European Commission

the EU's first Chief Scientific Advisor -- Professor Anne Glover, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government. Professor Glover holds a Personal Chair of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Aberdeen, and has honorary positions at the Rowett and Macaulay Institutes. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a member of the Natural Environment Research Council, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She has been appointed to her new role by President Barroso to support the Commission's leadership in maintaining excellence in science across the EU.

It hasn't been decided yet which European institute the post will be situated in: the CSA can become a part of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers, which provides high-level in-house policy advice to the Commission, or in the Commission’s research directorate. (SOURCE: RapidPress)

research, stimulating innovation and simplifying the way scientists and smaller businesses can get funding for EU-backed projects. The Horizon 2020 program brings together all EU research and innovation funding under a single scheme running from 2014 to 2020. It will replace the Seventh Framework Program for research (FP7), which expires in 2013.

Horizon 2020 is divided into three tranches designed to boost specific causes. The first aims to establish the EU as a leader of cutting-edge projects using a €24.5-billion budget, including funding for the European Research Council (ERC). The body, whose support for individual academic studies has garnered praise, sees its budget increase by 77%. The second allocation is targeted at industrial innovation with a budget of €17.9 billion, including €13.7 billion for key technologies. The third and biggest tranche, worth €31.7 billion, goes to so-called "societal challenges" divided into six themes:

• Health, demographic change and well-being;
• Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research and the bio-economy;
• Secure, clean and efficient energy;
• Smart, green and integrated transport;
• Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials; and
• Inclusive, innovative and secure societies.

The remaining €5.9 billion is set aside for the Joint Research Centre – the Commission’s in-house research institution – which works on issues that include the environment, nanotechnology and nuclear safety. (Source: EurActiv.com)

Videos from the Star Project web site related to the themes of Horizon 2020:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=videos-by-theme

This is why innovation has been placed at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs. With over thirty action points, the Innovation Union aims to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation in Europe, to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.

The Commission has recently adopted the 2011 State of the Innovation Union report. Learn more about the progress made in implementing the Innovation Union flagship initiative on the Key Documents page.

Portrait of the three winners of the EU Prize for Women Innovators

The seven-year program has a proposed total budget of €19 billion, a 70% increase on the current program. It aims to bring together all the current EU and international schemes in these areas, replacing seven existing programs with one. Two-thirds of the funding is to be spent on mobility grants to enhance knowledge and skills.

Up to 5 million people, almost twice as many as now, could get the chance to study or train abroad with a grant from Erasmus for All. Among them would be nearly 3 million higher education and vocational students. Full-time Masters' students would also benefit from a new loan guarantee scheme set up with the European Investment Bank Group. The program is due to start in 2014.

The Erasmus for All proposal will now have to go forward for discussion among the EU Council (27 Member States) and the European Parliament who will make the final decision on the budgetary framework before the end of 2013. The final decision on the budget for the new education program will also be dependent on the outcomes of the discussion on the overall European financial framework for 2014-2020. (SOURCE: EUA Newsletter 21-2011)

Find out more about Erasmus for All here.

This high-level Conference will showcase Europe's vibrant and attractive science, technology and innovation culture; the excellent funding opportunities Europe provides for career development; and the challenging positions in world-class environments offered by European industry and research organizations. When we look at the picture of all of the opportunities available, both at national and European level, including the attractive opportunities for women researchers, it is truly impressive.

Presentations by high-level speakers, representing some of the major funding organizations and research intensive industries in Europe, will be illustrated by testimonials from researchers who have taken advantage of the opportunities offered to develop their careers in Europe.

Speakers will include: Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the EU Commissioner for Research and Innovation; Professor Tim Hunt, Nobel Laureate; Professor Donald Dingwell, Secretary General of the European Research Council and many other inspiring leaders in the field.

The Conference is the first of a series of events planned for the USA and has been organized by the European Commission and the European Research Council, in consultation with EU Member States and the Strategic Forum for International Cooperation.

The target audience is researchers of all nationalities based in the US, opinion leaders and representatives from leading US universities, representatives from EU and national networks working in the USA, and members of the science diplomacy community and the media.

All are welcome. Participation is free but registration is obligatory.

For full information, please visit: http://destinationeurope.teamwork.fr

16th European Career Fair, taking place 21 -23 January 2012 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (MA), US.

