1 January 2025

With the new year, Charles University is launching the Charleston programme, co-funded by the prestigious European Commission initiative MSCA COFUND under the Horizon Europe framework programme. The programme will support a total of 20 promising young researchers from abroad. Over the course of projects lasting 27 to 30 months, the selected researchers will work at the university and undertake secondments of 3 to 6 months at a non-academic institution. The first call for applications will open in March 2025.

Eligible postdoctoral researchers must not be employees of Charles University at the time of the call’s closure and must not have resided in the Czech Republic for more than 12 cumulative months within the past 36 months. Their PhD degree must not be older than 8 years, although exceptions apply for parental leave, etc. Projects can be conducted at any faculty or department of Charles University.

The Charleston programme is based on three main pillars:

• Selected projects will contribute to sustainable development and deliver wider societal impacts in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  
  

• Secondments at non-academic institutions will strengthen cross-sector collaboration and facilitate knowledge transfer.

  
  

• A new career development programme for young university researchers will be introduced, including mentoring opportunities.

Applications will be accepted in two calls, with 10 projects supported in each. Submitted proposals will be assessed by independent international evaluators.

Further details can be found in this PDF document and will soon be available on our website. For updates, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky.