How to apply

Please read the following instructions carefully.

Project Eligibility Criteria

Any head of a research team located in Île-de-France who has submitted a DIM BioConvS membership application may apply.

The submitted project must be consistent with the themes and objectives of DIM BioConvS.

DIM will only fund projects involving collaboration between at least two teams, including one academic partner who acts as the lead applicant and submits the project; one or more additional partners, academic or private sector, may participate in the project.

The lead researcher coordinates the project. A researcher may participate in only one project in this call, either as coordinator or as a partner. Submission of an identified candidate profile is mandatory to apply for this call.

Only laboratories affiliated with DIM BioConvS are eligible for this call. Starting January 2024, all laboratories are required to submit the DIM BioConvS membership application form, available at this link:

>>Join the DIM BioConvS

The membership application must be submitted before the call deadline. The DIM BioConvS team will inform you of the result of your application once it has been processed.

Note: Projects submitted by laboratories that have already received a doctoral or postdoctoral fellowship from DIM BioConvS will not be prioritized in this call.

Eligible Topics

All DIM BioConvS topics (see description) are eligible; however, gene therapy and cell therapy approaches are not prioritized in this call, unless they are based on a synthetic biology approach. Why? During DIM’s years of activity, we have already funded many thesis projects in these areas, and with this call we wish to balance support across the broad diversity of topics within our community.

Candidate Eligibility Criteria

An identified candidate is required to apply for this call. The candidate must hold at least a Master 2 degree, or equivalent (5-year higher education level), or obtain this degree before a date compatible with enrollment in a doctoral school for the 2026–2027 academic year. The candidate must provide proof of enrollment in a doctoral school in Île-de-France before September 1, 2026 if the project is accepted.

Note: Due to contractual timelines, the doctoral contract must start between November and December 2026.

Doctoral Fellowship Details

This call will fund five doctoral fellowships of €130,000 over three years (gross salary with charges), plus an additional allowance of €5,000 for related costs, for a total of €135,000 per fellowship.

The related costs allowance must be used for the benefit of the doctoral student, either for dissemination/conferences, training, or hiring interns related to the thesis topic. If the doctoral student wishes to hire interns using this allowance, the employing institution must commit to posting the internship offer on the platform https://stages.iledefrance.fr/ according to the procedures provided by the DIM BioConvS manager.

Application and Selection Process

The application form and project description template must be downloaded from the platform using the models provided in the left-hand menu (Navigation > Templates to download). Please use only the downloadable templates (.docx files) to apply.

1. Online submission (deadline: May 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.). The lead researcher must submit the following documents:

   • Mandatory application form (including general information, project summary), based on the provided template (do not modify the template structure). To be uploaded in the “Annexes” section. Accepted file type: .docx

   • Project description (using the provided template). Accepted file types: .docx, .pdf

   • CVs (2 pages) of the two main researchers, highlighting their 5 most significant publications. To be uploaded in the “Annexes” section. Accepted file types: .pdf

   • For the doctoral fellowship candidate: 1-page CV, motivation letter, and reference letter. To be uploaded in the “Annexes” section. Accepted file type: .pdf

2. Evaluation: Project evaluation will take place in three stages.

   Stage 1: Pre-selection
   The call jury will pre-select 12 to 15 submitted projects based on the following criteria:

   • Alignment with DIM themes, objectives, and call priorities (50%)

   • Excellence of supervisors’ and candidate’s profiles (25%)

   • Scientific quality of the proposed thesis topic (25%)

   Stage 2: Scoring
   Pre-selected projects will be evaluated by experts chosen by the call jury according to the following criteria:

   • Previous scientific achievements of both teams (25%)

   • Scientific quality of the project (50%)

   • Excellence of the candidate’s profile (25%)

   Stage 3: Ranking and interview
   Evaluated projects will be ranked, and the top 4 to 6 candidates (especially in case of tied rankings or to foster network expansion in line with regional objectives) will be invited to a 30-minute interview, between June 17 and June 27, to establish the final selection. During the interview, the call jury will notably assess the candidate’s knowledge of the project. A waiting list will be established in case at least one application is not retained after the interview.

3. Results will be validated by the DIM BioConvS Steering Committee and announced before June 30, 2026.

Commitment

The recipient commits to citing the support of the Île-de-France Region and DIM BioConvergence for Health in any publication where experiments were carried out thanks to the grant, by including the following acknowledgment:

This work has been supported by Region Île-de-France in the framework of DIM BioConvS

Communication Requirements

The Region’s logo must appear on all information, communication, and/or event materials related to the supported project, whether printed, digital, or audiovisual.

Personal Data Management

DIM BioConvS is committed to complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), i.e., all rules concerning the protection of individuals with regard to personal data processing, the free circulation of such data, and the right to its protection.

Applicants to this call authorize DIM BioConvS to process the personal data collected during submission, for the purpose of handling their application. The data collected will be retained during the selection of winning projects and shared with the staff of the DIM hosting institution (Université Paris Cité) in charge of managing this call, as well as with the jury, composed of researchers from the DIM BioConvS network (French or international), members of the DIM BioConvS Executive Committee, and regional representatives supervising DIM BioConvS. In case of grant award, winners’ data will be retained until December 31, 2030.

At any time, applicants may contact the DIM BioConvS manager (contact@bioconvs.org) to request the deletion of their personal data.