EMSA

Call for Applications: EMSA/TRA/2022/01 - Traineeship Notice Spring 2022

Post: EMSA/TRA/2022/01 - Traineeship Notice Spring 2022
Directorate/Unit: Traineeship to be used by various units
Type of post: Traineeship
Grade:
Location: Lisbon
Closing date for applications: 9 December 2021

The selection of candidates will follow the EMSA Staff Recruitment Procedure. Candidates must apply for this post via the EMSA website http://www.emsa.europa.eu - vacancies. Please note that to make an EMSA on-line application you will need to create your EMSA profile using a valid e-mail address and a password.

1. Background

The European Maritime Safety Agency was established for the purpose of ensuring a high, uniform and effective level of maritime safety, maritime security as well as prevention of and response to pollution by ships within the EU. 

The idea of a European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) originated in the late 1990s along 
with a number of other important European maritime safety initiatives. EMSA was set up as the regulatory agency that would provide a major source of support to the Commission and the Member States in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution from ships. 

The European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002, as amended, provides the legal basis for the establishment of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). 

 

2. Tasks of the agency

The Agency provides technical, operational and scientific assistance to the European Commission and Member States in the fields of maritime safety, maritime security, prevention of, and response to, pollution caused by ships as well as response to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations.

The Agency also contributes to the overall efficiency of maritime traffic and maritime transport and supports European cooperation on coastguard functions.

EMSA's activities can be broadly described as:

  • providing technical and scientific assistance to the Member States and the European Commission in the proper development and implementation of EU legislation on maritime safety, security, prevention of pollution by ships and maritime transport administrative simplification;
  • monitoring the implementation of EU legislation through visits and inspections;
  • improving cooperation with and between Member States;
  • building capacity of national competent authorities;
  • providing operational assistance, including developing, managing and maintaining maritime services related to ships, ship monitoring and enforcement;
  • carrying out operational preparedness, detection and response tasks with respect to pollution caused by ships and marine pollution by oil and gas installations;
  • at the request of the European Commission, providing technical operational assistance to non-EU countries around relevant sea basins.

3. Traineeship to be used by various units

From the publication of this call, EMSA envisages to select 11 trainees. The duration of the traineeship is from 1 March 2022 until 31 August 2022.

More information about the selection procedure as well as the rights and duties of the trainees can be found in the Decision N˚2016/036 of the Executive Director relating to the rules governing the traineeship scheme of EMSA.

4. Positions available

1. Executive Office
Tasks and duties of the trainee:
The trainee will be expected to work across a range of activities within the communication team, in particular on graphic design and publication tasks.
• Assist in the creation of graphic products for publication online and in printed form;
• Assisting with the layout of publications (using Adobe InDesign), and to assist in the creation of basic infographics and illustrations (using tools that include Adobe Illustrator); 
• Assist with the photography work of the communication team, taking pictures of events and other relevant activities.
Diploma required: Communication, graphic design.
Advantageous: Knowledge of the Adobe suite of tools (particularly Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator). Filming and editing experience would be an asset.

2. Unit 1.1 - Sustainability
Tasks and duties of the trainee
• Support in the preparation of Sulphur visits by assisting the responsible PO in the review of the data for the pre-visit assessment;
• Support the work on the IMO correspondence group on carbon intensity by compiling the comments received from the group member;
• Support in the development of new training material regarding the use of EMSA pollution response toolbox;
• Support in analysing surveys, studies;
• Support in the preparation and delivery of training activities.
Diploma required: Environment management, environment engineering, chemistry, nautical/maritime transport studies, marine engineering, naval architecture.
Advantageous: Experience in using GIS and modelling software will be advantageous

3. Unit 1.2 - Visits & Inspections, Human Element
Tasks and duties of the trainee
• Assist project officers in the preparation of visits and inspections on maritime education, training and certification of seafarers;
• Assist the project officers in the organisation of workshops;
• Assist in the drafting of reports related to visits, inspections and the correspondence group on the establishment of an EU Seafarers’ Certification Platform;
• Assist in the preparation of the Annual Seafarer Statistical Review;
• Assist the project officers in the preparation and delivery of training courses/workshops;
• Assist the project officers in any task that they are responsible related to the MLC, STCW and STCW-F Conventions.
Diploma required: Maritime Studies, Maritime Law, Maritime Economics.
Advantageous: Team player.

4. Unit 1.3 - Capacity Building
Tasks and duties of the trainee
• Assisting the analytics team in the preparation of business intelligence and data management tools for the various EMSA databases.
• Creating reports, dashboards and other user interfaces relevant for analytics and statistics purposes.
• Assisting the analytics team in the statistical analysis of various maritime data.
• Assisting the analytics team in the maintenance and updating of the EU Maritime Profile, EQUASIS and other data projects and reports published for the public, for internal use and other maritime safety stakeholders.
• Assisting in the automatic data extraction and data import from various databases to specific reports and user interfaces
Diploma required: Computer science, Engineering (advantageous if ICT oriented, or with an exposure to data analysis, data visualization, databases, web-based data visualization, analytics and statistics).
Advantageous: Advantageous operational knowledge of Power BI and/or other Business Intelligence programs, SQL, oracle databases, data extraction techniques, artificial intelligence.


