FAIR Fellow and Associate Program

The FAIR Fellow and Associate Programme aims at attracting the brightest scientists in the field, by offering individuals unique opportunities for scientific and technological work at FAIR for a limited period. FAIR Fellows are the most prestigious early-career positions available at FAIR. Established scientists may be offered a rewarding research/development stay at FAIR as a FAIR Associate. 
FAIR is an international accelerator facility, which is currently being built in Darmstadt. FAIR is progressively being taken into operation and offers unique research opportunities for nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics and nuclear reaction studies, hadronic physics, atomic and quantum physics, biophysics, plasma physics, materials research, accelerator science and IT. FAIR research is organized in four pillars:

  • The compressed baryonic matter collaborations in the CBM pillar study QCD matter and the QCD phase diagram at highest baryon densities with heavy ion reaction which is complementary to LHC experiments focusing on very low baryon densities
  • NUSTAR research concentrates on nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics investigations with nuclei far off stability.
  • APPA is devoted to precision stud-ies on fundamental interactions and symmetries employing highly charged ions; high density plasma physics; atomic and material science studies; radio-biological investigations and other application-oriented studies.
  • And QCD studies with cooled anti-protons are the goal of the PANDA collaboration. 

There are two types of support possible:

  • Fellowships: Addresses early-career scientists, which seek a time-limited employment at FAIR (2 year with the possibility to extend for 1 additional year). Up to 5 fellowships per year are expected to be granted. 
  • Associates: Addresses mid-career and senior scientists with a position at a university or an institute in a partner country, who intend spending a prolonged period at FAIR (between 3 months and 1 year). The number of grants will depend on the excellence of applicants.

Candidates will be required to work on research topics relevant for FAIR. The programme offers successful candidates the opportunity to follow and contribute to experimental or theoretical research projects at FAIR.

    The Fellow programme is open to applicants from all scientific and technological disciplines relevant for FAIR. 
    The Associate programme is open to applicants from all scientific and technological disciplines (including accelerator and ASIC development, artificial intelligence, information technology) relevant for FAIR and associated with a FAIR partner country, which contributes its share to the commissioning/operation costs.

    Applications have to be addressed to the Scientific Management of FAIR and should be send to the personnel department in electronic form. They should contain: 

    1. a cover letter,
    2. a CV, 
    3. a publication list including contributions to conferences and workshops.

    For the Fellow programme they should contain in addition to the above:

    1. a research plan (about two to three pages in total) (tied in programme, no beam-time granted implicitly), 
    2. and two or three references, which should be sent directly by authors to fellow(at)fair-center.eu; at least one reference letter from an institution in the partner countries of FAIR is expected.

    For the Associate programme they should contain in addition to 3 first items:

    1. an outline of planned work at FAIR, including the proposed starting date and duration of the stay (about one page),
    2. a declaration of the home institution, that this stay would be approved,
    3. and the FAIR Home Institute Declaration (or self-declaration) from the employer, guaranteeing that the candidate would continue to be employed at its institution including social and health insurance for at least the duration of the stay at FAIR.

    For the present session, the deadline is set to the 15th of September 2024.

    The selection committee will consist out of 6 to 8 internationally known experts active at FAIR and working on the FAIR relevant research topics. Usually the composition should be: one scientist to represent each of the FAIR pillars, plus one expert for IT and one for accelerators, and one further scientist nominated by the Scientific Management of FAIR. In exceptional cases, a single expert may cover several topics or two experts may be nominated for one topic. 
    The selection committee is expected to meet once or twice a year, provided applications have been received. Applications, which should be considered in a specific committee meeting, should be submitted at least four weeks before the meeting date. The FAIR Scientific Man-agement will nominate a head of the selection committee. The head of the selection committee will be responsible to organize the meetings of the committee and communicate decisions to the FAIR Management. 
    The selection committee will

    • decide on basis of the submitted documents on the final list of accepted applicants.

    The FAIR Scientific Management will inform the committee on potential strategic goals which should be followed (e.g., strengthening of a certain FAIR pillar).

    Selection criteria will be:

    • the excellence of the candidate,
    • the originality and uniqueness of their research project,
    • the strategic importance for FAIR.

    Applicants will be informed via e-mail of the outcome of the evaluation. In general, the earliest start of the Fellowship contract is three months after the committee meeting. Selected Fellows are expected to start their work within one year after the approval of their application. For As-sociates the starting dates will be negotiated between the home institution and FAIR.

    A successful Fellowship candidate will by employed or receive a stipend by FAIR according to the national/local rules and tariffs including social security. Fellows will work within an organi-zational unit at GSI/FAIR which agreed to host the research activity. A single payment for the relocation within the legal boundaries is offered to new Fellows. For the running costs (travels, office equipment etc) a budget of up to 10,000 Euro per annum is foreseen. 
    A successful Associate candidate will receive funding from FAIR depending on the negotiation between the home institution and FAIR, but not exceeding salaries of a comparable direct em-ployment. FAIR will not cover any social or health insurance costs for Associates. 