The European Commission, represented by the EU Delegation Office in Washington, is partnering with the ECF since 2007 to promote Europe as a great place to pursue a career in science and technology, be it in industrial research, research organizations, academia or science policy.  EU Member States will promote participation by their national research organizations and companies engaged in research.  The European Career Fair @ MIT (ECF) is an annual recruiting event, organized by the MIT European Club that connects employers from Europe with the most talented candidates who live in the US.

Our team will participate in the event on the first day with a stand in the exhibitors' area, as well as with information sessions. Please come visit us!

You can find further information on the conference website: https://www.euro-career.com/

Program of the European Career Fair:

• January 21, 2012 - Career Fair Day with exhibits and presentations by representatives from industry, academia and research.
• January 22 – 23, 2012 - Interviews for selected candidates. ECF-affiliated seminars on career development, opportunities and other activities.

ERC's Research Program Officer, Dr. Alessandra Ferrari,
and Information Officer, Ms. Samantha Christey, were present at the booth and available to provide information about ERC and their funding mechanisms, the Starting and Advanced Grants. Dr. Izabella Zandberg represented EURAXESS Links USA.

Several members of our network received free conference passes allowing them to attend the conference session or visit the exhibit floor. The passes were provided at the courtesy of the ERC exhibitors. The demand for the free passes was very high and EURAXESS apologizes for being unable to accommodate all requests.

A joint session co-organized by the German Research Foundation, the European Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research was held on November 15.

With nearly 32,000 attendees this year, the Neuroscience 2011 meeting is the world's largest and most influential annual gathering of neuroscientists.

http://www.sfn.org/am2011/events/sessions.aspx?type=workshop
http://www.sfn.org/am2011/

Approximately 700 participants, mainly students and researchers from local universities, attended the Fair. Organizations such as Procter & Gamble, CIA, Research Triangle Institute, AAAS Fellowship Program, and others, also hosted exhibit booths.

In conjunction with the North Carolina Career Fair, in the evening of 17 November, an information session titled "Opportunities for Researcher Mobility and Transatlantic Research Cooperation - The European Commission’s 7th Framework Program" was jointly held by EURAXESS Links USA and the EU Delegation on the Duke University campus, with presentations by the Delegation's Science Counselor, Dr. Astrid-Christina Koch, and by Dr. Izabella Zandberg of EURAXESS Links.

We welcome all new EURAXESS Links USA members from North Carolina!

in Vancouver, 16-20 February 2012, to co-host a workshop titled "Funding Opportunities in Europe for Creative Minds from Anywhere in the World". The workshop will be held on Friday, February 17, at 2:30 PM-3:30 PM in Room 111-112 (VCC West Building).

Aimed at early-career researchers, it will explain the European Research Council (ERC) grants and EURAXESS Researchers in Motion Initiative for European researchers abroad, and provide answers to practical questions such as: How can the ERC and EURAXESS support research careers? What are their main features of the ERC funding schemes? What are the selection criteria and how long is the selection process? How does the application process work? How many researchers are funded each year? What are the chances of success? What services are offered by EURAXESS? Where to find information on the EURAXESS portal? In addition, an ERC Starting Grantee will be present to share her experience with this funding initiative and will answer questions. Among the workshop presenters will be Massimo Gaudina, European Research Council; Izabella Zandberg, EURAXESS Links USA; and Dr Nicole Boivin, University of Oxford.

Of further interest to EURAXESS members may be a session organized by the National Science Foundation, titled "Coordinating, Learning, and Sharing Best Practices Among Scientific Diaspora Networks." The session will be held on Saturday, February 18, at 10:00-11:30AM in Room 121 (VCC West Building). This panel aims to catalyze a conversation about how best to leverage existing efforts among disparate scientific and technical diaspora networks, to highlight models for engagement, and to foster greater communications between different diaspora networks, that have much to learn from each other, as well as with governmental and nongovernmental bodies aiming to strengthen the role of diasporas in capacity-building in their countries of origin. Session organizers hope that there will be many players in the scientific diaspora engagement in the audience that can talk about their own experiences, the lessons that can be learned, and identify common challenges. We encourage our readers to attend the session and share personal perspectives, as well as learn from the perspectives of the panelists and others in the audience. We hope this would make a very fruitful conversation.

http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2012/webprogram/WORK.html
http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2012/webprogram/Session4947.html
http://www.aaas.org/meetings/

the art solutions and debate the key issues underlying the science and practice of the inextricably linked natural, utility and infrastructural issues of our time. The unique milestone event will be held in Dublin, the capital of the Emerald Isle, in the beautiful springtime and has the genuine potential to make a definitive contribution to the direction that global society will take in the foreseeable future.