5. Unit 2.1 Safety & Security
Tasks and duties of the trainee:  
• Design, implementation and automation of the EMCIP functional tests, particularly when new releases are available. 
• Will contribute to integrate the test plan in the Jira system and will be involved in running the EMCIP functional tests documenting the findings.
• Will be also involved in the overall work of the Accident Investigation sector within Unit 2.1.
Diploma required: ICT background with skills in application testing.

6. Department 3 - Digital Services & Simplification

Tasks and duties of the trainee
• Analysing and supporting improvements to ICT Project Management and associated e-tools;
• Analysing and supporting improvements to ITIL processes/procedures and associated e-tools;
• Collaborating in the execution of gap analysis on the existing ICT processes/procedures and e-tools, identifying opportunities for enhancement;
• Participating in cross functions sessions to support consolidation of ICT processes, by applying particular standards/best practices frameworks (e.g. ISO, ITIL and PRINCE2);
• Providing suggestions to improve mechanisms, procedures, tools, workflows and measures to increase the harmonisation and consistency of the services, contributing for the implementation of a better-quality control on ICT projects;
• During this process, the trainee will also familiarise with the functioning and administrative processes of a European Agency.
Diploma required: University Bachelor or Full Degree in Information Technology, Information System Management or Computer Science.
Advantageous: Good understanding of ICT Project Management and ITIL lifecycles and processes. Familiarity with Project Management and ITIL e-tools. Analytical skills to perform research and benchmarking. Awareness of Legal/EU Regulation.

7. Unit 3.1 - Maritime Digital Services
Tasks and duties of the trainee
In the area of CI/CD (Continues Integration / Continuous Delivery):
• Study, review and document the current CI/CD processes and procedures;
• Consolidate CI/CD processes and procedures;
• Improve CI/CD processes and procedures.
• In the area of scripting, to complement the above:
• Study, review and document the current deployment scripts;
• Improve deployment scripts for being integrated with the CI/CD procedures above.
• In the area of Project Delivery Organization:
• Review technical project documentation;
• Identify areas that would require future details for better understanding;
• Consolidate and organize Project Delivery documentation according to EMSA documentation structure.
Diploma required: University degree on the Information Technologies area.
Advantageous: Knowledge and experience of Jenkins, Puppet, Groovy, Linux shell scripting.

8. Unit 3.2 - Digital Infrastructure
Tasks and duties of the trainee
The MSS trainee will support the daily operations of the MSS under the supervision of the MSSOs on duty. The daily operations include:
• Data quality checks, reporting on maritime accidents, monitoring newswires, monitoring and incident management, helpdesk service, etc.
• Engagement in specific tasks and surveys such as Hazmat or MRS reporting, according to the service needs.
Diploma required: By order of priority: Diploma in Nautical Science (Mate/Master) OR Naval Engineering. Computer Sciences or Engineering IT diploma OR Engineering in general.
Advantageous: Computer skills (mainly MS Office), databases SQL or equivalent and Geographical information systems (ARCGIS).

9. Unit 3.3 - Simplification

Tasks and duties of the trainee
The trainee will support the development of EMSA operational services to EU institutions including Europol, MAOC (N), EFCA, FRONTEX and EUNAVFOR.
This will involve a period of familiarisation with the legal and operational context as well as how the relationship with Institutional users is implemented at EMSA e.g., from gathering business requirements from users to bringing those Integrated Maritime Information (IMS) requirements in operation in the SafeSeaNet Ecosystem GUI (SEG). 
The trainee will be expected to undertake a number of activities including:
• Assisting in the preparation of material to support the user experience. This could include updating the service requirement documentation for all EU Institution IMS operations or associated manuals and video tutorials on IMS as well as training plans per institutional user;
• Assisting in the test and validation campaigns of the abovementioned IMS services.
Diploma required: Any related to maritime or engineering or science
Advantageous: Maritime knowledge/Geographical Information Systems/SQL/Legal

10. Unit 4.1 - Human Resources & Internal Support
Tasks and duties of the trainee
• Assisting in the preparation of professional missions ensuring that the relevant rules and procedures in place are respected;
• Encoding of mission claims on behalf of the staff member making sure that the Mission Guide is respected;
• Verifying the content of the files and scanning the supporting documents;
• Assisting in administrative tasks linked to mission procedures;
• Assisting in other tasks of the Unit as required;
• Archiving and filing of mission related documentation;
• Support in the coordination and organisation of selection procedures.
Diploma required: Public Administration, HR, Finance, Tourism or in any other related area to the tasks to be performed.
Advantageous: Good organisational skills, ability to work in a team, knowledge of Excel.

