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The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports will support the employment of graduates at CERN

Ilona Trtíková

Graduates of Czech universities and secondary schools now have higher chance to succeed in selection procedures for Graduate programmes of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). This is made possible by the new cooperation programme between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) and CERN, which was signed by Radka Wildová, Director General for Higher Education, Science and Research section.

The new cooperation programme between the MEYS and CERN will be implemented within the framework of the CERN Graduate Programme. Selected candidates can spend up to 3 years at CERN working on particle physics projects or participating in development projects in a wide range of applied, engineering and technical fields, partly also administrative.

The programme is open to graduates and students of Czech universities or secondary schools before completing their studies, e.g. in fields such as applied physics, IT, engineering, electronics, robotics, mathematics etc. The programme also offers opportunities for graduates in “administrative fields” such as finance, international relations, law, logistics etc.

The programme is divided into three sub-programmes:

  • ORIGIN / Early Career Professionals programme – a programme for graduates with a maximum of 2 years of experience since graduation, both professional schools and graduates of Bachelor or Master degrees. The next application deadlines will be 14 April 2024, 7 July 2024 and 17 October 2024.
  • QUEST / Experienced Projects Graduates – a programme for experienced graduates, i.e. Master’s graduates with 2 to 6 years of experience since graduation or PhD graduates with up to 3 years of relevant experience. Applications can be made on a rolling basis.
  • RESEARCH Fellowships for PhD graduates with up to 6 years of relevant work experience. The next application deadlines are 4 March 2024 and 2 September 2024.

CERN also accepts applications from students who are completing their studies. An allowance of about 3 400 Swiss Francs per month (net of tax) is provided by CERN to selected graduates. More information on the CERN selection procedure is available here. The deadlines for obtaining a recommendation from MEYS will be specified.

Students from Czech universities can continue to apply for the CERN Student Programmes supported by the MEYS.

For more information, please visit the CERN website in the links above or contact Mr. Ondřej Novák from the Department of Research and Development of the MEYS at ondrej.novak@msmt.cz.

ORIGIN / Early Career Professionals programme (Image: CERN)