Further information: IWA-WCE

The Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) is Europe’s largest, general science meeting and is held in a leading Europe city every two years. The first meeting was held in Stockholm in 2004, followed by Munich (2006), Barcelona (2008) and Turin (2010). Dublin was awarded the honour of hosting ESOF in 2012, following an open competition. Copenhagen will host then event in 2014.

ESOF is an interdisciplinary, pan-European meeting, held under the auspices of Euroscience, which aims to:

• Showcase the latest advances in science and technology;
• Promote a dialogue on the role of science and technology in society and public policy; and
• Stimulate and provoke public interest, excitement and debate about science and technology.

The event is unique in the diversity of delegates who attend: it attracts top researchers from the natural sciences and the social sciences; business leaders; senior EU and government officials; and international scientific media. They come to discuss the best of European science and to address all of the current major global scientific challenges, including Energy, Climate Change, Food and Health. The conference offers a number of distinct types of activities:

• A Science program of seminars, workshops and debates on the latest science and technology
• A Media program to promote science communication.
• A Careers program for young researchers.
• A Science-2-Business program to link basic research with industrial applications.
• An Exhibition to showcase the best of European public and private research.
• A Science in the City program to engage with the general public.
• A Social program to ensure that delegate experience is socially, culturally and intellectually invigorating.

Find out more and register at:  http://www.dublinscience2012.ie/

The aim is to promote substantial advances in the frontiers of knowledge, as well as to encourage new productive lines of enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines. The peer review evaluation will therefore look for proposals that demonstrate the synergies, complementarities and added value that could lead to breakthroughs that would not be possible by the individual PIs working alone. The grant can be up to a maximum of EUR 150 000 000 for a period up to six years (pro rata for projects of shorter duration).

Applications may be made in any field of research covered by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The ERC seeks pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or proposals introducing unconventional, innovative approaches and scientific inventions. The expected impact on science, scholarship or engineering should be significant. New types of joint effort may be needed, they may require building around specialized infrastructures, they may have to allow for new combinations of skills and disciplines, or the bringing together of researchers from different institutions, sectors or countries. It is therefore expected that the organization of such activities will vary widely, depending on the particular needs of the research.

Application deadline:  25 January 2012

More information

European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants are intended to promote substantial advances in the frontiers of knowledge and to encourage new productive lines of enquiry and new methods and techniques, including unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines. ERC Advanced Grants allow exceptional established research leaders of any nationality and any age to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects that open new directions in their respective research fields or other domains.

The ERC Advanced Grant funding targets researchers who have already established themselves as independent research leaders in their own right.

ERC Advanced Grants in brief

• Research field: any field of science, engineering and scholarship
• Researchers: any nationality, any age. Applicants must be scientifically independent and have a recent research track-record and profile which identifies them as leaders in their respective field(s) of research
• Evaluation Criterion: scientific excellence
• Host Institution: research must be conducted in a public or private research organization (known as a Host Institution/HI) located in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries
• Funding: up to € 2.5 million per grant (in some circumstances up to € 3.5 million per grant)
• Duration: up to 5 years

Deadline for submission of applications:

• Physical Sciences and Engineering: 16 February 2012
• Life Sciences: 14 March 2012
• Social Sciences and Humanities: 11 April 2012

Further information:
ERC – Advanced Grant
Research Participant Portal

Fellowships last for up to ten months in one of the EUI's four Departments which in turn invite fellows to participate in departmental activities (seminars, workshops, colloquia, etc.). The annual deadlines for applications are 30 March and 30 September, but the Department of Law considers applications only for the 30 March deadline. More details on the EUI website.

The eligibility is open to Postdocs as well as researchers with at least four years of research experience and of any nationality. The funding covers a flat-rate contribution of EUR 25,000 per year for a period of two to four years. The flat-rate contribution can be used as a contribution towards salary, research, publication and travel expanses etc. for the researcher. With the Work Program 2011, the European Reintegration Grants (ERG) and the International Reintegration Grants (IRG) have been refocused in order to reinforce the attractiveness of the European Research Area by merging and rebranding them as Career Integration Grants (CIG). Deadline 18 September 2012.

