2022
ERA PerMed-Funded Post-doctoral Position
The Research Centre for Neurological Diseases Foundation offers a post-doctoral position at the Reina Sofia Foundation Alzheimer Centre in Madrid, Spain. This position is funded by the European grant initiative ERA-PerMed (Personalised Medicine). The project is coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland, with partnering institutions (in addition to our centre): Jena University Hospital, Germany, the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and Alzheimer Europe, Luxembourg.
The project title is “Personalised aging pattern for early risk detection and prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia in cognitively healthy individuals (Pattern-Cog)”. Pattern-Cog aims to improve dementia prevention strategies by developing and validating a machine learning-based personalised medicine framework for detecting the earliest signs of impending cognitive decline, enabling early and personalised multi-domain interventions. Findings from multi-domain lifestyle trials have emphasized that intervention effectiveness may be dependent on a methodology that does not yet exist, i.e., the accurate identification of at-risk individuals who are most likely to benefit. Pattern-Cog will address this methodological gap by (1) developing methods for predicting future cognitive decline based on clinical, neuropsychological, MRI and biomarker data and distinguishing between healthy individuals at higher risk for mild cognitive impairment and dementia and those who remain healthy; and (2) testing the methodology in ongoing dementia prevention trials. Instead of a standard machine learning approach, we propose an innovative concept of personalised aging pattern rooted in data from healthy individuals.
Job description: The successful candidate will focus on objective 1, and leverage data from an ongoing longitudinal study of a large cohort of healthy 70-85 year olds, with particular emphasis on those individuals who later develop mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The successful candidate will work in a multi-disciplinary environment with full access to a 3T research-dedicated scanner.
Type of contract: Full-time. 2 years.
Salary: 40,187 euros bruto per year
Required for the position: PhD in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, statistics, artificial intelligence, psychology, or related field. A strong background in MRI neuroimaging analysis is required, as well as expertise in statistical modelling. Fluency in English is required
Desired for the position: Experience in dementia or aging research is desired, with a publication record in this field.
Application
If you are interested in applying, please contact Bryan Strange (bryan.strange@upm.es) for further details.
Deadline for submission: 30/09/2022
Ideally, the successful applicant will be able to start the position by 17/10/2022
This position is funded by NextGenerationEU.
2021
Two ERC-Funded Research Associate Post-doctoral Positions
We are looking for highly motivated post-doctoral research associates to work in the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience at the Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
Job description: You will work on the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project awarded to Bryan Strange, director of the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience. This 5-year project, with 2 million euros of funding, is described here. The successful applicants will form part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and biomedical engineers.
Type of contract: Full-time. The initial contract will be made for 1 year (with an initial 6 month trial period) and is renewable for up to 3 years.
Salary: 44,125 euros bruto per year
Start date: Winter 2021-22
Required for the 2 positions:
A PhD in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, statistics, neurology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, or related field.
Fluent in English (written and spoken); Spanish is not required
Scripting languages (e.g. Matlab, Python, R)
Strong publication record
Desired for the 2 positions:
Knowledge of the basic and clinical neuroscience of learning, memory, emotion and responses to novelty
Demonstrated ability to secure research funding
Enthusiasm for communicating scientific advances
Specific requirements for each position:
Position 1. The successful candidate will be highly competent in the acquisition and analysis of intracranial electrophysiological single-unit and local field potential recordings. A dataset of >30 patients with intracranial recordings during various memory tasks is already available. Additional recordings are on-going in Madrid and Zurich. The successful candidate will work on hippocampal responses to various types of salience, with an emphasis on hippocampal-cortical and hippocampal-amygdala coupling.
Position 2. The successful candidate will be expert in the acquisition and analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings (the lab currently uses Fieldtrip and Brainstorm packages, primarily). Expertise in design and optimisation of cognitive tasks during MEG recordings is required. The successful candidate will lead the simultaneous acquisition of MEG and nucleus accumbens deep brain stimulation (DBS) in psychiatric patients using flexible head cast technology. Experience with EEG recordings is also desirable, as some DBS patients are also recorded from using a high density EEG system in the Hospital setting.
General responsibilities applicable to all Research Associate positions:
- Help mentor graduate students in the lab
- Attend weekly lab meetings
- Coordinate your data acquisition between the lab and different Hospitals, both within Spain and abroad (Germany and Switzerland). A project manager will assist you.
- Present research findings at international conferences. Each position comes with a travel budget of 2000 euros per year for e.g. 2 European or 1 Intercontinental trip per year.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of three academic referees to RememberEx@ctb.upm.es for the attention of Prof. Bryan Strange
If you are interested in developing your post-doctoral career with us and would like to have an informal discussion with the PI and other lab members, please feel free to contact Bryan Strange (bryan.strange@upm.es).
