The call for application for Category A and Category B students (see below for definitions) for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Interactive and Cognitive Environments (EMJD ICE) is planned to open around end of November/first days of December 2009 and will close 15th February 2010.

Category A fellowships can be awarded to doctoral candidates selected by EMJD consortia, who come from an eligible applicant country¹ other than (i.e. a Member State of the European Union, an EEA-EFTA State², Turkey, the Western Balkan countries³ or Switzerland) and who are not residents nor have carried out their main activity (studies, work, etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of these countries. The only exception to this rule applies to Third-Country doctoral candidates who have previously received an Erasmus Mundus masters scholarship in order to follow an EMMC

Category B fellowships can be awarded to any doctoral candidate selected by EMJD consortia and who do not fulfill the Category A criteria defined above. Category B fellowship holders must perform their training/research periods in at least two different countries represented in the consortium; these two countries must be different from the country in which the doctoral candidate has obtained his/her last university degree.

The starting date of the PhD Course for all selected applicants is expected from September 2010 to March 2011 most probably around January 2011.

More detailed information will be available soon.

[1] In order for a project submitted by a country not member of the EU to be eligible under Action 1, an agreement (or a Memorandum of Understanding or an EEA Joint Committee Decision) establishing the participation of this country in the Erasmus Mundus programme should be in force by the date of the selection decision (October of the year preceding the first edition of the EMMC/EMJD). Should this not be the case, organisations from the country concerned will be considered as Third-Country organisations entitled to participate in projects but not to submit or coordinate them.

[2] Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

[3] Western Balkan countries include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.