Call for Proposals: New ELLIS Units

ELLIS Society calls for a new round of proposals for the creation of ELLIS Units. The deadline is on September 30th, 2025.

Proposal submission via EasyChair opens on August 1, 2025

Proposals for the creation of an ELLIS Unit will be reviewed by the ELLIS Units evaluation committee, composed of an internationally diverse set of ELLIS Fellows. Additional reviews may be solicited from the directors of current ELLIS Units and ELLIS Fellows.  Feedback on Unit proposals is expected to be given within 6 months after the proposal submission deadline. For questions, please email sites@ellis.eu.

Objectives of this call

ELLIS is creating a network of research sites distributed across Europe and Israel, consisting of ELLIS Units and ELLIS Institutes. Currently, there are 41 ELLIS Units and 1 Associate Unit in 17 countries. The long-term goal of ELLIS is to establish a set of world-class ELLIS Institutes, each acting as the core of a local AI ecosystem. The first ELLIS Institute in Tübingen (Germany) took up operations in 2023. The launch of the 2nd ELLIS Institute in Finland is underway, building upon the foundation of ELLIS Unit Helsinki.

As a stepping stone towards this long-term goal, ELLIS is publishing a Call for Proposals to further strengthen and expand its network of ELLIS Units. ELLIS Units attract and bring together the best AI researchers at their locations and fulfill a set of criteria to ensure excellence and to be maximally competitive at the international level. 

ELLIS Units can leverage existing organizations or can be created from scratch as a new legal entity. There is no longer a constraint on the localization of the Unit to be in the same city. Following the successful example of the ELLIS Institute in Finland, the ELLIS Unit proposals have a new level of flexibility and can bring together multiple institutions from larger areas, such as entire regions or countries. 

The goal is to contribute to attracting and retaining top research talent to a region or country by offering a competitive working environment. ELLIS is inviting proposals from countries that do not have an ELLIS Unit yet; in this case, proposals attracting and/or gathering top talent from the entire country are encouraged. 

ELLIS is also inviting proposals from existing Units to expand or merge to gather a larger critical mass; expansion/merge proposals from existing Units will have a significantly simplified application and will undergo fast-track evaluation, as detailed below. 

Proposals of new Units in regions that already have a Unit are also possible, yet they are discouraged; such proposals need to provide substantial evidence that they are unique and complementary with respect to already existing Units in the given country or region and do not negatively impact existing Units. Instead, such candidate locations are encouraged to consider joining forces with already existing Units. 

Criteria for ELLIS Units

1 Alignment with ELLIS

The proposed Unit aligns with the mission and vision of ELLIS and provides unique added value with respect to existing ELLIS structures and the local AI ecosystem in the host country. 

2 Organisational structure

An ELLIS Unit can leverage existing structures or can be created from scratch as a new legal entity.

1. Unit Director. The Unit is led by a director to ensure the sustainability and success of the Unit. In case there are several institutions involved, it is possible (but not necessary) to nominate up to one co-director from each participating institution. The director has to be an ELLIS Fellow or Scholar, or become one before the evaluation of the Unit is finalized. If the proposed Unit director is not an ELLIS Fellow/Scholar at the time of Unit submission, the proposed director will need to submit an application for Fellow/Scholar evaluation (for this, please contact us at sites@ellis.eu). This is a separate process, which will be conducted in parallel with the Unit evaluation. The Unit can only be launched when the director is a Fellow or Scholar. It is expected that Unit co-directors also hold ELLIS Fellow/Scholar status. However, they can be nominated at a later stage, and their nomination is not critical for launching the Unit. If there is a larger group of co-directors, please consider gender diversity (see section 2c).
2. Overall critical mass. The researchers (PIs) do not need to be Fellows/Scholars to be part of the Unit, but each Unit should have at least five PIs out of which at least three are Fellows or Scholars or researchers clearly on this level (see section “3. The excellence of the team” for details) unless the proposed Unit is a new legal entity that has been created from scratch (e.g., as a non-profit foundation). In that case, the application needs to have a convincing growth plan for the Unit, including funding sources, and how the critical mass of three Fellows/Scholars will be reached. It is up to the Unit director to select the researchers in the Unit as long as they are at least ELLIS Members. Some of the Units are expected to reach a critical mass of an ELLIS Institute, i.e., at least 10 PIs and 50-100 or more people, including PhD students, post-docs, and other staff such as engineers. It is expected that each PI will (co-)advise at least one ELLIS PhD student.
3. Diversity. As mentioned in the commitment letter, among Fellows/Scholars there should not be a gender group that exceeds 85% of the Unit.
4. Infrastructure, administrative and technical services. The organization(s) hosting the Unit provide(s) premises & infrastructure, as well as administrative and technical services. The Unit proposal is expected to nominate a dedicated coordinator and a dedicated PR person. See 2f for details.
5. Unit Coordinator. Each Unit is expected to appoint (and name) an administrative Unit coordinator, different from the (scientific) Unit director. The coordinator should be the main contact point for all administrative requests from ELLIS. Experience from existing Units suggests that a good coordinator with sufficient time commitment is important for the success of the Unit.  It is recommended that the Unit coordinator has a time commitment of at least 0.5 FTE. Larger Units may find it beneficial to have 1 FTE or more. Units with multiple hosting organizations may want to appoint additional supporting coordinators at the different hosting organizations. Example tasks include: organizing activities in the Unit, supporting the Unit director(s) in both internal Unit governance and management processes as well as with ELLIS-related tasks such as preparing the nomination forms for Fellows and Scholars or supporting surveys and information collection by ELLIS; keeping everyone in the Unit informed about relevant ELLIS activities (general assemblies, central recruitment of the PhD program, calls for Fellows, workshops, summer schools); reminding researchers in the Unit to finish their tasks (e.g., reviews for Unit proposals, Fellows or PhD students); facilitating the payment process of the Unit fee; supporting the Unit to have an identity and making it visible in the local ecosystem and in ELLIS.
6. Joint PR branding and PR representative. ELLIS Units commit to joint PR and branding with the ELLIS Society. It is expected that the Unit nominates a dedicated PR person. It is recommended to dedicate at least 0.2 FTE for this role, larger Units may find that 0.5 FTE or more is beneficial. Activities include organization of dissemination and outreach events, updating the Unit's website, ensuring joint PR and branding with ELLIS Society, and preparing contributions to ELLIS Newsletters and social media.