2021
Applications are invited for a 4-year funded PhD position in neuroscience.
The Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience in Madrid focuses on the study of memory in healthy humans and different patient populations. We apply a multi-modal approach to better understand the factors that influence memory, and are currently working on a fascinating cohort of “superagers” – people over the age of 80 with the episodic memory function of 50-year-olds.
The successful applicant would
– Be part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising clinicians, psychologists and biomedical engineers
– Perform and analyse MRI scanning
– Perform novel memory testing of the superager population
– Compare biochemical, genetic and imaging profiles between superagers, elderly healthy controls and individuals with mild cognitive impairment.
This is a government funded, four year PhD position, with starting date early 2022. Additional funding is also provided for international visits to other laboratories to enhance the PhD training.
We are looking for a highly motivated individual with an interest in clinical and cognitive neuroscience of memory. Applicants should have an MSc or equivalent in neuroscience, biology, biomedical engineering, psychology, or a related science/engineering discipline. Prior experience is required in either cognitive neuroscience, theoretical neuroscience, or animal models of memory. Familiarity with MRI data and Matlab or R, would be useful.
Fluent English is mandatory. Sufficient Spanish to perform experiments with Spanish-speaking participants is required.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of two academic referees to
Prof. Bryan Strange
bryan.strange@upm.es
Applications deadline (via government portal) is 11 November 2021
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Post-doctoral positions. The following is a summary of the official Spanish government announcement (press here for Spanish link). Applications are to be made to the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and candidate selection will be made by the University. There are 2 types of position, depending on years post-PhD.
Maria Zambrano calls to attract international talent
The purpose of these grants is the attraction of teaching and research personnel with international background to Spanish public universities.
- This call is for research staff, from any nationality, with postdoctoral experience of at least 24 months in any university or research centre different to the one where they defended their PhD thesis at the time of the deadline (July 27 2021).
- They can last one, two or three years.
- The candidates will have to fulfil the following criteria:
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- At the moment of the application, they will have to be working in projects on centres or universities outside of Spain.
- The grant must be conducted in public Spanish universities.
- Justification of the impact of their selection for the training of the hosting university group
- The minimum documentation required would be:
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- Abbreviated CV
- Scientific background of the hosting group
- Report of the impact of this grant in the research progress of the candidate.
- Document of acceptance from the hosting institution
The candidates will have to present their applications at the public universities where they will perform their research (in this case, at the UPM).
Margarita Salas Grants for early-stage post-doctoral researchers
This call is to fund early-stage post-docs to work at a public Spanish university or public research organizations, or foreign universities and research centres, provided that the last year of the post is conducted in a Spanish public university.
- These grants can last for two or three years
- The candidates will be required to fulfil the following criteria:
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- A period of a maximum two years between obtaining the PhD title and the application deadline (July 27 2021).
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However, this period can be extended when one of the following scenarios occurs during this 2 year period:
⇒Birth, care, fostering or adoption of child.
⇒Leave of absence for at least 3 months.
⇒Workday reduction for care of relative or offspring.
⇒Care of people in dependency situation
These periods will be properly documented at the moment of the application. The application of more than one scenario can be compatible as long as they do not overlap in time. The extension will match the time of each scenario, except for the birth or care of an offspring which will provide an extension of one year.
⇒2 year extension for people with a disability of at least 33%.
2. The application must be made to a university or research centre different from where the PhD was conducted and obtained.
3. If the first years of the position are conducted in a foreign university or research centre, or in a public Spanish research centre, the last year will have to be conducted in a Spanish public university.
- The minimum documentation required would be:
-
- Abbreviated CV
- Scientific background of the hosting research group
- Report of the impact of this stay in the research progress of the candidate.
- Document of acceptance from the hosting institution
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- The candidates will have to present their applications at the public universities where they obtained the PhD title. Those who have obtained the PhD title in a private university, will have to apply at the public university where they will be performing this stay or the last year of the stay.
Grant remuneration
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- Margarita Salas Grants will be supported with a monthly payment of 3500€ gross for international stays, and 2800€ gross for Spanish stays.
- Maria Zambrano calls to attract international talent will be supported with a monthly income of 4000€ gross.
In both modalities there will be a single payment of 3500€ for relocation expenses.
For informal enquiries, please contact bryan.strange@upm.es
For administrative assistance, please contact marta.casales@ctb.upm.es
2021- OPEN
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) PhD studentships 2021
For details in Spanish, please click here. The following is a summary of this information in English.
