ANION Junior Researcher Mobility Programme

The ANION Junior Researcher Mobility Programme is currently in a testing phase. Applications submitted at this time will not be considered for funding. Please monitor this website for updates on when the programme will officially launch.

Within the programme there are two possible variations:

• Outgoing Mission: Visits of ANION‐affiliated junior researchers to outstanding foreign research groups to perform research there can be financially supported. This is referred to an ‘outgoing’ mission. In these cases, the applicant is an ANION affiliated junior researcher.
• Incoming Mission: It is also possible for an external junior researcher to be hosted by an ANION affiliated group at one of the seven ANION partner institutes. These are referred to as ‘incoming’ missions. In these cases, the applicant is the ANION PI who will host the external junior researcher.  

Both outgoing and incoming missions can be financially supported by this programme with the same rates applying. ANION welcomes applications, which

• Show that the proposed research is not possible at the researcher’s home institution,
• Are relevant to a research project that forms part of an ANION work package

Research missions with a minimum of 1 week and a maximum of 3 months can be supported. Grants can be requested to help cover their incurred costs. Grants are made up of two parts, living costs and Long-Distance travel costs. Living costs depend on the number of weeks the researcher was on their mission. Travel costs are a flat rate based on where the researcher is travelling to/from. The following rates apply:

Living costs: €300 per week. For research missions with durations that are not a perfect integer number of weeks, the grant is rounded to the nearest whole week based on working days (Monday–Friday). For example, a researcher works four full weeks at a host institution and leaves on the Thursday of the fifth week. The grant for living expenses would be €1.500. 

Long-Distance Travel costs: The amount reimbursed depends on the country in which the research is performed. For research missions within Europe the maximum travel costs reimbursed is €500, for research outside of Europe (or researchers travelling from outside of Europe) it is a maximum €1500. The amount reimbursed depend on actual travel expenses based on the cost of second-class rail or economy class air travel. These amounts are a one-off per research mission. If a researcher stays for a longer or shorter time the travel costs reimbursement is not adjusted.

There is no compensation for consumables or other research cost. These are expected to be covered by the host institution. 

Outgoing Mission: Junior researchers (PhD students, postdocs, and technicians) who are members of the ANION consortium. 

Incoming Mission: ANION PIs applying for funding on behalf of an external junior researcher (PhD students, postdocs, and technicians) who they want to host at their ANION affiliated group. 

• Applications can be submitted twice per year, before April 1 and before October 1 and should be sent to anion@LIC.leidenuniv.nl.
• Applications are assessed by the ANION Teaching, Training & Ethics committee and ultimately approved by the ANION Management Team. Successful applications will be notified by email and sent their grant award letter. 
• The programme has a maximum budget of €11.000 per year over the ten-year duration of the ANION project. The programme strives, where possible, to spend the budget in proportion to the time remaining on the project. As such, a limited number of grants can be awarded per funding cycle. If the budget is exhausted before the end of the current year, new applications will only be considered again as part of the next year’s April funding round. If the current year’s funding is not exhausted, the remaining funding will be added to the following years available budget. 
• Should the grantee require their mission to be amended after a mission has been approved, for example, if the grantee wants the duration, or dates of their mission adjusted due to unforeseen circumstances. This must be requested in writing by submitting an amendment request to anion@LIC.leidenuniv.nl outlining the changes requested and the impact of these changes on the originally stated goals of the mission. The changes are only accepted once a new award letter has been issued to the grantee. 
• Research missions in the final six months of a PhD student’s contract are not eligible for support. 
• When the actual visit is shorter than the proposed visit, the amount awarded for living costs is adjusted proportionately.
• After granting, the visit should start within one year after the date the award letter was issued. Failure to begin the mission within this timeframe will result in the cancelation of the grant and require a new grant application to be submitted. 
• Travel expenses paid for by the researcher’s home institution are not eligible for reimbursement through this programme (double dipping).
• Upon completion of the research mission, the researcher has 30 days to submit their final report and long-distance travel expenses. These must be sent to anion@LIC.leidenuniv.nl. 
• Upon approval of the final report the grant will be paid out in full to the researcher. We strive to do this within 30 days of receipt of the final report.
• Researchers may request a pre-payment of 50% of the approved grant to help cover the upfront costs of the mission. The approval of this pre-payment is not guaranteed and is subject to approval by the ANION Teaching, Training & Ethics committee and/or the ANION Management Team. Requests for pre-payment should be submitted to anion@LIC.leidenuniv.nl.
• In situations where the application and grant awarding procedure are not accounted for by these rules, any decision taken by the ANION management team regarding that case is final.