When looking for funding for my PhD, I found limited opportunities for students from Latin America. Thankfully, the ATLAS PhD Grant has no such nationality restrictions and I was very lucky to have this opportunity.
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Santiago Paredes Saenz, Ecuador, ATLAS PhD Grantee 2017
The ATLAS PhD Grant Scheme encourages young, talented and motivated PhD students in particle physics, research and computing for physics. The scheme offers students a unique opportunity to enhance their studies in a world-class research environment under the supervision and training of ATLAS collaboration experts.
How it started:
Fabiola Gianotti and Peter Jenni, former ATLAS spokespersons, received in 2013 the Fundamental Physics Special Breakthrough Prize for their leadership role in the discovery of the Higgs boson. They donated their share of the Prizemoney towards creating a Grant scheme, for which the first students were selected in 2014.
The Grant:
Selected candidates receive a stipend to spend one year at CERN followed by one year at their host institute. Students work as research physicists within the ATLAS collaboration, as part of the work required to obtain their PhDs. During their time at CERN, students receive daily supervision from ATLAS scientists.
Our objectives:
to offer a unique educational opportunity to outstanding students to meet and work with world-class specialists at ATLAS;
to fuel the spirit of scientific curiosity and take the students one step closer to their own scientific discoveries;
to engage home universities and ensure they guide their students successfully to a PhD degree;
to strengthen scientific collaboration across the world and bring home institutes, ATLAS and CERN closer together
