The venture is open to applicants from the EU Member States or one of the countries associated with the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey.
As the Commission's in-house science service; the Joint Research Centre with locations in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, provides the science for EU policy making, where it says successful candidates will see their work valued.
The selection process is set to include practical tests on the basis of which successful candidates will be placed on a reserve list and can be called for an interview according to the needs of the services.
Other scientific fields the JRC is seeking researchers for includes ecology, forestry, geology, hydrological sciences, medical sciences, pharmacy, nutritional sciences.
Educational requirements
According to the EC's website, to apply, candidates must have a level of education corresponding to completed university studies of at least three (3) years attested by a diploma and;
- at least five (5) years of professional experience in one of the fields listed below:
- - OR –
- a doctoral diploma in one of the fields listed below (see sections II and VI of the call)
Importance of nanotechnology and marine sciences in cosmetics
Nanotechnology has contributed to innovative cosmetics products in recent years.
Back in 2012, the European Commission highlighted nanotechnology as a 'Key Enabling Technology' with significant opportunities that would also bring challenges for researchers in the future.
Those included obligations of safety and evaluation methods, transparency to the consumer and the fact that any formulation containing nanoparticles must be registered.
Likewise, marine biotechnology has played an intricate part in natural or organic products in the last five years, driven by interest from cosmeceutical, nutraceutical, medical and pharmaceutical industries.
Biomaterials represent the largest segment of the market including the thickener carrageenan often used in cosmetics.
Bioactive substances used for their functional properties make up the second largest market segment and would include all algae and seaweed based actives used in the cosmetics, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.
In terms of cosmetics applications, marine-based ingredients tend to be used mainly in anti-ageing and anti-cellulite formulations.