Further information: Research & Innovation Participant Portal

and private commercial enterprises, in particular SMEs, based on longer-term cooperation programs for increasing knowledge-sharing and mutual understanding in both industrial and academic sectors. The participants in an IAPP consist of one or more research organizations (e.g. universities) and one or more commercial enterprises that propose a research project based on a joint cooperation program. This transfer of knowledge will be reached through staff secondments (staff exchange). Deadline 19 April 2012.

See presentations by Dr. Louise Byrne from the Research Executive Agency in Brussels, delivered at the Info Day held on the premises of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports in Zagreb, October 20, 2011, and providing detailed information about this and other Marie Curie Actions (presentation courtesy of EURAXESS Croatia):  http://www.euraxess.hr/sitegenius/article.php?id=880.

Further information: Research & Innovation Participant Portal

The target group of the scheme comprises public bodies, which fund and manage fellowship programs, as well as international organizations, research organizations and research-funding bodies that offer fellowships to experienced researchers. The co-funded fellowships should support the participating researchers in gaining an independent research position by acquiring multi- and interdisciplinary skills and inter-sectoral experience. The European Commission will provide a contribution of 40% of the fellowship costs. The maximum contribution per institution has increased from EUR 5 million to EUR 10 million for this call. In addition, the funding duration has been extended to a maximum of five years. Deadline 15 February 2012.

Further information: Research & Innovation Participant Portal

The program seeks to make Norway an attractive research destination for highly qualified international Ph.D. students and younger researchers in all subject areas, thus strengthening the Norwegian research communities involved. Deadline for application: 15 February 2012

More information: Research Council of Norway

STEM research and education exists in many parts of the world, and that scientific advances can be accelerated by scientists, engineers, and educators working together wherever they are. SAVI focuses on interactions between cohesive teams of researchers across national borders and takes advantage of existing U.S. and foreign investments in frontier research by leveraging complementary intellectual strengths and sharing unique research infrastructures. Virtual institutes will serve as research hubs in which new ideas originate, multidisciplinary research is fostered, diversity is valued, and long-term professional networks are developed between U.S. researchers and students and their international counterparts.

The primary objective of SAVI is to bring together leading STEM researchers/educators from different countries, both physically and virtually, to work collaboratively on problems of mutual interest, building on relationships initiated by NSF-supported teams of researchers. NSF will support U.S. participants, while their international partners will be supported by their own national or regional funding source.

NSF intends to accomplish the following specific objectives through SAVI:

• Support collaborative research initiated by STEM researchers/educators at the frontiers in all fields supported by NSF;
• Stimulate networking among NSF-funded U.S. researchers with complementary strengths and common interests to form coherent research teams, and become virtual institutes;
• Facilitate STEM research and education partnerships among NSF-funded research centers/institutes (both virtual and real) and their international counterparts;
• Provide students, postdocs and junior faculty opportunities for research experiences abroad that lead to long-lasting international collaborations; and
• Strengthen connections between NSF and counterpart STEM research funding organizations around the globe by leveraging each other's investments in fundamental research and human resource development.

NSF will support activities that are designed to meet the SAVI objectives described above. Examples of activities, which can be carried out virtually or physically, include:

• Joint research activities that will advance science, engineering, and STEM learning more effectively than individual national teams working independently;
• Joint meetings of SAVI team members that promote synergy;
• Workshops, advanced study institutes, and symposia;
• Joint seminar series, college-level courses;
• Co-mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows;
• Long-term research exchange visits for junior faculty; and
• Opportunities for focused summer research experiences abroad for U.S. undergraduate students.

The above list is illustrative and not meant to be exhaustive. Any balanced and mutually beneficial activities that contribute to meeting the SAVI objectives will be considered. The SAVI Website (http://www.nsf.gov/savi) describes examples of three virtual institutes that have served as pilot projects, representing three distinct SAVI models.

SAVI is not a stand-alone program. Proposals to support SAVI activities can be submitted as a supplemental funding request to an existing award, or as a full proposal to an existing, active NSF program that best fits the proposed subject matter. Such full proposals should be submitted in accordance with the program's regular target or deadline dates. All NSF research Directorates and Offices will accept SAVI proposals, except for the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE). OISE will coordinate and support SAVI activities across NSF. However, it will not accept SAVI proposals directly. Each Directorate and Office will process SAVI proposals in a manner consistent with its established proposal review practices. Potential proposers should contact an appropriate Directorate or Office representative listed on the SAVI website (http://www.nsf.gov/savi) prior to proposal submission.

