FAQ section

In 2024, countries and regions eligible to take part in the RIS Fellowships are available here.

During the recruitment process, we will look for passionate young people from higher education upon the return to their homes EIT RIS countries, which will spur a wave of entrepreneurial innovations and support the development of the local agri-food ecosystem.

EIT Food RIS Fellowships Activity Line is divided into two complementary programs:

RIS Fellowships is dedicated to MSc students, graduates and young entrepreneurs. Beneficiaries will have the opportunity to apply academic knowledge in practical contexts of work and develop a creative problem-solving competence at hosting organisations to spur a weave of entrepreneurial innovations in their home countries. Candidates will be able to gain hands-on experience in the food industry, strengthening their job-related skills and competencies, including analytical thinking and creative problem-solving. RIS Fellowships interns will be engaged in learning-by-doing activities at their host company – these could be internal projects or day-to-day tasks of each host partner.

RIS Fellowships interns will be provided with 800-1500 € scholarship/per month (depends on a mode).

RIS Talents is dedicated to doctoral students and young post-docs. Applicants will benefit from lessons learned in R&D works, and they will also be encouraged to engage in industrial collaboration or entrepreneurship during their internship. RIS Talents interns will have an opportunity to develop critical thinking competence by participating in innovation projects, R&D projects led by hosting organisations.

RIS Talents interns will be provided with a 950-2000 € scholarship/per month (depends on a mode).

We are looking for candidates who come from one of the EIT RIS countries or regions, who:

• Is a student or graduate of MSc (RIS Fellowships); PhD student or post-doc (RIS Talents);

• Has an interest in the agri-food sector;

• Has a proactive attitude and be passionate about student extracurricular activities;

• Is eager to gain new experience, willing to develop his/her competences and self-motivated;

• Has analytical skills, is open-minded, goal-oriented and team player;

• Actively seeks to improve competencies in communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking;

• Is ready to work in an international environment and speaks English very well;

• Is available min. 3 months from July 2024;

• Is aware of having cross-country mobility allowances and health insurance.

All candidates will be evaluated, taking into account the following criteria related to the applicant’s attitude, skills, competences and features:

Formal criteria

• RIS Fellowships – Candidate is a student (min. completed Bachelor) or graduated of Master of Science (up to 2 years after graduation);

• RIS Talents – Candidate, is Ph.D. student or postdoc (up to 2 years after graduation);

• The candidate is able to work in the English language (min. B2 in CEFR level of English is required);

• The candidate has filled out the on-line application form;

• The candidate added a 1-minute self-video (only videos with voice recorded are acceptable)

• The candidate is available min. 3 months from July 2024;

• The candidate is willing to work in the agri-food sector;

Expected skills and competences

• Analytical thinking

• Creativity in problem-solving

• Active and transparent communication

Great potential for development

• Proactive attitude (awards received in student competitions 2021-2024 or participation in student associations)

• Motivation to take up learning-by-doing activities

• Natural curiosity to learn

• Challenge themselves and existing process

• Experience as entrepreneurs (confirmed by references will be an asset).

RIS Fellowships Activity Line is looking for MSc students and graduates with different educational background, for example:

• Marketing area, project management, data analysis, market research, sales, IT, programming or similar

• Biology, chemical engineering, food science, food technology, process engineering, pharmaceutical technology or similar

RIS Fellowships candidates will benefit from a professional recruitment process with a corporate background as well as an on-line recruitment workshop with HR advisors, which stimulate competencies of clear communication, effective critical thinking and creative problem-solving. Fellows will supplement traditional higher education curricula, offering competence development as well as developing entrepreneurial talents who will act as role models upon return to their home countries.

RIS Talents interns will strengthen the international networking of young academics with leading agri-food players, transfer advanced knowledge to EIT RIS countries, foster industrial orientation of academic research, and attract talents from other disciplines than the food science agri-food sector.

Benefits of the internship

• Benefit from precise matching candidates to the internship areas

• Gain hands-on experiences by solving real cases of the organisation

• Develop your competencies: communication, creative problem solving and critical thinking

• Get up to 1,500€ (Fellowships) – 2,000€ (Talents) gross grant/month

• Get mentorship from a high-profile expert in their field

• Improve your CV and gain networking

• Enrich yourself knowing another country and experience a different culture

Benefit from greater international exposure of students and researchers

Read all the information about the project and contact us if you have any doubt: mczerniakowska@wz.uw.edu.pl

• Choose one of two available application form, whether you are an MSc student/graduate RIS Fellowships or Ph.D. student/postdoc RIS Talents

• Answer ALL the questions of the on-line application form.

• Create and share a 1-minute self-video via a link to Wetransfer, Dropbox or YouTube, in which the candidates will introduce themselves and answer briefly the open question about their motivation, e.g. “Tell us why you are the most suitable person for an internship.
  NOTE: only videos with voice recording are acceptable.

RIS FELLOWSHIPS APPLY HERE (MSc students/graduates)

RIS TALENTS APPLY HERE (Ph.D. students/post-docs)

Stage 1 – on-line self-application APPLY HERE

Stage 2 – group on-line Assessment Center (only for candidates who met the selection criteria)

Stage 3 – individual on-line interviews (only with candidates chosen by Host Companies representatives)

• Stage 1 – on-line self-application APPLY HERE

• Stage 2 – individual on-line interviews (only with candidates chosen by Host Companies representatives)

After approval by the host company and arranging the details of the internship (duration and internship mode), inform us about it by e-mail.

We will prepare a Consent Form for you, which is a document specifying all terms & conditions.

Your Mentor will prepare an Internship Agenda so you will be fully familiar with tasks you will be given.

