2012 Italy,The United Nations/Italy Long-term Fellowship Programme in Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, Wagramerstrasse 5, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel. (+43-1) 26060-0, Fax (+43-1) 26060-5830, www.unoosa.org

1LONG-TERM FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY  INFORMATION NOTE

The United Nations/Italy Long-term Fellowship Programme  On Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Related Applications 

1. Thematic Area:  Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). 

2. Title:   Master in Navigation and Related Applications (MNA). 

3. Offering Institutions:  Politecnico di Torino (School of Information Technologies) and 

Istituto Superiore Mario Boella (ISMB), with the collaboration of Istituto Elettrotecnico 

Nazionale Galileo Ferraris (IEN), Turin, Italy. 

4. Executing Agency:   United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA), Programme 

on Space Applications.  Contact Person: The UN Expert on Space Applications Address:  Office for Outer Space Affairs 

United Nations Office at Vienna 

P.O. Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria 

Phone:  +43-1-26060 4268 

Fax:  +43-1-26060 5830 

E-mails:    unpsa@unoosa.org, kurian.maniyanipurathu@unoosa.org

5. Duration and Beginning Date:   12 months, beginning 24 September 2012. Selected 

participants are encouraged to attend orientation meetings at Politecnico di Torino (starts on 

the first week of September 2012) and Italian language intensive course (starts on the second 

week of September 2012) prior the fellowship study.

6. Deadline for Applications:   Application form and other required documents (see section 12 

below) shall be received in the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs by 15 May 2012. Selected 

candidates will be notified on the outcome of their application by 10 June 2012.

7. Fellowship Language:   English only

8. Total Number of Fellowships Available:   Four.

9. Brief Programme Description:   The Master in Navigation and Related Applications (MNA) 

Programme starts in September 2012 and lasts for 12 months, including a period ranging from 

3 to 4 months for hands-on pilot project  (internship). The MNA  Program study provides 

extensive background knowledge in navigation/localization systems as well as a detailed 

analysis on NAV/COM integration and environmental monitoring applications.

The MNA Programme includes 80 Educational  European Credits (ECTS). Among the 80  credits, 50 credits are earned through taking courses, and 30 are completed as internship in Office for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, Wagramerstrasse 5, 1400 Vienna, Austria  Tel. (+43-1) 26060-0, Fax (+43-1) 26060-5830, www.unoosa.org  2 technical laboratories of ISBM and IEN, or hands-on project through a company operating in  the field of navigation or in the production of navigation-related applications. Selected participants should perform the pilot  project in a technical  lab in their own home  country under the supervision of a local expert and in coordination with a member of the  scientific committee of the MNA programme. 

For additional details please see the attached booklet and visit the website of Politecnico di  Torino: http://didattica.polito.it/master/navigation/. 

10. Financial Arrangements:   The selected participants will each receive a grant from  Politecnico di Torino of about EUR 6,000 for  the duration of their fellowship study (12  months) to cover housing, food, local transportation, etc. The offering institution will also  cover tuition fee in full for these participants. International round trip  air travel between the  participant's international airport of departure and Turin, Italy (most direct and economic route)  may be provided by the UN-OOSA.

11. Admission Requirements:    The MNA Programme candidates are required  to have  completed Master Degree or equivalent (5 years University degree) in Aerospace  Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Communication  Engineering, Information Technology or related subjects. Other degrees in different  technological fields can be considered by the Master Commission.Written and spoken English is required, together with basic knowledge in communication  theory and electronics. 

Candidates also should have some experience in the following areas: 

-  Principles of digital communications and signal processing; 

-  Basics of electromagnetic wave propagation; 

-  Basics of software tools (e.g. Matlab) and programming languages (e.g. C). 

12. Application to the Fellowship Programme:      Fully completed application form should be 

submitted in duplicate by mail to the United Nations Expert on Space Applications no later than 

15 May 2012. It may also be sent through the Office of the Resident Representative of the United 

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in applicant country. To accelerate processing of 

application, an advance copy should also be e-mailed or faxed directly to the Office for Outer 

Space Affairs. For additional details, please refer to the enclosed document “Terms of Participation 

in the Long-term Fellowship Programmes”. 

In addition to the enclosed UN-OOSA fellowship application form, all applicants are 

encouraged also to fill up the on-line application form of Politecnico di Torino as it will help to 

streamline the process of selecting recipients of the fellowship  grants. Instructions on how to 

proceed with that and the link to appropriate webpage of Politecnico di Torino are available on the 

UN-OOSA website: http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/fellowships.htmlOffice for Outer Space Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna, Wagramerstrasse 5, 1400 Vienna, Austria 

Tel. (+43-1) 26060-0, Fax (+43-1) 26060-5830, www.unoosa.org

3Upon reviewing the received applications, the organizers will pre-select a group of most qualified 

candidates and may request those pre-selected candidates to complete an on-line application form  available on the web site of Politecnico di Torino (if it has not been done before) and to provide 

some additional information/details. A final selection of 4 participants of the fellowship 

programme will be made by Politecnico di Torino and UN-OOSA on a basis of evaluation of  application documents received. 

13. Responsibilities of the Nominating Government/Agency/Organization:   The nominating  government agency, organization or academic institution should bear the following costs on behalf 

of the selected participant for the duration of the fellowship programme: 

- All expenses in the home country for preparation of travelling abroad, including passport, 

entry visa, medical examinations, inoculations, and other miscellaneous items, and 

domestic travel to and from the international airport of departure for Italy, in the home 

country; 

- Salary and related allowances to which a participant may be entitled in his/her country 

during the period of the fellowship programme study; 

- Life insurance and health insurance for the participant for the duration of the fellowship 

programme study. 

14. Additional information:      The latest information on/updates to the fellowship programme 

will be available on the website of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs: 

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/fellowships.html

Applicants are also advised to familiarise themselves with information from Politecnico di Torino 

website: http://didattica.polito.it/master/navigation/.