Marie Curie Fellowships in FP7
Carole Glynn Director, FRENZ
FP7 • The European Commission’s main instrument to facilitate collaborative research in (mainly) science and technology. Almost 60 billion euros from 2007-1013.
People programme • One of the four main components of FP7 (Cooperation; Ideas; Capacities; People). Aims to build Europe’s human resources for research through transnational mobility.
•
Programme broken into:
– – – – Initial training of researchers Life-long training Industry academic partnerships International dimension
Marie Curie • Branding of fellowships since 2002.
Jargon overview
• • • •
Any area of research Bottom-up approach Not restricted to Cooperation themes Should meet objectives of EC funded research under the EC Treaty
– Increase competitiveness of European industry – Support EU policy implementation
• But consider the evaluation panels
What research areas are allowed?
• • • • • • • •
Chemistry (CHE) Social and Human Sciences (SOC) Economic Sciences (ECO) Information science and Engineering (ENG) Environmental and Geo-Sciences (ENV) Life Sciences (LIF) Mathematics (MAT) Physics (PHY)
The evaluation panels
When I say “EUROPE”, I mean: EU Member States • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
Associated Countries (AC) a) Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway (subject to amendment procedure of EEA agreement) b) Switzerland, Israel (subject to satisfactory conclusion of bilateral S/T agreements) c) Turkey, Croatia, Serbia and FYROM (subject to satisfactory completion of the decision-making procedure associating these countries via a Memorandum of Understanding)
When I say “NZ”, I mean: Third countries The rest of the world…
Some of the country terms
• EU/AS National • Third country national • Equivalent to EU/AS national
– carried out normal activities in MS/AS for 3 of last 4 years – Not applicable to outgoing international fellowships
• Dual nationality
– Cannot have resided in host organisation country in the last 5 years
• Trans-national mobility
– Cannot have lived in the host organisation country for more than 12 months in the last 3 years
Eligibility definitions
• Return to NZ
• Not constrained by NZ funding system • Helps build collaborations • Not a monumental effort • Pretty good rates of return • Good introduction to FP7
Why focus on IOF and IIF?
• • • • • • • •
Research organisations Universities Research institutes Large companies Small companies Non-government organisations Other non-profit or charitable organisations International European interest organisations (e.g. CERN, EMBL, etc) • EC’s Joint Research Centre
Possible host organisations
• To attract the world’s best researchers to Europe • Open only to third country researchers (e.g. NZ) • Big focus: Knowledge transfer • Develop research collaborations
• 1-2 years in a Member or Associated State
• Possible 1 year return phase (but not to NZ!)
• Salary, mobility allowance, travel costs • Research costs, management and overhead
International Incoming Fellowships
• To send Europe’s researchers to work with the world’s best
• Open only to European researchers (no assimilation) • Big focus: Career development
– Reinforce international dimension of research career – Training and knowledge acquisition
• 1-2 years in a third country (e.g. NZ) • 1 year mandatory return to Europe
• Salary, mobility allowance, travel costs • Research costs, management and overhead
International Outgoing Fellowships
• 1-2 years outgoing phase
– To Europe: IIF – To NZ: OIF
• 1 year return phase
– Possible to ICPC*: IIF – Mandatory: OIF
• Full-time • May be possible to split stays
* Low and lower middle income countries of the world are classed as ICPCs: International cooperation partner countries.
How long are these fellowships?
Research project: • realistic and well-defined objective
– career advancement, resuming a research career after a break, developing research competence
Training activities • Training-through-research under supervision • Hands-on training to develop scientific and complementary skills • Inter-sectoral or interdisciplinary transfer of knowledge • Collaboration building • Scientific and financial management skills • Developing organisational skills Personal Career Development Plan • Best training programme to meet researcher’s needs • Assess progress
What activities are involved?
• Salary, mobility and travel allowances to fellow • Research costs, management fee and overhead to host • Based on fixed rates (as per the current People Workprogramme)
How are they funded?