Teams of investigators with active NSF awards are eligible to apply. A team can be: 1) an existing NSF center/institute awardee; or 2) a virtual center/institute consisting of multiple investigators holding individual awards with common research/education interests. A single individual representing the team must be designated as the SAVI coordinator and his/her institution must serve as the U.S. lead institution responsible for management of a SAVI award. At the time of proposal submission, the U.S. team's international partners should be identified and apply for funding to an appropriate funding organization in their country. SAVI partnerships may be bi-lateral or multilateral.

SAVI funds are meant to serve as a "glue" to facilitate building of solid foundations for virtual institutes. Depending on the extent of SAVI-like activities already supported by existing awards and the size of the proposed virtual institute, the budget of a SAVI award is expected to vary from $50,000 to $400,000 per year for up to five 5 years. NSF funds will support only the U.S. participants. SAVI awards are meant to facilitate initial catalytic efforts. NSF and their international counterpart funding organizations expect a successful SAVI to become a self-sustainable virtual institute after SAVI funding has ended.

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/

ACHIEVE is aimed to equip new researchers with the competencies necessary for closing the gap between measuring inner city health inequities and reducing them. The program has two main foci: Population Health and Health Services Interventions Research and Community Engagement, Partnerships, and Knowledge Translation. The deadline for submission of applications is February 13, 2012.

More information can be found at: www.crich.ca/education.php

http://ec.europa.eu/research/dgs/tenders/open_en.cfm

The following calls are currently open under the Ideas program.

The following calls are open under the Cooperation program:

Participants from the United States are eligible to join research proposals under the Cooperation scheme. These programs require at least three partners in three different EU or associated countries plus a partner in the United States. With the exception of Health proposals, there is no funding from the European Union for U.S.-based partners unless the participation of the U.S. partner is deemed necessary for the success of the program. Cooperation schemes in the area of Health provide for full funding of the U.S.-based partners.

The following calls are open under the Capacities program.

To access a full list of currently open calls for proposals launched by the European Commission and for full details of the calls, go to: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/calls

Also visit our website: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/links/usa/funding_opportunities_en.htm

The place of work is Vilnius, Lithuania. More information: http://www.eige.europa.eu/content/career-opportunities

For research careers and information on career and grant opportunities in science and technology in European countries, visit the EURAXESS Jobs website.

For access to a network of Service Centers providing free of charge assistance to researchers across Europe and Associated Countries, visit EURAXESS Services.

For information about researchers' and employers' rights and obligations, visit EURAXESS Rights.

For information about networks of European Researchers in the USA, India, China, and Singapore, visit EURAXESS Links.

The Chronicle of Higher Education Careers Service: http://chronicle.com/jobs/
Find A Postdoc: http://www.findapostdoc.com/
Find Scholarships in Europe: http://www.scholarshipportal.eu/
Find PhDs in Europe: http://www.phdportal.eu/
Career.edu: http://www.career.edu/index.php
Academic Jobs EU: http://www.academicjobseu.com
Euro Science Jobs: http://www.eurosciencejobs.com/
The European Job Mobility Portal: http://ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp?lang=en
EMBO excellence in life sciences: EMBO
EuroBrussels: http://www.eurobrussels.com/
Jobs at ITER: http://www.iter.org/jobs
Nature.jobs: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/index.html
Jobs.ac.uk: www.jobs.ac.uk
Research Jobs in the Netherlands: http://www.academictransfer.org/org/
Research Jobs in Germany
Scholarship Database of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Research Jobs in the Netherlands: http://www.academictransfer.org/
Brainpower Austria: http://www.brainpower-austria.at/
Talent Scotland: www.talentscotland.com
Elsevier Jobs: http://www.recruitment.elsevier.com/register/default.aspx

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/wp-2011_en.html

http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/

The IPR Helpdesk is free of charge and provides a team of experienced lawyers to assist you in a straightforward way. All questions will be answered within 3 working days. Ways of contacting are: by telephone, through the web site or fax. There is also a Newsletter and a Bulletin for regular updates. The Helpline service also participates in seminars and provides training in IP/IPR-related areas (web-based training, or webinar, are also organized).

For more information and for contact: http://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/frontpage