3 Excellence of the team

Apart from the Unit director(s), the research team is composed of researchers (PIs) with their groups. 

1. Proposed PIs. All proposed researchers (PIs) in the Unit should be at least ELLIS Members and should be at the PI level, i.e., should be able to advise PhD students at the local PhD program. At least 3 PIs should be ELLIS Fellows/Scholars or clearly at the ELLIS Fellow/Scholar level unless the proposed Unit is a new legal entity that has been created from scratch (e.g., as a non-profit foundation). In that case, the proposal needs to provide a clear growth plan of the Unit, including funding sources, and how the critical mass of three Fellows/Scholars will be reached. If a unit proposal hosted at an existing institution does not have three researchers clearly on the Fellow/Scholar level (including the Unit director), the decision about the Unit proposal may be postponed until after the outcome of the Fellow/Scholar evaluation or the Unit could be initially launched as an Associate Unit, if applicable. It is also expected that the proposed researchers (PIs) in the Unit, including those who are not proposed as Fellows/Scholars, meet a certain level of excellence. Example indicators include (but are not limited to): regular publications in top-tier venues, research impact (h-index / citations / highly cited papers / relevant patents / real-world applications), prestigious awards, honors and grants, invitations to serve as AC/PC for top-tier conferences, membership in editorial boards of top-tier journals, and invited talks/tutorials at top-tier conferences. Please see the PIs in existing Units (https://ellis.eu/sites) for reference.
2. Note on Scholar/Fellow nominations. Candidates to become ELLIS Fellows and Scholars in the Unit are nominated by the Unit director for evaluation. This is a separate evaluation process from evaluating the Unit. See the guidelines for evaluating scientific excellence for Fellow/Scholar nominations.

4 Societal and economic impact

Units build environments that foster societal and economic impact, including links to government and industry. Units support researchers in their entrepreneurial ventures and provide ELLIS researchers with the flexibility to join startup companies. Organization of dissemination and outreach events is also expected.

5 Connection to ELLIS

To foster the exchange of ideas and strengthen the ties in the network, joint publications with other ELLIS Fellows/Scholars and Members, collaborations with other Units, participation in ELLIS research programs, in the ELLIS PhD program, participation in projects building on ELLIS like ELIAS, ELSA, etc. are expected.

6 Budget

The Unit has an annual budget of at least EUR 1.5 million including funds from industry and funding agencies. The expected allocation of resources is as follows: (i) the salaries of permanent researchers (ELLIS Fellows/Scholars/Members) constitute at least 500k euro/year; (ii) the budget for the rest of the team and other mechanisms (travel, etc.) is at least 1 million euro/year. You can use this budget template.   

7 Contribution towards running ELLIS Society

1. Unit membership fees. Each Unit contributes 20k€ / year Unit membership fee as described in the Unit contributions document. In the case of Units formed by multiple organizations, it is up to the Unit how the fee is split between the different organizations.
2. Reviewing proposals. Researchers in the Unit commit to reviewing ELLIS proposals for Units, programs, Fellows/Scholars, PhD candidates or for other calls organized by the ELLIS network. This commitment is particularly important for the directors and Fellows in the Unit as they are needed for the ELLIS Fellow evaluation process.

When interested in submitting a proposal, first check out the Guidelines for Writing Proposals and the Guidelines for Proposal Evaluation.

For questions, please email sites@ellis.eu.