Living allowance (reference, cost of living index 100)
Experience Option 1: Employment contract (€/year) 33 800
52 000 78 000
Option 2: Fixedamount stipend (€/year) 16 900
26 000 38 000
Early stage researchers (<4 years)
Experienced researchers (4-10 years) Experienced researchers (>10 years)
Correction factor for cost of living to be applied New Zealand = 89%
Researcher Salaries
• Living allowance (salary)
• Mobility allowance:
– €500/month if solo researcher
– €800/month for researcher with a family
• Travel allowance:
– Flat rate city-city – 250-2500 euros/year depending on distance
For the researcher
• Research costs:
– 500 euros/month for non-lab based activity
– 800 euros/month for lab based activity
• Management: 3% of total cost • Overheads: 10% of total cost
Or the host(s)
• Access to an excellent researcher
• Exchange of knowledge
• Building a collaboration
• Possible 2 year real-life interview
What do the hosts get out of it?
• Access to an excellent research organisation
• Exchange of knowledge
• New skills/expertise
• Transferable skills • Building a collaboration
• An international research career
What do the fellows get out of it?
Part A
– Set of forms for administrative information about the proposal and the applicants
Part B
– Free-text description of the research project – Series of headings and explanatory notes based on the evaluation criteria, as described in the Guide for Applicants
The working language is English
Proposal preparation
• Follow the suggested format exactly
• Leave nothing to the imagination • Show that you have a clear plan and vision
• Respect the recommended lengths
• Give equal time to all the sections • Read the evaluation criteria
Obvious tips for Part B
• ONLY electronic submission • Will be made available at least four weeks before the call deadline
• Allows online preparation and submission • Password access for co-ordinator (and others) • Special service for referees:
– separate password – can be submitted before the proposal itself
– notice send to co-ordinator
• Automatic acknowledgement of receipt
EPSS
Weighting (%) Threshold S&T quality Training/transfer of knowledge Researcher Implementation Impact
Overall threshold of 70%
25 15 25 15 20
3 N/A 4 N/A N/A
Scoring - IIF
Weighting (%) Threshold S&T quality Training/transfer of knowledge Researcher Implementation Impact
Overall threshold of 70%
25 15 25 15 20
3 3 4 N/A N/A
Scoring - OIF
Register as an expert / evaluator:
http://cordis.europa.eu/emmfp7
• • • • Meet the EC project officer Meet potential collaborators See what’s going on in Europe Get to know the process
List of experts / evaluators used in FP6:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp6/experts.htm
Can I be an evaluator?
• 450 euros per day, plus T&S
• Ex gratia payment/honorarium • Can be paid to your institution
• Contract between EC and expert
• Maximum 10 days/year (could be 2-3 trips) • Brussels or Luxembourg • Workload varies: 10 fellowships, 2 NoEs
What’s involved?
• Vacancies in FP6 host projects • Post graduate
• Post doctoral • Experienced researchers
• 30% of researcher months to non-EU
• Salary, research costs and travel covered
http://cordis.europa.eu/mc-opportunities/
FP6 Fellowship opportunities
• IIF (24 million Euros budget)
– 570 proposals submitted, around 23% to be funded – With NZ: 6 submitted, 5 to be funded.
• IOF (24 million Euros budget)
– 340 proposals submitted, around 30% to be funded – With NZ: 7 submitted, 2 to be funded.
• Next deadline: 19 August 2008 • Same level of budget
Results and next deadline
Carole Glynn, FRENZ Facilitating Research co-operation between Europe and New Zealand
carole.glynn@frenz.org.nz 07 345 4700
07 345 4702
http://www.frenz.org.nz
Further information
Project suspension • Need to inform the EC • Can identify split stays at proposal stage • If unforeseen, requires agreement from EC
– Won’t object to legal maternity/parental leave – Otherwise must justify the request
• Grant agreement is automatically extended by an equal period
Maternity/parental leave • Host organisations can request additional funds • Won’t be more salary to fellow than normal
Stays away from host institution • Project should take place at host institution • Can spend up to 30% of time away from host, where justifiable
– Write it into proposal – Advance permission from EC (unless <10 days, 10%)
• If stay needs to be more than 30%, write it into the proposal
Interruptions to the project