Update 2.09.2015: The deadline for submission of POMP PhD proposals has been extended to 1 October 2015.

Update 23.07.2015: The deadline for submission of POMP PhD proposals has been extended to 15 September 2015.

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) invites students enrolled at faculties of Sciences, Engineering and Agronomy (Bioengineering) from Romania to compete at European level for a MELiSSA Ph.D. position.

The Pool of MELiSSA PhDs (POMP) programme is organised in order to reinforce the interaction between research institutes, as well as to foster the continuity of research for artificial ecosystems for regenerative life support systems for long-term space missions. The deadline for applications is 15 August 2015.

The MELiSSA project (Micro-Ecological Life Support Alternative) aims to develop regenerative life support systems for long-term space missions. The main objective of the project is to design and engineer an artificial environment allowing ideally 100% of recycling of waste to produce oxygen, water and food utilising a combination of waste processing compartments colonised by specific microorganisms or plants. Such an ambitious objective comes with challenges among them the highly multidisciplinary approach and the very long-term research, which requires a strong strategic vision on the interaction between different processes as well as between research institutes.

Eligibility

To be admitted to the POMP PhD program, candidates must hold a university degree equivalent to a master's degree with a focus in the same subject as the intended field of study and must have a good command of English and of the working language of the university they plan to do their PhD.

How to apply

Applicants have to:

• follow the instructions provided;
• fill in the forms providing the requested information and email the documents as pdf file only;
• pay € 20.00 (administration fee). This fee will be refunded to all applicants who are invited for an interview.

Instructions on preparing a Ph.D. proposal for the POMP program

Each POMP Ph.D. project has to be structured as a tight collaboration between four parties:

• hosting University (laboratory / department)
• Ph.D. student
• MELiSSA partner
• MELiSSA Foundation.

The application must be prepared by the candidate and the University promoter. The topic should be defined by the University promoter in collaboration with one of the MELiSSA partners. The complete application should be sent by email to MELiSSA until 15 August 2015 at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Host University must be located in Romania. The MELiSSA partners are situated in the following countries: Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. More information on the MELiSSA partners and contact details can be found here.

The duration of the Ph.D. will be ideally 4 years and includes the time required for the thesis. During this period the Ph.D.student is expected to spend 12 months at the premises of a MELiSSA partner situated in a different country than the country of the host University.

For further information please visit the official website of the foundation.

About the MELiSSA Foundation

The MELiSSA foundation is a non-profit organisation created by the MELiSSA consortium for the purpose to manage a fund dedicated to finance a pool of MELiSSA PhD students. The board of the Foundation currently consists of Prof. Dr. Max Mergeay (Director) and Rob Suters LLM (Managing Director).

The committee in charge of evaluating PhD applications consists of representatives of the MELiSSA community, ESA and independent scientists. MELiSSA is a private foundation based in Brussels incorporated under Belgian law registered under nr. 0547759097.