLIS fellows, scholars or unit faculty they would like to work with. Candidates will be centrally reviewed for excellence by a pool of experts; the best candidates will be eligible for the ELLIS program and may be invited for interviews by individual advisors. If an offer is made, an agreement is signed which specifies the main supervisor, the co-supervisor, the funding as well as the exchange and graduation plan. Students will be funded through the advisor’s resources and get their degree from the home institution. Please read our FAQs and slides for more information.

Currently, the central application process is only for new PhD students. Postdocs are only recruited non-centrally via the nomination process described in 2. 

The ELLIS PhD program is accepting applications via the central recruiting until November 152021. Please see the call for applications for details. The results of the previous call are available here. Nomination to the program (for students who already started their PhD with ELLIS faculty) is possible year-round (see 2).

2. Nomination

ELLIS fellows, scholars or unit faculty may nominate PhD students or postdocs who are working with them to become ELLIS PhD students or postdocs in the academic or industry track. Note that postdocs of either track are currently only recruited via nomination. Please see this page for more details about the requirements and the nomination process.

Reference

You can download a pdf by clicking on the image below to find all the information about the ELLIS PhD and Postdoc Program in one go.