Once the applicants have submitted their application on our online platform, the coordinating institution will proceed with the administrative review and validation (i.e. it will make sure that the student's application is complete and valid, with certified copies, correctly translated documents, and no missing or invalid document).

Incomplete or invalid applications are not taken into account.
Applicants with incomplete or invalid applications will be notified.

After the call has ended, the list of applications is sent to the reviewers. Each application file is reviewed by two members of the selection committee who are involved in the applicant's chosen track. The members come from two different institutions of the consortium, to ensure that all applicants are reviewed fairly. Applications are reviewed based on the evaluation criteria listed below.

After all of the applications have been reviewed, a ranking is generated based on the grades given by the reviewers. The STRAINS selection committee meets to look at the ranking and discuss which applicants will be invited to an interview. 

Short-listed applicants will be invited to an interview in English by video conference or phone, with two members of the selection committee. The interview is designed to explore candidates’ motivation to participate in STRAINS, assess consistency of their project with the programme's objectives, evaluate their critical thinking skills and general understanding of solid mechanics and test their command of English.

During the interviews, applicants may be asked scientific questions to assess their general knowledge of solid mechanics.

The results are announced in April.

Every applicant will be notified of their result. Applicants selected on main list will be asked to confirm their participation to the programme by email.
Scholarships are awarded to the highest-ranked applicants in each track. Some applicants will be offered to join the programme as non-scholarship holders with a tuition fee waiver. 

After the applicants have confirmed their participation to the programme, they will receive an email containing everything they need to manage their arrival (a letter of admission to the programme and a certificate of scholarship, when applicable).