Applications are invited for 15 three-year PhD studentships to be funded by the Marie- Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network “BactiVax” within the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission.

BactiVax (anti-Bacterial Innovative Vaccines) is an innovative European Training Network that will provide high-level training in vaccinology to 15 high-achieving, creative Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), and equip them with a wide range of transferrable skills for thriving careers in vaccine research within academia and industry. BactiVax will focus on developing novel vaccines to tackle the huge challenge of antimicrobial-resistant human pathogens that cause chronic, life-threatening respiratory and/or systemic infections.

This network comprises 14 Principal Investigators with expertise in vaccinology, proteomics, medicine, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, structural biology, medicinal, peptide and glycochemistry from 8 European countries and two companies which will collectively train ESRs in entrepreneurship, commercial vaccine development and bioprocessing.
Participant organisations and principal investigators

• University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) – Assoc. Prof. Siobhán McClean (2 positions)
• National Research Council, Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging (Naples, Italy) – Dr. Rita Berisio
• Queens University Belfast (Belfast, UK) – Prof. Miguel Valvano
• CIC bioGUNE | Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (Bilbao, Spain) – Prof. Juan Anguita and Prof. Jesús Jiménez-Barbero (2 positions)
• St. George’s University of London (London, UK) – Dr. Rajko Reljic
• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Munich, Germany) – Prof. Johannes Huebner (2 positions)
• University of Milano Bicocca (Milan, Italy) – Prof. Francesco Peri
• Imperial College London (London, UK) – Prof. Rosemary Boyton and Prof. Danny Altmann (one position)
• École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) – Prof. Christian Heinis
• Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) – Dr. Kata Horváti
• IONEX GmBH (Braunschweig, Germany) – Prof. Mahavir Singh
• ImmunXperts (Gosselies, Belgium) – Dr. Séverine Giltaire

We are looking for talented and highly motivated early career researchers with an Honours BSc and/or MSc degree and experience in biology, infection & immunity, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, organic synthesis, glycochemistry, drug delivery or related subjects.

Successful applicants will be offered a 36-month employee contract at one of the partner institutions where they will be registered as PhD students. ESRs will receive a salary set out by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) regulations. The salary includes living and mobility allowances and, if appropriate, a family allowance.

Please check all the mandatory eligibility criteria for application