The UPM is currently offering 18 PhD contracts, directed towards students who wish to do their doctoral thesis on a full-time basis and obtain an international mention.
Two grants are reserved for students who are supervised by researchers who are holding an ERC Starting Grant or ERC Consolidator Grant, provided they are among the 40 candidates with the best academic record in the first stage of evaluation. We are an ERC funded lab, so this applies to applications made with Professor Bryan Strange as PhD supervisor
There will also be one grant reserved for any applicant with disability at or above 33%, as long as they are among the 40 candidates with best academic records in the first stage of evaluation.
Deadline: 1st of July, at 14:00 (local time).
Grants: One grant per applicant.
Duration: Contract of 3 years, with possibility to extend up to 4 years with prior authorization and justification.
Time reduction: If someone has already obtained a grant towards their PhD formation, the duration of this current grant will be reduced in time for as long as they have held the previous grant.
This grant is incompatible with other grants (public or private) for the same objective of funding the PhD.
Annual gross salary: 16.395€/first and second year; 17.565€/third year; 21.955€/fourth year.
International mobility: to obtain the International mention, it is compulsory to do an international research visit of at least 3 months. There will be economic support up to 4.600€ for this period. It is obligatory to obtain insurance for this travel, which is to be paid with this mobility economical support.
Who can apply?
The applicants can be students who are in their first year of PhD (2020/21), or students that have been admitted to start their PhD in 2021/22; these students have to enrol in a PhD program from the UPM to be able to present their application.
How does the application work?
Applicants must upload all the documentation to the platform at once. However, the evaluation of the applications will be held in two stages.
PHASE 1- the 40 candidates with the best academic records will be chosen. Only the bachelor’s degree will be evaluated in this stage.
PHASE 2- the extra achievements will be evaluated in this stage, preferably from their master’s degree and CV, as well as the thesis director.
Applicant’s requirements:
- To have Spanish nationality, or be from an EU country. In the case of non-EU communitarians, official residence in Spain is required.
- Grades in the Bachelor’s degree:
UPM Bachelor’s degree: at least 7/10.
Non-UPM Bachelor’s degree: at least 8/10. - Necessary to have finished your bachelor’s degree after 1/1/2017, and one of the following options:
- Be enrolled in the first year of a PhD program (2020/21,
- If you have not been previously enrolled in a PhD program:
- Have a master’s degree of any university that gives access to a UPM PhD program, or be enrolled in an official master’s degree that gives access to a UPM PhD program (2020/21).
- Have the enrolment application to a UPM PhD program for 2021/22.
Application
The application must be filled in electronically by the applicant through the following link:
http://www.upm.es/Investigacion/Programa_Propio_UPM/2021
At the same time, the applicants must register in the following platform (use Chrome).
https://app.becas-santander.com/es/program/becas-santander-investigacion-movilidad-predoctorales-ott-ii -convocatoria
Requested information.
The application form must be signed by the thesis director, and will include:
- Name of the applicant
- ID, national document of accreditation, passport or Spanish residency.
- Detailed academic record with all the grades and an average grade.
- Normalized CV, using the FECYT editor: https://cvn.fecyt.es/editor. The document must not exceed 4 pages.
- Enrolment application to a PhD program of 2021/22, or the document proving the payment of enrolment to a PhD program in 2020/21.
- A report of the program in PDF, with Pentachart form following the instructions defined in the template, including motivation, adaptation to the PhD program that will be taken, description of the thesis project, methodology and expected results.
- If applicable, disability certificate.
- In case that previous studies were undertaken in other countries, certified academic record detailing which are the maximum and minimum grades in that particular evaluation system; moreover, the minimum grade needed to pass has to be detailed. The equivalence of grades and related information can be obtained through the following links:
- In the case that previous studies were undertaken in other countries and the documents are not in Spanish or in English, an official translation is required.
- Documented accreditation of merits.
- Name of the Thesis director (Bryan Strange), along with:
- UPM Research group that they belong to (Tecnologías para Ciencias de la Salud / Health Science Technologies)
- Directed or co-directed doctoral thesis at the UPM or in other institutions, indicating date of the defence, and in co-directed thesis, the name of the rest of co-directors (to be provided)
- Documentation regarding ERC Consolidator Grant (to be provided).
For informal enquiries, please contact bryan.strange@upm.es
For administrative assistance, please contact marta.casales@ctb.upm.es
If you have any questions to be made directly to the UPM, you can contact programapropio.investigacion@upm.es with the following subject: contratos predoctorales 2021.
2019
Applications are invited for a fully funded 4-year PhD position in neuroscience of memory.
