European Commission

The Marie Curie Actions are a European Commission funded initiative that has been supporting researchers since 1996. At the heart of the actions is the goal of making Europe more attractive to the best researchers. This is achieved by supporting a career structure that enhances the status and attractiveness of research careers in Europe and by creating conditions that allow researchers to be truly mobile, both internationally and between the public and private sector.

The EURAXESS Services Network spans 35 countries in Europe. There are more than 200 Service Centres across Europe and many more if you count those involved in more informal collaborations. They all are working to achieve the common goal of supporting mobile researchers and all have important experiences worthwhile of sharing throughout Europe. How can Europe increase the opportunities for meeting and exchanging opportunities? The national coordinator of EURAXESS Germany, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, has launched a pilot project "EURAXESS Connect" to do just that.

The European Research Council (ERC), part of the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) under the IDEAS programme, is a radical departure from established approaches of European Union funding for research, with an independent Scientific Council and an autonomous Executive Agency. The ERC Scientific Council, composed of 22 renowned scientists and scholars, stands for the independent scientific governance. The implementation structure, which has recently been transformed into an autonomous Executive Agency, sees to that the FP7 IDEAS programme is implemented according to the strategies and methodologies defined by the Scientific Council. In the context of becoming an executive agency, the ERC underwent a major expansion and is eventually expected to have some 400 staff to carry out its work.

Thousands of students all over Europe are graduating and struggling with an important decision: choosing the first step in their career. With the financial and economic crisis the picture looks grim and the job market is as competitive as it has ever been. However, political leaders in industrialised countries are taking steps to adapt their countries to new economic realities. Most realise that investing in research to create a knowledge-based economy will lead to recovery from the crisis by creating new jobs, services and technology beneficial for everyone.

On June 10 hypios.com, the first global on-line marketplace for solutions, was launched. hypios connects companies with specific problems (Seekers), to people who have the knowledge and expertise to find solutions (Solvers). The website works by Seekers submitting detailed problem descriptions and Solvers then having a chance to offer solutions if their expertise is suited to the given problem.

In December 2008 the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research launched MORE - Mobility and Career Paths of Researchers in Europe - a large-scale study on the mobility patterns and career objectives of European researchers. The study is taking place over the course of 18 months and aims to provide researchers and policy makers with a deeper knowledge of researchers' motivation to be mobile and the barriers they encounter as well as developing new surveys on researchers' career paths. Already in June 2009 the consortium launched the European Union-wide survey of several thousand researchers in academia and a smaller survey of researchers working in industry.

Adopted in 2005, the European Charter and Code for the Recruitment of Researchers (Charter & Code) is a key element of the European Union's plan to promote research and make Europe a more attractive place for researchers from across the globe to work. Efforts are under way in France to make researchers and research organisations aware of the Charter & Code thanks to the work of the EURAXESS Services Centres in France - specifically organisations such as the Kastler Foundation.

As the German national coordinator of the EURAXESS Services Network, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation collaborates with universities and research institutions throughout Germany, spreading the spirit of EURAXESS. It became evident that members of the national network had many ideas on how to improve the services for internationally mobile researchers, but lacked the necessary funding. With private support, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was able to raise private funds to initiate the best-practice contest "Welcome Centres." The idea is to create role models and entice decision-makers at universities and research institutions to invest more resources into services for mobile researchers. In order to spread the experience at the European level, the winners of the contest represent Germany at the Thessaloniki training event, for EURAXESS members.