AgreenSkills programmes at a glance

Since 2012, AgreenSkills (2012-2017) and AgreenSkills +(2014-2019) provided talented young researchers with the opportunity to enhance their career track and increase their skills and networks by enabling them to carry out, within the framework of international mobility and in the best conditions, innovative research projects on topics related to agriculture, food and nutrition, and environment.

From AgreenSkills’ launch in September 2012, AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ have appealed to a large number of young researchers and receiving laboratories and have mobilized thousands of reviewers from all around the world who all have contributed to fulfilling these objectives.

Through a selective evaluation process, 212 young talented and experienced researchers from all disciplines and origins were awarded an AgreenSkills fellowship to pursue their research project on the topic and in the lab of their choice. These 212 fellows have gradually constituted, through scientific exchanges at annual meetings and networking, the vivid AgreenSkills community.

AgreenSkills (2012-2016) and AgreenSkills+ (2014-2019) were defined by the following principles:

Openness

There was no discrimination of candidates in terms of nationality;
More than 300 research units in France were involved in the AgreenSkills’ programmes;
Researchers freely proposed their topics, constructed their research projects, identified the laboratories they wished to work in, assisted if necessary, by the AgreenSkills management team;
AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ were broadly open programmes; the only constraint being that basic or targeted research projects contributed to the broad fields of agriculture, food, nutrition, environment, animal health, or veterinary public health;
AgreenSkills offered 142 fellow years over 4 years (2012-2016), while AgreenSkills+ offers 212 fellow years over 5 years (2014-2019).

High flexibility

The programmes had a continuous recruitment process with two selection rounds per year;
Mobility was either incoming or outgoing;
The programmes took into consideration the semester system and candidates’ career breaks;
The programmes offered support in finding the appropriate hosting laboratory.

Applicant-friendly eligibility criteria

Mobility duration was from 12 to 24 months for AgreenSkills’ incoming fellows coming to France and from 12 to 36 months for AgreenSkills+ incoming fellows;
Mobility duration was of minimum 6 months up to 24 months for AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ outgoing fellows (researchers employed by one of the Agreenium-IAVFF members);
All candidates had to have a PhD. PhD students could apply, provided that their PhD was to be awarded by the mobility start date;
AgreenSkills candidates had a research experience equal to or less than 7 years from the date of their PhD, when AgreenSkills+ candidates had up to 10 years of research experience following their PhD;
As regard to incoming fellowships, candidates must not have spent more than 12 months in the last 3 years in France. For outgoing fellowships: have spent at least 2 years in France within the last 3 years prior to the expected date of mobility.

Click here to read the eligibility criteria for both programmes in detail.

Attractive conditions

AgSk and AgSk+ Fellowships offered very attractive mobility allowance and salary conditions of up to approximately €3500 and €4800 for young and independent researchers, respectively, depending on the level of experience of each candidate;
Optimal research conditions for research were offered by hosting institutions;
Complementary training and workshops were provided, notably during Annual meetings;
Support was provided by the Institutions for a personalized career development plan.

AgreenSkills and AgreenSkills+ features

Transparent, rigorous international selection process;
Joint responsibility for the research laboratory and research fellow to assure high quality research projects;
Careful attention to ethical principles and integrity in research.

Top menu

About

AgreenSkills+ Leaflet 2015