\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, amsthm, amssymb, graphicx}
\usepackage{charter, tabularx}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\setlength{\parskip}{1ex}
\setlength{\parindent}{0ex}
\setlength{\itemsep}{.7ex}
\setlength{\arraycolsep}{0.7mm}
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.1}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

\makeatletter
\renewenvironment{thebibliography}[1]
     {\subsubsection*{{\refname}}%
     \begin{footnotesize}
      \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\refname}{\MakeUppercase\refname}%
      \list{\@biblabel{\@arabic\c@enumiv}}%
           {\settowidth\labelwidth{\@biblabel{#1}}%
            \leftmargin\labelwidth
            \advance\leftmargin\labelsep
            \@openbib@code
            \usecounter{enumiv}%
            \let\p@enumiv\@empty
            \renewcommand\theenumiv{\@arabic\c@enumiv}}%
      \sloppy
      \clubpenalty4000
      \@clubpenalty \clubpenalty
      \widowpenalty4000%
      \sfcode`\.\@m}
     {\def\@noitemerr
       {\@latex@warning{Empty `thebibliography' environment}}%
      \endlist\end{footnotesize}}
\makeatother

\newcommand{\dash}{\nobreakdash-\hspace{0pt}}

\newcommand{\researchtitle}[1]{%
	\medskip
	\hrule
	{\em \large #1}
	\medskip
	\hrule
	\medskip}

\begin{document}

\thispagestyle{empty}

\paragraph*{Your name} \ \\
(Your institution, Your country)

\researchtitle{Title describing your research}

Provide a research statement; do not exceed one page, including references.

\begin{thebibliography}{9}

\bibitem{R1} Paper in some journal.
\bibitem{R2} Another paper in some journal.

\end{thebibliography}


\bigskip\hrule

\end{document}
