ENRICH-TOGETHER provides grounds for a personalized journey crafted in alignment with the specific career trajectory of each researcher. Researchers will be offered the opportunity to boost their career prospects by:
- having access to scientific and infrastructural opportunities to conduct innovative and interdisciplinary research by coupling with one of 60+ highly esteemed academics from METU;
- adding international and intersectoral dimensions to their research with the option of 1-6 month-long secondments in academic and non-academic institutions;
- following a tailor-made training composed of advanced scientific training as well as transferrable skills;
- building international networks through not only international conference/workshop/courses, but also in-house co-creation events and the International Green and Blue Transition World Congress
Alongside the above, ENRICH-TOGETHER provides an advantageous setting of full employment prospects and supplementary funding for research and training. Researchers will enjoy equal access to workspaces, libraries, laboratories, and equipment, as well as access to services and facilities offered by METU.
Living allowance: ENRICH-TOGETHER fellows will be appointed on a full-time employment contract under the Turkish Labor Law (2003) for 24 months, with full social security coverage. Following MSCA standards, the monthly gross salary, which includes all mandatory tax and social security contributions, will be €3,980. From this amount both the employer’s and employee’s contributions are deducted. These legal deductions range between 30-50%. METU covers the costs of visas and working permits for fellows who require these permits.
Research costs: Researchers will also have access to a research allowance of €800 per month to cover their research expenses (such as consumables, field studies, etc.); €300 of which is allocated to cover travel, secondment and advanced research-specific training expenses (attending external courses, conferences, workshops).
Institutional administrative support: METU has a dedicated team supporting and liasing postdoctoral researchers at METU for visa, work-permit, housing in METU, accommodation outside METU, and other relocation and family-oriented needs.
Services/facilities: Food, accommodation, care work, health and counselling services, and sports and cultural activities are offered at METU. METU has non-profit guest housing that offers temporary accommodation for international guests at arrival; a cafeteria serving lunch and dinner to its members; an in-house Day Care for children of its employees; a Medical Centre providing health and counselling services, a Unit for Promoting Gender Equality and Preventing Sexual Harassment (CİTÖB) and a Clinical Psychology Support Unit (AYNA) responsible for providing psychological assessment and psychotherapy services to researchers.
Working conditions: Researchers will be provided with the same benefits and opportunities of any other researcher in the lab; including work/lab space and access to equipment and facilities in-house. The supervisors will provide the necessary research facilities (from laboratory equipment to software) and work/office space to secure that every researcher can optimally conduct their planned research. In addition, every researcher will have access to METU’s and METU-GÜNAM’s research infrastructure and specialized instrumentation.
Employment conditions: Social security provisions are regulated at national level. The ENRICH-TOGETHER fellows receive a full employment contract for 24 months according to the Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 of 2003. This act applies to regulations concerning the legal basis of the appointment, working hours (forty-five hours a week), provisions for leave (including maternity and sick leave) and vacation and social security coverage.
According to the Turkish Law on Social Insurance and General Health Insurance, ENRICH-TOGETHER researchers will be insured by the Republic of Türkiye, Social Security Institution (SSI) under the same conditions as citizens of Türkiye. In accordance with the national legislation, researchers at all stages enjoy full social security provisions (including sickness and parental benefits, pension rights and unemployment benefits). The university will ensure that the same standards and procedures will be followed for each of the ENRICH-TOGETHER researcher. Social Security Provisions which provide insurance to the researches will be paid from the living allowance cost. For fellows with special needs, ENRICH-TOGETHER will apply for a dedicated special needs grant provided by the European Commission.