About UiT Aurora Outstanding
UiT Aurora Outstanding is a cooperation between UiT The Arctic Univeristy of Norway and Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS).
The program aims at giving outstanding academic fellows the opportunity to enhance their career at UiT towards becoming a leader of an internationally recognized research group, and to strengthen their opportunity to gain highly competitive external funding. Aurora Outstanding Fellows are offered training within various transferrable skills and a local, multidisciplinary and social network for young, ambitious researchers at UiT.
The architecture
Each Aurora Outstanding program runs for two years, with new classes every second year. The first class entered the program in 2018, the second class in 2020.
The current criteria for invitation in to the program are UiT researchers that have received either 1) a TFS StG, b) a MSCA-IF, c) an ERC StG (or reached second stage in the application process), d) Young Research Talent funding from The Norwegian Research Council, or e) are association to NCMM (Norwegian Center for Molecular Medicin).
Each fellow will early in the program appoint two mentors, se details below. Together with the international mentor, the fellow will prepare a Career Development Plan (CDP) which lays the ground for the individual development of the fellow. Flexible funding for career development activities are available for the fellows as part of the Aurora Operative funds (see details below).
During the two years of the program, the fellows will receive training in transferrable skills (incl. topic like leadership, ERC StG proposal training, work/life balance, innovation, communication, etc). There are 2-3 main gatherings each year, these gathering often include social events. In addition, the program offers add-on seminars on request from the group (eg. economy-for-dummies, IPR/Open Access, etc).
The fellows can also choose from a variety of open courses at UiT, including courses on transferable skills given at High North Academy (HNA: https://site.uit.no/hna/).
Role of mentors
Mentorship is an important element of the program. Each of the participants will assign both an internal (UiT local) and an international (academic) mentor.
The main task of the internal UiT mentor will be to contribute to the career development, including clarifying career goals and career opportunities at UiT, and to discuss national funding opportunities. The internal mentoring will help the candidates to learn more about UiT and help them integrate further at UiT, building interdisciplinary relationships and networks.
The main task of the international mentor is to help the fellow prepare a CDP for the program period and beyond, including a plan for publication, international collaboration, and for competing for prestigious research grants, such as ERC. An important element in the plan is to identify the unique contribution of the fellows to the respective research fields.
Mentoring is specifically aimed at enabling the participants to meet the professional expectations and performance objectives within their career track; to identify gaps in their CDP; and how to establish long-term career objectives.
UiT Aurora Operative funds
Current members of Aurora Outstanding may apply for flexible funding through UiT Aurora Operative Funds. The funding will cover activities that will enhance the fellows career development.
Fellows that have attended more than 2/3 of all gatherings are eligible for funding. Please contact the UiT project leaders (Theresa Mikalsen or Inger Lin Uttakleiv Ræder) for questions of eligibility.
Find application for for UiT Aurora Operative Funds here.
UiT Aurora Outstanding Administrators
Aurora Outstanding is a cooperation between UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS). The program is administrated by Unn Sørum (TFS), Oddveig Åsheim (TFS), Inger Lin Uttakleiv Ræder (UiT) and Theresa Mikalsen (UiT).
