Frequently Asked Questions

The MSCA Individual Fellowship and the BIENVENÜE fellowship are two independent programmes with separate selection processes. You can candidate to both.

The selection rate, taking into account only eligible applications, is around 26% for Call 1 and 37% for Call 2022.

The experts evaluating your application (three for each project) will be chosen  with the following elements:

• name of the applicant, institution affiliation (both to avoid conflict of interest)
• Summary of the project (first table of Part B of the application template), in particular abstract and keywords.

To facilitate this step, and to have your application evaluated by the most relevant peers, you are encouraged to indicate the best keywords and abstract.

The scientific evaluation, based on peer-review, involves solely researchers that are external to the BIENVENÜE programme and the Région Bretagne. The experts will also have no conflict of interest with the evaluated candidate.

For BIENVENÜE Call 2022, you should consider the period ranging from 15th February 2019 to 15th February 2022. Within this period, you should not have been residing or carrying out your activity in France for more than 12 months.

They are strict. No exception will be made.

No, there is no nationality criteria. French scientists may be funded if they comply with the mobility rule.

Yes, you would still be eligible as you would have resided for less than 12 months in France in the past three years.

No, there is not.

Please find the rules page 85 of this document: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf

It depends. A PhD candidate in this case might be eligible if he or she can justify at least 4 years of full-time equivalent research experience, which is measured “from the date when the researcher obtained the degree the degree entitling him/her to embark on a doctorate (either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited of from where he/she is seconded) – even if a doctorate was never started or envisaged.” Source: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf page 85

Yes, the candidate can apply.

No, there is no such limit.

Yes, you are. If you don’t have your doctoral degree by the call deadline even if you have defended, you can join as replacement a signed certificate from your university attesting of your situation.

According to the European definition, you should count it from the date you receive the degree that allowed you to make a doctorate. This is usually a master’s degree, but some variation may apply in some countries (if so, please indicate it clearly in our application).

So, the interships realized during the bachelor or the master’s degree do not count.

If you are not sure whether you are completing this condition, please contact us.

For call 2022, it is mandatory to indicate a researcher that agrees to supervise your project in your application (see part B of the application template).

You can identify which BIENVENÜE partner institution might be the most relevant to your research by browsing the BIENVENÜE website, and then looking directly on each institution’s website.

You found Breton researchers interested in supervising BIENVENÜE fellows here on this page.

You also can search by topic on https://www.pluginlabs-ouest.fr/en. Please note that this search engine covers labs beyond BIENVENÜE partner institutions and you have to make sure the lab is eligible to host a BIENVENÜE fellow. (here the list of eligible labs). Then you can contact directly the lab or a specific researcher.

You can finally contact us, after doing the above steps, to be connected with the BIENVENÜE contact point of one or several partner institutions.

You can supervise a BIENVENÜE if you comply to these cumulative conditions :

1. You have a permanent position in your institution as « chargé·e de recherche », « directeur·rice de recherche », « maître de conférences », « professeur des universités » or « ingénieur·e de recherche titulaire de l’HDR »
2. Your rely on a permanent staff of this BIENVENÜE partner institution in your lab as co-supervisor

A BIENVENÜE fellow can only be hosted by a research lab in Brittany and be employed by one the partner institution. So, if you are considering working with another lab, please consider a secondment, where you can go to this other lab for a maximum of 6 months.

It can be taken into account in terms of feasibility. However, the supervisor does not have an influence during the process and will not be invited during the selection process to give his/her opinion on the application. No letter a recommendation is necessary and sent ones will not be examined.

There is no other criteria than the 4 indicated for the project selection. There will be no thematic repartition or quota.

We are aware that for some scientists, the link between their research and the S3 is not straightforward. If you consider your research can answer to a S3 strategic objective in a direct or indirect manner, please apply and indicate in your application why your project can answer to this strategic objective. The relevance of your argumentation will be evaluated during the scientific evaluation by independent experts.

BIENVENÜE is based on the S3 – Regional Innovation Strategy based on Smart Specialisation Strategy. This strategy identifies Strategic Objectives, Strategic Innovation Areas and a transversal axis on transitions, which are priorised in the allocation of funding from the Région Bretagne and from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). These areas are linked to applied topics, which can be seen as very far from fundamental research.

BIENVENÜE will not leave fundamental research behind as it will fund projects which will contribute to the S3 Strategic Objectives in a direct or indirect manner. Your project does not have to include a patent filling within three years!

External experts will evaluate this during the scientific evaluation. The Scientific Board then also checks the relevance of your contribution. They are independent from Région Bretagne and will have access to the same documents as you.

Yes, it can.

Yes, it does.

Indicate “yes” if you consider your project fits into the transversal axis, that is your project is contributing to at least one of the transversal axis Strategic Objectives.

The partner institution, employing the fellow, is responsible for providing the research costs. Depending on each institution of the consortium it is organized differently and this can be supported by the lab in link with the hosting institution.

The partner institution contribution is part of the indicated amount for the salary. It is nevertheless possible for the partner institution to fund beyond the required 10% salary contribution, for example considering one’s experience.

Yes, it does.

Yes, they are. Get access to extensive information on the French Social Security System here:  https://www.cleiss.fr/docs/regimes/regime_france/an_1.html

It has already be taken into account on the BIENVENÜE programme level, as the whole programme is located in France.

It is part of the ‘Research costs, management and training activities” envelope. There is no fixed amount for these costs but an overall estimation of 830€ (including cash and kind). Our principle is that host institutions are offering to the fellows the right conditions to conduct their research. The amount for materials or field trips can greatly vary according to discipline or research project.

If you estimate your project might need a much larger amount in research costs, please contact us.

By taking part to the BIENVENÜE programme, the partner institutions have agreed to fund BIENVENÜE independently-selected projects.

This platform will also be used for other calls managed by the Région Bretagne. Some fields such as “rech compte an hdr” are not relevant for BIENVENÜE fellows. You don’t have to fill these fields.

If you already know the lab that might host you, you can write its location in “Main location of the project in Brittany”. If you include a secondment in your project proposal, you can indicate in “Main location of the project outside of Brittany” its location, if relevant.

Both fields are not mandatory to submit.

No, it isn’t. It is welcome and encouraged if it is relevant to your research project, but not mandatory.

No, there is not. It however should be relevant to your research project.

No, the bibliography does not count within the page limit. Please make sure to indicate your references in the corresponding section (at the end of  Part B of the application template). If indicated elsewhere, the bibliography will be counted towards the page limitation.

As bibliographic standards can vary between fields, you can use the style you are already familiar with.

It is not allowed to submit several project proposals. Only the first project proposal will be taken into account in the evaluation process if an applicant submits several proposals.

No, selected projects for call 2022 have to begin within the period September 2022 – January 2023.