Benefits
SMASH is a MSCA COFUND mobility scheme that promotes sustainable training and international, interdisciplinary, and inter-sectoral mobility of postdoctoral researchers. SMASH funds individual advanced research training and career development fellowships. 50 selected fellows will be offered a 2-year fellowship in one of 5 leading Slovenian research institutions, and the opportunity for two secondments: one in Slovenia with an academic or non-academic partner and the second one international, selected among SMASH associate partners. At least one of these secondments should be interdisciplinary or intersectoral.
The training programme will be personalized to best fit the needs of each postdoc. A Personal Supervision Team (PST) will be defined for each of the postdocs and will develop a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP).
Together with training through research, selected fellows will be offered courses on research topics that are of mutual interest. The University of Nova Gorica and the University of Ljubljana offer a wide range of courses at the graduate level that will be open to all SMASH fellows.
Given the close connection with computing in our SMASH programme, all fellows will be encouraged to take courses that will be organized by SMASH partners on: High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Open-Science Strategies and Approaches.
To complement the training on research skills, SMASH will provide a number of training opportunities in non-research skills via dedicated transferable-skill workshops and outreach events. SMASH transferable-skills courses have three pillars: Leadership, Personal Development, and Communication, and involve very stimulating courses in areas like recognizing implicit bias, what matters in gender equality and diversity, research ethics, ethical questions in artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Some of the envisioned courses include topics in the fields of:
- Ethics and integrity (e.g. Ethics in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, The seduction of AI, Information inequality & feminism, Responsible AI development)
- Development & Communication (e.g. Agile mindset and Resilience)
- Implicit biases, equality, and diversity (e.g. Taking the Lead and Active Bystander)
- Impact and knowledge exchange (e.g. Science on the stage and How to tell a good story)
SMASH offers post-doctoral researchers very attractive financial support - monthly gross salary € 5449/4882 (w. or w/o. family), which includes living allowance, mobility allowance to cover private mobility-related costs (e.g., travel and accommodation costs) and the family allowance, paid to fellows who have or acquire family obligations during the program - i.e., have persons linked to him/her by marriage, or a relationship with equivalent status as recognized by the legislation of the country where this relationship was formalized. It will also be paid if the fellows have dependent children. The living allowance, mobility allowance, and family allowance comprise a fellow’s monthly gross salary.
The research and training funds available to the SMASH fellows greatly exceed the amount that researchers at a similar career stage in Slovenia usually get. The salaries for the fellows (the combination of living allowance, mobility allowance, and, if applicable, family allowance) are significantly higher than those of researchers with a similar level of experience employed by the beneficiary or other hosting organisations, and are competitive with salaries across the EU.
In combination with good working conditions, SMASH wants to attract the best fellows and ensure their good life quality and well-being.
Note that the average gross salary in Slovenia is about 2025 EUR/month and a single person estimated monthly costs are around 800 €, without rent.
In April 2021 Slovenia began operating the Vega HPC, the first such facility to come online as part of Europe’s HPC Joint Undertaking. This is an €8 billion investment that will see exascale computing in the EU by the end of the decade. All SMASH fellows will have access to this facility via SMASH partner institution IZUM.