Electrocatalysis Postdoc in Slovenia: 2025 Call Closed, Current NIC Options

Electrocatalysis Postdoc in Slovenia: Current Status

The earlier version of this page described a 2025 postdoctoral opportunity in electrocatalysis and green hydrogen associated with Prof. Dr. Nejc Hodnik’s group at the National Institute of Chemistry (NIC) in Ljubljana.

That 2025 opportunity should now be treated as an archived call. The deadline has passed, and CareerAidHub did not identify a renewed open postdoctoral vacancy with the same structure as of 18 September 2026.

What the 2025 ARIS Call Actually Funded

The official ARIS call corresponding to the 11 July 2025 deadline was the Public Call for Encouraging Researchers at the Beginning of Their Careers (JR RZK).

It was structured as a research-project funding instrument rather than a direct personal fellowship. The applicant was an eligible Slovenian research organisation, and the early-career researcher was the researcher to be employed on the funded project.

Core project conditions

• Project duration: 36 months.
• Maximum co-financing: €194,310 per project.
• Research organisation: the project had to be implemented within an eligible research organisation and research group.
• S5 alignment: the project had to fit one of Slovenia’s S5 priority areas and relevant focus/product directions.
• Industry participation: collaboration with an economic entity was required; the company contributed its own physical and intellectual capacities and covered its own participation costs.
• Project start: the researcher had to be employed within the timetable specified by the call.

2025 Researcher Eligibility

The 2025 ARIS call defined specific conditions for the researcher included in the institutional proposal.

• The researcher could not already be employed by the applicant research organisation on the date the call was published.
• The researcher could participate in only one project submitted under that call.
• The doctorate had to have been completed between 1 October 2018 and 11 July 2025.
• The researcher could not previously have been funded through the specified earlier ARIS early-career scheme.
• After completing the PhD, the researcher could not already have been funded as a project leader through the ARIS research-project call identified in the 2025 rules.

Additional points were available for qualifying unemployed researchers and for researchers returning to Slovenia with research and innovation experience gained abroad.

2025 Funding Model: Project Cost, Not a Published Fellowship Stipend

The 2025 ARIS scheme did not publish a single personal stipend comparable to an MSCA monthly allowance. It funded eligible project costs through the host organisation.

Current Laboratory for Electrocatalysis at NIC

Prof. Dr. Nejc Hodnik currently heads the Laboratory for Electrocatalysis in the Department of Materials Chemistry at the National Institute of Chemistry. The laboratory comprises more than 30 researchers and focuses on materials and methods for electrochemical energy conversion, corrosion and electrosynthesis.

The laboratory’s current research profile includes:

• application-relevant validation of electrocatalysts and electrode layers;
• electrocatalyst stability and degradation mechanisms;
• critical-raw-material-aware catalyst design;
• operando analytics;
• artificial intelligence and data-driven lifetime prediction;
• hydrogen technologies;
• fuel-cell technologies;
• electrosynthesis;
• PEM fuel-cell and electrolyser electrocatalysis;
• electrochemical flow-cell ICP-MS, GDE and floating-electrode methods;
• electrochemical mass spectrometry; and
• recycling of noble metals.

This is a broader and more precise description than the earlier article’s narrow emphasis on HER/OER and generic “green hydrogen” terminology.

Current Research Projects in the Electrocatalysis Group

The laboratory remains active in major national and international research projects even though no matching open postdoctoral vacancy is currently listed.

The laboratory also hosts the ReCatalyst spinout, which develops catalysts for fuel-cell applications.

Are There Any Open Electrocatalysis Postdocs at NIC Now?

As of 18 September 2026, the National Institute of Chemistry’s current MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship hosting page explicitly states that there are no open research positions.

NIC nevertheless invites strong researchers to contact potential supervisors and pitch research ideas for future Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship applications.

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Route at NIC

NIC participated as a potential host institution for the 2026 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships.

For that cycle:

• NIC asked prospective candidates to identify and contact a potential supervisor;
• the supervisor had to confirm support for the application;
• the researcher then contacted the NIC Project Management Office for proposal support;
• NIC’s internal deadline to announce intent and receive proposal support was 1 June 2026; and
• the formal EU MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships deadline was 9 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST.

The 2026 MSCA call is therefore also closed. European researcher-mobility guidance currently indicates that the next MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call is expected to open in April 2027 and close in September 2027, subject to the final 2027 call documentation.

Typical MSCA eligibility direction

The MSCA route is structurally different from the archived ARIS 2025 scheme. For the 2026 MSCA call, applicants needed a PhD, generally no more than eight years of full-time-equivalent postdoctoral research experience subject to specified extensions, and compliance with the country mobility rule.

CareerAidHub Guidance for Future Electrocatalysis Applications

Pitch the research problem, not only the technology

For the current NIC laboratory, a credible proposal should connect a clear scientific problem to catalyst stability, electrode-layer behaviour, degradation, CRM use, operando characterisation or data-driven lifetime prediction rather than simply stating an interest in “green hydrogen”.

Show application-relevant electrochemistry

Experience with PEM electrolysers, fuel cells, GDEs, RDE/RRDE methods, operando/online analytics, ICP-MS coupling, EC-MS, microscopy or catalyst durability can be particularly relevant to the laboratory’s current scientific direction.

Separate ARIS and MSCA eligibility

The archived 2025 ARIS call and future MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship calls use different applicant structures, mobility rules, career-age rules and funding models. Do not reuse eligibility language from one scheme for the other.

Researchers can also review CareerAidHub’s postdoctoral fellowships, research jobs, and Postdoctoral Fellowships.