We are looking for a highly motivated individual who has an interest in clinical and cognitive neuroscience of memory to perform his/her PhD in the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience at the Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
Job description: You will work on the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project awarded to Bryan Strange, director of the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience. This 5-year project, with 2 million euros of funding, is described here. The successful applicant will form part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and biomedical engineers.
You will be co-supervised by Stephan Morrati, Professor of Psychology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Type of contract: Full-time for up to 4 years.
Salary: As per Government Funding Body PhD salary (16,150 euros bruto per year)
Start date: Autumn 2019 (with some flexibility)
Requirements:
- Applicants should have an MSc or equivalent in neuroscience, biology, biomedical engineering, psychology, or a related science/engineering discipline.
- Fluent in English and Spanish
Desired:
- Knowledge of the basic and clinical neuroscience of learning, memory, emotion and responses to novelty
- Familiarity with electrophysiology or MRI and scripting languages (e.g. Matlab, Python, R) would be useful.
- Enthusiasm for communicating scientific advances
General responsibilities:
- Attend weekly lab meetings
- Coordinate your data acquisition between the lab and different Hospitals. A project manager will assist you.
- Present research findings at international conferences. Your position comes with a travel budget of 2000 euros per year.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of three academic referees to the attention of Prof. Bryan Strange
RememberEx@ctb.upm.es
Applications deadline is 12 July 2017
2019
Three ERC-Funded Research Associate Post-doctoral Positions
We are looking for highly motivated post-doctoral research associates with strong publication records to work in the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience at the Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
Job description: You will work on the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project awarded to Bryan Strange, director of the Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience. This 5-year project, with 2 million euros of funding, is described here. The successful applicants will form part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and biomedical engineers.
Type of contract: Full-time. The initial contract will be made for 1 year (with an initial 6 month trial period) and is renewable for up to 5 years.
Salary: 44,125 euros bruto per year
Start date: Summer 2019 (with some flexibility)
Required for the 3 positions:
- A PhD in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, statistics, neurology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, or related field.
- Fluent in English (written and spoken); Spanish is not required
- Scripting languages (e.g. Matlab, Python, R)
- Strong publication record
Desired for the 3 positions:
- Knowledge of the basic and clinical neuroscience of learning, memory, emotion and responses to novelty
- Demonstrated ability to secure research funding
- Enthusiasm for communicating scientific advances
Specific requirements for each position:
Position 1. The successful candidate will be highly competent in the acquisition and analysis of intracranial electrophysiological local field potential recordings. We primarily use the Fieldtrip toolbox for human intracranial analyses, so experience with Fieldtrip (or SPM12) is desirable. Knowledge of measures of between-region connectivity is essential. A dataset of >30 patients with intracranial recordings during various memory tasks is already available. Additional recordings are on-going in Madrid and Zurich. The successful candidate will work on hippocampal responses to various types of salience, with an emphasis on hippocampal-cortical and hippocampal-amygdala coupling.
Position 2. The successful candidate will be expert in the acquisition and analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings (the lab currently uses Fieldtrip and Brainstorm packages, primarily). Expertise in design and optimisation of cognitive tasks during MEG recordings is required. The successful candidate will lead the simultaneous acquisition of MEG and nucleus accumbens deep brain stimulation (DBS) in psychiatric patients using flexible head cast technology. Experience with EEG recordings is also desirable, as some DBS patients are also recorded from using a high density EEG system in the Hospital setting.
Position 3. The successful candidate will be expert in the acquisition and analysis of structural and functional MRI data using SPM, FSL, Freesurfer and/or Ants. Expertise in design and optimisation of cognitive tasks during fMRI recordings is required. The successful candidate will lead the functional MRI scanning of innovative tasks testing hypotheses generated from intracranial recordings. This research associate will also devise measurements of structural connectivity associated with memory effects observed in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation.
General responsibilities applicable to all Research Associate positions:
- Help mentor graduate students in the lab
- Attend weekly lab meetings
- Coordinate your data acquisition between the lab and different Hospitals, both within Spain and abroad (UK and Switzerland). A project manager will assist you.
- Present research findings at international conferences. Each position comes with a travel budget of 2000 euros per year for e.g. 2 European or 1 Intercontinental trip per year.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of three academic referees to RememberEx@ctb.upm.es for the attention of Prof. Bryan Strange
The deadline for applications was 31 May 2019. However, if you are interested in developing your post-doctoral career with us, please feel free to contact Bryan Strange (bryan.strange@upm.es).
2017
Applications are invited for a 2-year post-doctoral position in human intracranial recordings in patients with schizophrenia.
The Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience in Madrid, in collaboration with the Neurosurgery and Psychiatry departments of the Clinico San Carlos, is pioneering the use of deep-brain stimulation in the management of medication-resistant schizophrenia. As part of this treatment, we will perform electrophysiological recordings in patients to study the firing pattern of ventral midbrain (putatively dopaminergic) neurons. Secondly, we test patients in behavioural tasks such as working memory, in order to determine the cognitive effects of DBS treatment.
The successful candidate will be involved in acquiring and analysing neurophysiological recordings from these patients: intra-operative single-unit recordings and post-operative intracranial local field potentials and scalp EEG. Funding is through the Behavior and Brain Research Foundation (https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/meet-our-2017-narsad-independent-investigator-grantees)
A PhD in neuroscience (or related discipline) is required. The ideal candidate will be highly competent in the analysis of electrophysiological recordings, particularly single-unit data. Knowledge of ventral tegmental single unit activity in animal models of schizophrenia is desirable.
The start date will be in autumn/winter 2017.
Fluent English is mandatory, Spanish is not required.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of two academic referees to
Prof. Bryan Strange
bryan.strange@upm.es
Deadline extended: 15 September 2017
2016
Applications are invited for a 4-year funded PhD position in neuroscience.
The Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience in Madrid focuses on the study of memory in healthy humans and different patient populations. We apply a multi-modal approach to better understand the factors that influence memory, and are currently working on deep-brain stimulation (DBS) techniques to improve memory.
The successful applicant would
– Be part of a multi-disciplinary team comprising neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and biomedical engineers
– Develop a novel DBS technique to enhance memory in human patients
– Adopt methods to localise deep-brain electrodes using pre- and post-operative CT and MRI scans
– Perform and analyse simultaneous DBS and MEG recordings
– Perform simultaneous intracranial local field potential and scalp high density EEG recordings
This is a government funded four-year PhD position, with starting date early 2017. Additional funding is also provided for international visits to other laboratories to enhance the PhD training.
We are looking for a highly motivated individual who wishes to pursue a career in science, and has an interest in clinical and cognitive neuroscience of memory. Applicants should have an MSc or equivalent in neuroscience, biology, biomedical engineering, psychology, or a related science/engineering discipline. Prior experience is required in either cognitive neuroscience, theoretical neuroscience, or animal models of memory. Familiarity with electrophysiology or MRI and Matlab or R, would be useful.
Fluent English is mandatory, Spanish is not required.
Application
Send CV, motivation letter, and contact details of two academic referees to
Prof. Bryan Strange
bryan.strange@upm.es
Applications deadline is 25 September 2016
Applications are invited for a 2-year post-doctoral position
We are pleased to offer a 2-year post-doctoral position at the Reina Sofia Foundation Alzheimer’s Disease Centre in Madrid, Spain.
The successful applicant will be involved in neuroimaging analyses of a 5-year longitudinal study (currently in year 4) of 1200 healthy elderly individuals (aged 70-85) to determine neuronal markers in the healthy state which predict subsequent development of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
In addition, the Reina Sofia Alzheimer’s Centre offers:
– A research-dedicated MRI facility attached to a 140-bed residence for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
– A brain-bank providing post-mortem histopathological confirmation of dementia diagnosis for patients scanned pre-mortem.
– Ex-vivo MRI scanning.
A strong background in neuroimaging techniques is required. Applicants must have a PhD in neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, biomedical engineering, neuropsychology or related field. Experience in dementia research is a plus. Spanish language skills are NOT required.
Competitive annual salary depending on experience.
SUBMISSION
Interested candidates should send CV and a cover letter (including contact details of 2 referees), to the following email address: bryan.strange@upm.es
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
March 4, 2016
Any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Bryan Strange
2014
Applications are invited for a post-doctoral position
The Spanish Research Center for Neurological Diseases offers a post-doctoral position at the Reina Sofia Foundation Alzheimer’s Disease Centre in Madrid, Spain.
The main research focus is an ongoing longitudinal study of a large cohort (>1000) of healthy 70-85 year olds, with particular emphasis on those individuals who subsequently develop mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.
A strong background in functional brain MRI and volumetric and tractography techniques is required. Experience in dementia research is a plus. Spanish language skills are NOT required. The successful candidate will have full access to a 3T research-dedicated scanner to conduct further studies in cognitive neuroimaging.
Competitive annual salary depending on experience.
SUBMISSION
Interested candidates should send CV, copy of Academic Degree and a cover letter (indicating reference DCLEA), to the following email address: rrhh@fundacioncien.es
It is essential that applications be delivered in digital format; applications will not be accepted on paper.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
July 9, 2014
Any questions, please feel free to contact me (bryan.strange@upm.es).
Bryan Strange