11. Unit 4.2 - Legal, Finance & Facilities
Tasks and duties of the trainee
To provide assistance to the Legal section in Unit 4.2 in the following areas:
• Preparation of legal and procurement related documentation following the update of Procurement templates, rules and manuals;
• Assistance in development and/or revisions of the internal legal framework;
• Assistance in the verification of procurement files;
• Assistance in the e-procurement procedures;
• Assistance in maintaining the contract archive;
• Assistance in preparing training presentations and other training materials;
• Updates of the Court cases.
Diploma required: Master of Laws in European/Administrative/Business Law related fields.
Advantageous: Proficiency in Word, good knowledge of PowerPoint.

5. Eligibility and Selection Criteria

A. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

A.1 Nationality and education

  • Candidates must have an EU or Iceland or Norway nationality.
  • Candidates must have completed the first cycle of a higher education course (university education) and obtained a full degree or its equivalent by the closing date for applications.
  • Candidates must have completed their university studies no longer than three years prior to the deadline of applications.

It should be noted that due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on the 31/01/2020, candidates from the United Kingdom who do not hold the nationality of another European Union Member State, are not eligible.

Only qualifications that have been awarded in EU Member States or that are subject to the equivalence certificates issued by the authorities in the EU Member States will be taken into consideration. Please note, that degrees awarded by the United Kingdom up to 31/12/2020 are considered as valid.

A.2 Language skills

  • The main working language in the field of maritime safety is English. Candidates must therefore have a very good command of oral and written English (at least B2 level).

B. SELECTION CRITERIA

B.1. Essential

  • Comply with the requirements of the position in the chosen units.

6. General conditions

Please note that sickness insurance is compulsory. Candidates must provide a certificate proving health insurance cover: private/public insurance or the European Health Insurance Card . The cover must be valid for the whole period of the traineeship.

Please note that your insurance must cover all the medical costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. It should be noted that due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on the 31/01/2020, candidates from the United Kingdom who do not hold the nationality of another European Union Member State, are not eligible for the traineeship.

7. Traineeship grant

The trainees will be awarded a monthly grant of €1,119.91 and a travel allowance as indicated in the above-mentioned decision, if applicable.

8. Submission of applications

Candidates must submit their application electronically solely via the EMSA website within the deadline. Applications by any other means (hard copy or ordinary e-mail) or submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

When completing their application, candidates must indicate two units as first and second option as preference for the traineeship. 

All candidates will receive an acknowledgement of receipt for their application.

In addition to this, and once the acknowledgement of receipt has been received, candidates need to send a copy of the completed University Diploma that gives access to the traineeship by e-mail to the following address: traineeship@emsa.europa.eu with the following subject: EMSA/TRA/2022/01 – SURNAME/Name

Examples:

1. Candidate has a Bachelor Degree obtained in 2019 and a Master Degree obtained in 2021. The copy of the Diploma that has to be submitted is the Bachelor Degree one.

2. Candidate has a Bachelor Degree obtained in 2015 and a Master Degree obtained in 2020. The copy of the Diploma that has to be submitted is the Master Degree one.

Please be reminded that the University Diploma to be submitted to the Traineeship mailbox, has to be obtained no longer than three years prior to the deadline of applications.

Only complete applications will be taken into consideration. No application will be considered if the required University Diploma has not been sent to the Traineeship mailbox: traineeship@emsa.europa.eu (Please note that self-certifications are not accepted).

Females applicants are encouraged to apply, EMSA seeks to attain at least 60% of female trainees in our Traineeship Programme.

The closing date for application for the traineeship program is 09 December 2021 (17h00 Lisbon time - UTC/GMT +00.00)

Please be informed that due to the ongoing situation related to COVID-19, EMSA reserves the right to modify the foreseen start and/or end dates of traineeships or to cancel them should circumstances so require. Candidates should also be aware that teleworking arrangements may also need to be put in place for some period of the traineeship, again depending upon the situation at the time.

9. The selection process

For each traineeship session, a Selection Committee (SC) is created. Their work is confidential, and applicants must refrain from contacting the members of the SC. After the screening of the applications, the SC will set up a list of eligible candidates and send it to the different EMSA Departments and Units for selection. 

Once candidates have been selected by the relevant EMSA entities, the trainees' nomination is confirmed by the Head of Department 4 'Corporate Services'. 

There is no appeal procedure.  Upon receipt of the application, the SC will examine all the applications based on the criteria established for the intake, as published on the Agency's website. 

Candidates can be contacted over the phone or by videocall by the recruiting Units to check eligibility and availability and to discuss mutual expectations prior to the final selection decision. 

Candidates could also be invited for an interview or to take part in a written test. All candidates will be informed of the outcome of their application at the end of the selection process. 

If an application is unsuccessful, candidates may apply again for another traineeship period. It is, however, necessary to submit a new application together with all the supporting documents within the new deadline. 
At any stage of the application process, applicants may withdraw their application by informing the Agency by mail to the Traineeship email address: traineeship@emsa.europa.eu

EMSA respects the privacy of its trainees and processes applicants' personal data in line with Regulation (EC) 2018/1725 of 23 October 2018. Personal information requested in the context of the traineeship is processed in line with the Data Protection Privacy Statement on the processing of personal data in the context of Selection of Trainees at EMSA as available on the EMSA website.