Young researchers & platforms grants

These grants aim to support preparatory work required for future access to a platform within the LUMA Infrastructures Hub. They enable early-career researchers to address experimental challenges upstream through preliminary tests, syntheses, characterisations or data acquisition, in order to prepare experiments using the scientific instrumentation available through the PEPR LUMA.

Eligibility criteria

The scheme is open to PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers and newly recruited researchers who meet the ANR JCJC eligibility criteria¹, are affiliated with a French research institution and are not involved in a research project funded by PEPR LUMA.

The proposed project must involve preparatory work for future access to a platform within the LUMA Infrastructure Hub. Access to the platform must take place within 12 months of the grant award..

Funding

Funding is capped at €10,000 per project and covers operating expenses and small equipment required to carry out the preparatory work, as well as internship funding where applicable.

Platform access fees and associated travel expenses will be covered separately by PEPR LUMA, in accordance with the usual procedures of the LUMA Infrastructure Hub.

Application procedure

Applications must be submitted via the online application form and include:

• A preparatory project proposal (maximum 5 pages), describing the scientific objectives, the planned work, its relevance to the intended platform access, the proposed timeline and the requested budget;
• Approval from the manager of the intended LUMA platform, confirming the technical feasibility of the proposal in relation to the platform’s capabilities.

The application must focus exclusively on the preparatory project. The platform access request must be submitted at a later stage, after the grant has been awarded.

Evaluation and selection

Applications will be reviewed according to the following schedule:
•    Round 3: applications received by 11 December 2026, 12:00 noon (Paris time);
•    Round 4: applications received by 16 July 2027, 12:00 noon (Paris time).

Applications will be evaluated by the LUMA Executive Committee according to the following criteria:
•    Scientific interest of the project and alignment with PEPR LUMA’s research themes;
•    Relevance of the preparatory work to the intended platform access;
•    Scientific quality, suitability of the proposed methods and feasibility of the proposed timeline;
•   Consistency of the proposed budget with the planned work and justification of the requested expenditure.

Project follow-up and dissemination

Grant recipients must complete their platform access within 12 months of receiving the grant funding.

At the end of the project, recipients must submit a brief scientific report summarising the work carried out and the main results obtained.

They will also be invited to share their experience at the annual PEPR LUMA meetings through a short flash presentation.

1. The candidate must have defended their doctoral thesis less than 10 years prior to the application deadline. For young permanent staff, they must have been in their position for less than 5 years. Exceptions to these conditions are possible in certain circumstances (maternity/paternity leave, etc.). ↩︎