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CEA AI Rising Talents Grant: Bring your ideas to life and lead your research project

#AI #trusted AI

Interested in leading your research program? You want to develop useful technologies and provide a concrete response to the major technological challenges facing society? Secure the AI Rising Talents Fellowship and turn your ideas into action!

The CEA AI Rising Talents program offers a great opportunity to put your ideas into practice and to lead your own research project for the benefit of industry and society. This program is part of the PEPR AI and complements the call of chairs of attractiveness of the national priority research programme in AI, targeting the technological and strategic challenges of the CEA-List institute.

Tied to the PEPR AI program, your research project will run over 3 to 4 years within a host team at CEA. It will benefit from funding commensurate with its ambition, as well as privileged access to the research infrastructure available at CEA‑List.

The research grant aims to strengthen the potential and visibility of researchers who already have an outstanding research record after their thesis in France or abroad, and who can demonstrate significant international experience, particularly in supervising students and leading scientific projects.

Priority Topics

Project proposals must align with the priorities defined by PEPR AI. Thus, projects should focus on strengthening foundations in machine learning, integrating issues of:

  • AI frugality
  • Embedded AI
  • Decentralised AI
  • Trust in AI

 

They may rely on a use case, but must clearly aim for a generic advance. They must also align with the strategy of a CEA team in connection with ongoing projects in PEPR AI. It’s recommended to check the PEPR IA – projects pages and contact the relevant CEA contact person to identify teams that could host your project.

Why Apply?

CEA AI Rising Talents is a program dedicated to researchers wishing to carry out their research at CEA, offering the opportunity to transform their ideas into full-fledged research projects.

Through the recruitment of top-level scientists, we aim to boost ambitious research in the priority themes of the national priority research program in AI, PEPR AI.

Joining the CEA AI Rising Talents program also means becoming part of one of the world’s most renowned and high-performing technological research organizations. Whether on the Paris-Saclay campus or the Grenoble campus, you will evolve within rich and inspiring innovation ecosystems.

Each selected project will be fully funded and supported for a duration of 3 to 4 years . The funding allocated will be defined during the recruitment phase to match the project’s ambition. It may also be used to recruit additional PhD students, postdocs, or interns. You will benefit from the full commitment of our scientific teams to foster the success of your project, as well as access to the knowledge base and technologies already developed by our teams.

Between 3 and 5 research fellowships are expected to be funded, depending on the proposed projects and the possible implementation of co-funding arrangements.

Who is Eligible?

Two categories of researchers can apply: Juniors and Seniors.

  • Junior researchers (1,2) of any nationality can apply for a 3‑year fellowship to conduct research at CEA.

(1) The PhD must have been defended between 2 to 5 years before the application deadline.

Eligibility may be extended for special circumstances such as maternity leave since the candidate’s thesis defense. Please contact us in case of special circumstances.

(2) This must be your first experience at CEA. Researchers currently employed or previously under contract with CEA may be not eligible.

Researchers who are currently employed or have previously been employed by the CEA may not be eligible. If this applies to you, please contact us to find out if you can apply!

  • Foreign senior researchers (3), without dual French nationality, may apply for an AI Rising Talents Fellowship to conduct research at CEA for three or four years.

(3) More than five years of research experience and experience in supervising PhD students or research teams before the application deadline.

  • Eligibility of the applications depends on validation by security authorities.
  • Selected fellows will be required to be physically present in the host team’s environment. The location (Saclay or Grenoble) depends on the host team.

Application Documents

  • A curriculum-vitae
  • A research report describing your past work
  • A full list of publications, plus presentations of the most significant ones explaining your personal contributions (up to three publications; access to full text for some of them)
  • A research project proposal, including how it fits into one or more CEA teams and links with PEPR AI projects and themes (up to 5 pages, excluding bibliography)
  • Three referee contacts
  • A letter of commitment from any partner, in case your application includes co‑funding from a partner

Applications are evaluated by a selection committee of leading scientists, who judge proposals based on scientific excellence and how well they integrate with the strategic research roadmaps of the relevant CEA teams. If shortlisted, applicants will be invited for an interview (in person or via video call).

Applications for the CEA AI Rising Talents program may be submitted from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

Pre-selection date: mid-April 2026

Interviews: between late April and early June 2026

Successful candidates will be notified before the end of June 2026 and are expected to be recruited during the second half of 2026.