Objective
The Across Alliance invites eligible applicants from the Across partners Universities to submit applications to the Across Mobility Stipend Program, aiming to fund Early-Stage Researcher (R1) mobilities to be awarded within the Alliance framework in 2026. The programme aims to strengthen networking and collaboration among researchers within the Alliance, promote cross-border academic exchange, and support the learning and professional development of early-stage researchers.
Scope
Mobility must take place at another Across partner institution.
The duration of the mobility shall be at least one month, but the grant programme will cover up to one month of physical mobility.
The mobility may be implemented in hybrid format. However, the physical presence at the host institution must be at least two weeks.
Several mobility periods of less than one month may be accumulated, provided that the beneficiary commits to reaching a cumulative duration of one month.
Funding
The grant covers travel, accommodation and subsistence costs related exclusively to the physical component of the mobility. No financial contribution shall be granted for the online component of the mobility.
The calculation of the contribution shall be based on the applicable Erasmus+ reference rates for travel, accommodation and subsistence as stated in the Programme Guide for Erasmus+. In addition, certain rates have been determined in accordance with the maximum individual financial contribution (EUR 1,250) per month of physical mobility stated in the approved budget of the Across project (See Annex 1 for contribution purposes and examples). The unit for planning the stay and for contribution calculation purposes is the week. For hybrid mobilities, the financial contribution shall be calculated proportionally according to the duration of the physical mobility period. Total contributions of cumulative periods must respect the maximum individual contribution. In cases of accumulative mobilities it is particularly important to be aware of this restriction, since travel support can only be granted once.
Eligibility
Applicants must be the students or employees of the Across sending University or individually collaborating with the sending University under a contract for services. The call is addressed exclusively to doctoral candidates, as well as students enrolled in the final year of a Master’s programme who are currently undertaking their Master’s thesis or are formally expected to begin it during the implementation period of the mobility.
Application Procedure
Applications shall be submitted using the unified mobility agreement form together with required supporting documents.
Under this call, applicants may submit proposals for mobility activities to be carried out and finished by 30 June 2027.
Each application must include information related to selection criteria and in particular:
- Description of the duration, modality, and identification of sending and hosting units
- Detailed description of the knowledge sharing and scientific and research networking activities
- Detailed description of teaching and training activities to be carried out during the mobility.
- Applicants shall include the description of how the mobility helps the applicant in her/his career, how to strength the links between the sending and hosting research groups or units and between universities.
Only complete applications shall be considered.
Submission of applications
Reception of applications method as well as deadline to submit proposals will be announced by each partner University.
Selection Criteria
All eligible applications will be evaluated through a competitive review process according to the evaluation criteria and indicative scoring scales as follows:
Quality, feasibility and expected impact of the networking, teaching, training and knowledge-sharing programme (0–10 points), considering:
– Scientific networking and academic quality of the proposed activities (0 – 3 points)
– Potential contribution to long-term collaboration within the Across Alliance (0 -2 points)
– Expected impact on the applicant’s academic and professional development (0 – 2 points)
– Added value for participating research groups and institutions (0 – 2 points)
– Interdisciplinary and cross-border cooperation dimension, where relevant (0 – 1 point).
– Duration of mobility (0–5 points). Continuous mobilities of one month, either physical or hybrid, shall receive the maximum score of 5 points. Hybrid mobilities must comply with the minimum physical presence requirements established in the programme (2 weeks in total). Shorter or cumulative mobilities shall be evaluated proportionally. Indicative evaluation scale:
– 1-month continuous mobility: 5 points
– 3 weeks continuous mobility: 4 points
– 2 weeks continuous mobility: 3 points
Among applications with the same score, priority will be given to those new beneficiaries, then if still necessary to those with a higher score based on criterion “Scientific networking and academic quality of the proposed activities”. If it is still not possible to determine which of the evaluated applications is selected, the application with the higher score based on criterion “Potential contribution to long-term collaboration within the Across Alliance” will be selected.
Communication of results
The selected and non-selected mobility applicants will be communicated by e-mail to the beneficiaries within one month following the closure of the call. Results will be published on the Across website of each partner.
Contact
Applicants should contact their local Across coordination office for further information.