You will also be asked to issue the Tax Residency Certificate from your Tax Office.

Both documents you have to send by email (scan) and a hard copy by post/courier.

During the internship, YOUR MENTOR will send us MONTHLY REPORTS as a confirmation that the internship goes according to a plan (Internship Agenda).

At the end of the internship, we will ask you and your Mentor to prepare an Internship Feedback as a document that will sum up all tasks and activities that you were responsible for. This is one fixed document that should be filled by Mentor and Fellow together.

To avoid DOUBLE TAXATION, obtaining a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from your country's tax authorities is essential. While it is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended to provide us with the TRC. The document is not required to initiate the internship, we can wait for it until the first payment. However, failing to submit the scan of the document by that time will result in a 20% reduction in the payment for tax purposes in Poland.

A Tax Residency Certificate confirms the taxpayer's residency and must be issued by the competent tax authorities in your country of residence. Specifically, the certificate should state that the individual is a resident of that country for the purposes of The Double Taxation Convention. This convention provides preferential conditions for paying withholding tax (lower withholding tax or exemption) by the taxpayer.

Failure to provide the certificate of residence will be assumed as a failure to establish residence in a way that allows the EIT Food Partner to apply the provisions of the relevant agreement on avoiding double taxation or tax relief. Consequently, your remuneration, as specified in the Intern Consent Form, will be deducted from the total amount of withholding tax payable by the Company.

If you provide us with a TRC, you will avoid double taxation. You won't pay any tax in Poland. Our partner, CLC Nort-East Sp. z o.o., will transfer the full amount of your financial support to your bank account.

For more information, please refer to the following link: Link to National Tax Websites

Please note that all internship payments originate from the Polish payer. Therefore, the information regarding the Convention on the TRC must be indicated between your tax country and Poland (not the host company's country).

The application deadline is 8th March 2024 (23:59 CET)

Yes, you will receive an email after each stage of the recruitment process.

Information about shortlisted candidates who met the selection criteria and qualified for workshops will be placed on the project website. Each candidate will also receive information on provided e-mail.

The list of available on-line workshops will be available in April on our website. Candidates will take part in 3 hours exciting on-line networking workshops where they will solve group case-study. They will also get a chance to strengthen their job-related skills, including analytical thinking and creative problem solving. Participation in the workshop is free of charge. All participants need to take care of:

• good Internet connection

• good camera resolution and speakers quality

• a quiet and peaceful place to enable themselves and other participants focus on tasks

The list of best workshop participants who met the selection criteria will be placed on the project website. Not all workshop participants will be invited for an online interview with a host company. Only candidates who host companies will choose will be individually informed about on-line interviews on his/her email.

The on-line interviews with host companies will take place at the third stage of the recruitment process in May/June 2024 (PhD) and from July 2024 (MSc). Candidates who met the selection criteria will be matched to the internship areas offered by host companies. Candidates will be individually invited via email for the on-line interview with particular host companies.

Each student selected during the recruitment process will receive financial support depending on the mode and length of his internship.

EIT Food RIS Fellowships Activity Line offers 3 possible internship modes:

1) stationary

2) on-line

3) hybrid (stationary & on-line).

Financial support will be provided:

• In case of the stationary mode of internship – to cover travel and accommodation expenses;

• In case of on-line internship – to customise the internship workplace at their homes using all that is needed to use electronic means of communication during remote work, i.e. quality computer equipment (like a computer, keyboard, mouse, headphones, speakers, etc. – adequate to the tasks during the internship, in-line with the safety and security regulations), to cover costs related to its installation, service, operation and maintenance, technical support and all necessary training to it, equipment insurance, improving or securing fast internet connection or all necessary software and applications or on-line services/subscriptions, financial support should enable the proper organisation of a workplace meeting the hygiene & ergonomics requirements (like an ergonomic chair, footrest, desk, workplace lighting, etc.)

Due to the fact that the costs in each mode are different, EIT Food RIS Fellowships Activity Line offers the following division of financial support.

Fellowships (master/bachelor students):

1. Stationary mode – 1500,00 EUR per month

2. On-line – 800,00 EUR per month

Talents (doctoral students):

1. Stationary mode – 2000,00 EUR per month

2. On-line mode – 950,00 EUR per month

In hybrid mode, financial support would be given pro-rata according to the time spent on each form of an internship. We allow the possibility of changing the internship mode during the internship.

In this case, the costs will be calculated accordingly (part of the month in on-line mode, the rest in stationary mode). The financial support will be paid in monthly instalments after the host company representative will confirm that the internship goes according to plan. The financial support will be paid after each of the completed internship months. The financial support might be a subject of taxation depending on the legal requirements applying to the sides of the grant agreements. Worth to highlight is that the payment for the internship is made monthly in arrears.

The payment for the internship is made monthly in arrears. After you finish the first full month of internship your Mentor will inform us that you filled your obligations. After that it will take up to 30 days for the money to come on your account.

REMEMBER: IT IS UP TO 30 DAYS AFTER EACH FULL MONTH TO RECEIVE MONEY, BE PREPARED FINANCIALLY FOR THAT PERIOD

All interns who successfully finish the internship will receive an Internship Feedback.

The Internship Feedback document is a final testimonial which to evaluates the internship experience. This document provides insights and guidance that will shape interns' professional development and help them build on their strengths.

The feedback offers constructive comments that highlight both the interns' accomplishments and areas for competence development. To ensure a well-rounded evaluation, we encourage both mentors and interns to share their perspectives on the internship experience.

Each year we support around 50 interns who can become beneficiary of EIT Food RIS Fellowships program.