The Romanian Institute of Science and Technology invites applications for grants aimed at young researchers who wish to conduct, manage and lead an independent project within the institute. The call is open to all scientists, regardless of current place of work, citizenship or nationality. The grants constitute an ideal opportunity for a transition from a postdoctoral position to independent research. The research projects will be funded with up to 550,000 lei (about 122,000 euros) for up to 2 years by UEFISCDI, a Romanian research funding agency. Applicants should be young scientists who have got the PhD degree more than 4 years ago but no more than 9 years ago.

The deadline for submitting a expression of interest, comprising a preliminary abstract of the project, a CV and a list of publications, is December 11, 2016. Accepted candidates should then submit a full application by January 10, 2017.

The institute currently undergoes a phase of significant growth, with two new machine learning groups being expected to reach 20 people by the end of 2017, supported by about 4 million euros from EU funds. The institute is located in Cluj-Napoca, the main city of Transylvania.

More information is available at http://rist.ro/call2016