Regulations for the selection of participants and commitment

REGULATIONS FOR THE SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

SECTION 1. THE OFFICIAL ORGANIZER OF THE EVENT

The event is organized and will be hosted by the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Culture and Civilization of the Levant, henceforth ISACCL. The participants at this event are required to follow the terms and conditions of the regulations for the selection of participants as described herein, which will be made public and can be found on the website https://institutlevant.ro/. ISACCL reserves the right to modify the present regulations at a later date, with the eventual changes coming into force only after they have been presented publicly on the website.

SECTION 2. CONDITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY

The eligibility of the participants to the event will be determined based on the following criteria:

That they are at most 35 years of age and are either students enrolled in a Master’s course, a doctoral programme, or that are embarking on early post-doctoral research. It is also required that applicants have a working knowledge of the two languages the event will be held in, namely French and English.
The application will necessarily consist of a motivation letter (of maximum one page in length), and a resumé which clearly states the topics they have studied, their area of expertise and any eventual publications, and may also include any other document that the candidate should consider relevant for their application. The application, once completed, will be submitted to the following e-mails: office@institutlevant.ro and/or raducan_ana_maria@institutlevant.ro, at the latest by the 20th of August 2018 at 16:00 hours, Romanian time.

SECTION 3. THE SELECTION PROCESS

The selection process will consist of the following stages:

1. Enrolment of participants (8-20 August 2018) – through submitting their application to the following e-mails: office@institutlevant.ro and/or raducan_ana_maria@institutlevant.ro, at the latest by the 20th of August 2018 at 16:00 hours, Romanian time.

2. Selection of participants (21 August 2018) – will be undertaken by a specially designated Commision charged with the review of candidates’ applications.

The Commision is comprised of:

univ. dr. Emil Constantinescu, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the ISACCL
Andreea Grecu, General director of the ISACCL
univ. dr. Paolo Odorico, Scientific director of the Annual School of Byzantine Studies
Ana-Maria Răducan, ISACCL Expert in Roman and Byzantine Culture, and Secretary of the Commission.
Oana-Elena Brânda, ISACCL Expert (alternate member).

Criteria for selection

The selection of individual participants will also take into consideration the applicants’ location at the time of application (with a view to maximizing the input of candidates from as many different countries and academic contexts as possible, especially from those countries that have a direct relationship to the Levant, as well as prioritizing candidates from different cities within Romania), the proportion of male to female applicants, as well as an ensuring an equitable balance between applicants undergoing Master’s courses, Doctoral courses and postgraduate study respectively, and also between their specialisation (history, theology, literature, arts). Candidates will be scored on a point scale of up to 100 points, divided according to the following criteria:

A. The candidate’s motivation for taking part in the Annual School of Byzantine studies – a total of 40 points, awarded as follows:

40 points: a very well-structured motivation letter, with an excellent overlap with the candidate’s previous field of study, expertise and interests, with a very clear view on how the Annual School of Byzantine Studies will be of use to the candidate for their further development.
30 points: A well-structured motivation letter, with a good overlap with the candidate’s previous field of study, expertise and interests, but which does not adequately convey the way in which the Annual School of Byzantine Studies would be useful to the candidate for their further development.
20 points: A weakly structured motivation letter, which does not show either the candidate’s affinity to the field of Byzantine studies, or the way in which the Annual School of Byzantine Studies will be useful to the candidate for their further development.
10 points: A very weakly structured motivation letter, which expresses neither the candidate’s affinity to the field of Byzantine studies, nor a way in which the Annual School of Byzantine Studies will be useful to the candidate for their further development.
Candidates can receive an additional point tally of up to 20 points should they be able to convincingly convey the lack of access to some of the newest developments in the field, or astutely comment on the scientific calibre of the specialists invited to the event.

B. The resumé and the list of publications – 60 points, awarded as follows:

20 points awarded for specialist studies in the field of Byzantine studies (history, literature, theology, history of art)
20 points awarded for the publication of relevant academic pieces in the field of Byzantine studies (20 points for 4 or more publications, 15 points for 3 publications, 10 points for 2 publications, 1 point for a single published piece, and 0 points for lack of publication history)
20 points awarded for the participation at various conferences, summer schools or other events pertaining to the field of Byzantine studies (20 points for 4 or more events attended, 15 points for 3 events attended, 10 points for 2 events attended, 5 points for a single attended event, and 0 points for not having participated in any event)

Up to an additional 20 points, arrived at individually on a case by case basis, can be awarded to those interested parties that support their candidature with any other documents that could be relevant in assisting their application (details of a precarious financial situation, letters of recommendation, various diplomas and other earned certificates that fall outside of the ones outlined above, etc.).

3. The final list of accepted applications will be published on the Institute’s website https://institutlevant.ro/ on the 23^rd of August 2018 at 08:00 hours, Romanian time.

All participants will receive an e-mail containing the results of their respective applications on the 23^rd of August 2018, from 08:30 onwards.

ISACCL, as the organizer of the event, reserves the right to modify and extend the deadlines for the previous sections, should enough candidates fail to apply by them.

SECTION 4. PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA.

ISACCL assumes the responsibility of respecting the legal provisions in place regarding the protection of personal data obtained over the organizational period for, as well as the duration of, the event. Therefore, ISACCL is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of all personal data of the participants at the event, as well as to only use data thereby obtained responsibly, in accordance with current legislation.