    The FAIR Fellow and Associate Programme aims at attracting the brightest scientists in the field, by offering individuals unique opportunities for scientific and technological work at FAIR for a limited period. FAIR Fellows are the most prestigious early-career positions available at FAIR. Established scientists may be offered a rewarding research/development stay at FAIR as a FAIR Associate. 
    FAIR is an international accelerator facility, which is currently being built in Darmstadt. FAIR is progressively being taken into operation and offers unique research opportunities for nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics and nuclear reaction studies, hadronic physics, atomic and quantum physics, biophysics, plasma physics, materials research, accelerator science and IT. FAIR research is organized in four pillars:

    • The compressed baryonic matter collaborations in the CBM pillar study QCD matter and the QCD phase diagram at highest baryon densities with heavy ion reaction which is complementary to LHC experiments focusing on very low baryon densities
    • NUSTAR research concentrates on nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics investigations with nuclei far off stability.
    • APPA is devoted to precision stud-ies on fundamental interactions and symmetries employing highly charged ions; high density plasma physics; atomic and material science studies; radio-biological investigations and other application-oriented studies.
    • And QCD studies with cooled anti-protons are the goal of the PANDA collaboration. 

    There are two types of support possible:

    • Fellowships: Addresses early-career scientists, which seek a time-limited employment at FAIR (2 year with the possibility to extend for 1 additional year). Up to 5 fellowships per year are expected to be granted. 
    • Associates: Addresses mid-career and senior scientists with a position at a university or an institute in a partner country, who intend spending a prolonged period at FAIR (between 3 months and 1 year). The number of grants will depend on the excellence of applicants.

    Candidates will be required to work on research topics relevant for FAIR. The programme offers successful candidates the opportunity to follow and contribute to experimental or theoretical research projects at FAIR.

      The Fellow programme is open to applicants from all scientific and technological disciplines relevant for FAIR. 
      The Associate programme is open to applicants from all scientific and technological disciplines (including accelerator and ASIC development, artificial intelligence, information technology) relevant for FAIR and associated with a FAIR partner country, which contributes its share to the commissioning/operation costs.

      Applications have to be addressed to the Scientific Management of FAIR and should be send to the personnel department in electronic form. They should contain: 

      1. a cover letter,
      2. a CV, 
      3. a publication list including contributions to conferences and workshops.

      For the Fellow programme they should contain in addition to the above:

      1. a research plan (about two to three pages in total) (tied in programme, no beam-time granted implicitly), 
      2. and two or three references, which should be sent directly by authors to fellow(at)fair-center.eu; at least one reference letter from an institution in the partner countries of FAIR is expected.

      For the Associate programme they should contain in addition to 3 first items:

      1. an outline of planned work at FAIR, including the proposed starting date and duration of the stay (about one page),
      2. a declaration of the home institution, that this stay would be approved,
      3. and the FAIR Home Institute Declaration (or self-declaration) from the employer, guaranteeing that the candidate would continue to be employed at its institution including social and health insurance for at least the duration of the stay at FAIR.

      For the present session, the deadline is set to the 15th of September 2024.

      The selection committee will consist out of 6 to 8 internationally known experts active at FAIR and working on the FAIR relevant research topics. Usually the composition should be: one scientist to represent each of the FAIR pillars, plus one expert for IT and one for accelerators, and one further scientist nominated by the Scientific Management of FAIR. In exceptional cases, a single expert may cover several topics or two experts may be nominated for one topic. 
      The selection committee is expected to meet once or twice a year, provided applications have been received. Applications, which should be considered in a specific committee meeting, should be submitted at least four weeks before the meeting date. The FAIR Scientific Man-agement will nominate a head of the selection committee. The head of the selection committee will be responsible to organize the meetings of the committee and communicate decisions to the FAIR Management. 
      The selection committee will

      • decide on basis of the submitted documents on the final list of accepted applicants.

      The FAIR Scientific Management will inform the committee on potential strategic goals which should be followed (e.g., strengthening of a certain FAIR pillar).

      Selection criteria will be:

      • the excellence of the candidate,
      • the originality and uniqueness of their research project,
      • the strategic importance for FAIR.

      Applicants will be informed via e-mail of the outcome of the evaluation. In general, the earliest start of the Fellowship contract is three months after the committee meeting. Selected Fellows are expected to start their work within one year after the approval of their application. For As-sociates the starting dates will be negotiated between the home institution and FAIR.

      A successful Fellowship candidate will by employed or receive a stipend by FAIR according to the national/local rules and tariffs including social security. Fellows will work within an organi-zational unit at GSI/FAIR which agreed to host the research activity. A single payment for the relocation within the legal boundaries is offered to new Fellows. For the running costs (travels, office equipment etc) a budget of up to 10,000 Euro per annum is foreseen. 
      A successful Associate candidate will receive funding from FAIR depending on the negotiation between the home institution and FAIR, but not exceeding salaries of a comparable direct em-ployment. FAIR will not cover any social or health insurance costs for Associates.