FROM APPLICATION TO THE AWARDED FELLOWS - THE SELECTION PROCESS OF COHORT 1

The disclosure of the 29 PhD Topics for DESTINY Cohort#1 took place in mid-November 2020.  Candidates of all nationalities were encouraged to apply. To do so, the applicant had to read the "Guide for applicants", made available on the site at the time of the call for applications, and make sure that his or her status was legitimate for the program, particularly with regard to the Marie Curie Skłodowska rules. The "Guide for Applicants" explained in detail all the supporting documents to be provided in the specific application file "Application Form Global Document", but also the description of the DESTINY programme, the selection process, the registration to the program with the establishment of the work contract and the work conditions put in place, as well as a section on the training and the career development.

Once the candidate was sure of his/her eligibility through the "Guide for Applicants", he/she was encouraged to establish his/her application with the "Application Form Global Document" template, which included all the supporting documents required. The deposit of complete and finished file was done on the  CNRS Job Offers Portal, at the specified announcement. An "Instruction Guide" was available on the DESTINY Website to assist Applicants in the process on the CNRS Job Offers Portal.

The Call for Applications for DESTINY Cohort#1 closed on January 17 2021, at midnight (France's time zone).

The Selection Process was then carried out in the following manner:

• STAGE 1 - The Eligibility Check, where applications were first checked by the DESTINY Administrative Team, and then a second time by the Executive Board, and validated by the Executive Board. We checked if: the applicant's profil respected the MSCA Rules and if all supporting documents were included in the file, if they were in accordance with what was requested, and valid.
• STAGE 2 - Grading From Paper Applications - A panel of experts from the Academic world and Industry reviewed the eligible applications. Each application received 7 independent evaluations scored out of 100. The final score of the candidate was the average of the 7 evaluations out of 100. If the applicant reached a score greater than or equal to 70/100, he/she passed STAGE 2. The final score was validated by the Executive Board & the Supervisory Board.
• STAGE 3 - Oral Interviews - Applicants were called for Interviews. They were interviewed by the Selection Committee consisting of 50% males & 50% females. Each Selection Committee member evaluated the applicants with a score out 100. The final score of the Oral Interview for the Applicant was the average of all the evaluations of the Selection Commitee, wich was added to the final score obtained at STAGE 2.
• STAGE 4 - Final Selection & Topic-Student Attribution - The final & complete score of the candidate corresponded to the addition of the one obtained on STAGE 2 and the one on STAGE 3, i.e a final score out of 200. Applicants had to achieve a score greater than or equal to 150/200 to expect to be assigned a topic. Depending on the results of the ranking, the Applicant could be "Recommended for Funding" and be offered a topic, or could be on the "Reserve List" waiting for the release or not of a topic.

The results of each stage are available below.

The documents below (Guide for Applicants, Applications Form Global Document - Template , Instruction Guide) only concern the Cohort#1 and will be update for Cohort#2.

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