News

The "MyOcean2" Grant Agreement (GA), a space research project managed by the REA and backed by almost € 28 million in EU funds, has just been signed. The project is expected to lead to the deployment of a fully operational European GMES Marine Monitoring Service as of 2014.

The project is expected to provide free access to state-of-the-art ocean analyses and forecasts based on a combination of satellite and in situ observations. MyOcean2 would counter pollution and oil spills, monitor water quality, protect marine resources, harness thermal water energy, predict coastal erosion and deliver data for climate change-related hypothetical scenarios on the basis of parameters such as sea surface temperature, salinity, currents or iceberg drift.

The total cost of the project, the largest ever signed by the REA, amounts to € 41 million and involves 59 partners from 29 different countries, including Israel, Norway, Turkey, Morocco, Russia and Ukraine.

An EU-funded research project managed by the REA, DORIS, is generating rock fall risk assessment maps for El Hierro, an island in the Canary archipelago under risk of evacuation. El Hierro has been registering seismic activity since the Summer.

The scientific team behind DORIS has responded to an emergency call from the Geological Survey of Spain (IGME), a self-governing public research institution attached to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

DORIS can detect, map, monitor and forecast ground deformations and landslides.

DORIS is supported by €3.4 million in EU funds.

8 research projects funded by the European Union and managed by the REA will be exhibiting at the Innovation Convention (IC), a two-day event organised by the European Commission (EC) in Brussels that will bring together leading experts in research and innovation. EC President José Manuel Barroso is expected to open the event on Monday.

The REA projects concerned are Sfera, Fallwatch, Eposbed, Railect, Shiparrestor, Radio-past, MyOcean and SGL for USaR.

Questions on Marie Curie Action-related funding opportunities will be answered by REA staff at the Commission pavilion that will be set up in the event's exhibition area.

The European Commission has presented a package of measures to boost research, innovation and competitiveness in Europe. Horizon 2020, supported €80 billion in EU funds, brings together all EU research and innovation funding under a single programme

The goal is to foster turning scientific breakthroughs into innovative products and services that provide business opportunities and change people's lives for the better. Horizon 2020 aims at drastically cut red tape, with simplification of rules and procedures to attract more top researchers and a broader range of innovative businesses. EC press release  .

Sources from the Turkish Government have confirmed that the reference maps produced by the GMES emergency management service (SAFER) in the aftermath of the earthquake registered in Turkey last Sunday will be "very useful for damage assessment, emergency assistance and related response activities". The maps cover five different cities: Van, Ercis, Bitlis, Guvenli and Alakoy.

SAFER started to deliver detailed geographic reference maps on Sunday night. The production of complementary damage assessment maps is currently under way. Those maps will show the extent to which the 7.3 magnitude quake has changed the geography of the area, and will help to evaluate the potential impact of the disaster on population and infrastructure.

SAFER is a research project managed by the REA and supported by € 27 million in EU funds. Its total budget is € 39 million. The project is expected to finish by the end of the year. More

Do you want to participate, as an EU-funded project, in the 2012 Researchers' Night? The call for proposals, supported by €4 million from the PEOPLE programme, is now open. You can apply for funding until 10 January. Please see tips on writing proposals. A Researchers' Night information day will take place on 10 October. Register here.

As every fan of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Lisbeth Salander knows, it takes painstaking detective work to solve a murder mystery. During this year's sixth EU Researchers' Night, which will take place tomorrow in more than 320 European cities, some would-be sleuths will have the chance to team up with forensic scientists to crack a murder 'whodunit' puzzle with the aid of DNA testing and psychological profiling. The programme is broad and for all publics.

The European Researchers' Night is a Marie Curie initiative managed by the Research Executive Agency since 2009.
Press release  

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announces nearly €7 billion to kick-start innovation through research. The European Commission's biggest ever such funding package, under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7), is expected to create around 174 000 jobs in the short-term and nearly 450 000 jobs over 15 years. More  

The European Commission proposes to increase research and innovation funding to €80 billion between 2014 and 2020 under the forthcoming "Horizon 2020" strategy. According to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the goal is 'to boost Europe's global competitiveness and help create the jobs and ideas of tomorrow'. More  

An EU-funded research team, Sfera, has developed a new engraving technique for glass perfume and medicine bottles which may help to improve the detection of counterfeited products. According to the scientists involved, the high-quality resolution achieved in the engraving, free from micro-cracks, is 'unbeatable'. Top pharmaceutical laboratories have already placed orders for the launch of five large-scale pilots. Watch the video released by EuroNews.

An EU-funded research team has developed a portable X-ray device ensuring high-image quality at a low cost. The device can be used for healthcare purposes (e.g. in ambulances) but also in other fields such as archaeology or engineering. The research team involved has been supported by 1 million Euros from the EU SME research fund. Watch the video of this innovative technology issued today by EuroNews.

A group of astronomers led by Johan Richard, a 31 year-old researcher supported by the EU Marie Curie fund, has discovered a distant galaxy whose stars would have been born "unexpectedly early" in cosmic history, 200 billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery offers new insights into galaxy formation and the early evolution of the Universe.

Dr Richard said the Marie Curie funding was vital in setting him on the path to the discovery. "The Marie Curie Actions bring great opportunities for scientific independence, a must if we are looking for exciting discoveries to happen," he comented. Press release  

A Spanish-based company has developed a bed that interprets patients' intentions and helps them move without assistance. The bed responds to changes in body pressure and helps avoid bedsores and other problems linked to staying in the same position for a long time. The research project behind this bed's new technology, managed by the REA, has been supported by almost 1.2 million Euros in EU funds. TV report

The Marie Curie Actions Individual Fellowships 2011 calls for proposals have just opened. The actions, Intra-European Fellowships (IEF), International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) and International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF), provide 2 or 3 years funding for researchers at postdoctoral level or with an equivalent four-year working experience. Funding available for the calls totals €189.85 million; an increase of almost 25% on last year's calls for proposals. The deadline for submitting an application is 11 August 2011 at 17.00 Brussels local time.

Watch the video issued by EuroNews on the Wheylayer research project, managed by the REA and supported by 2,5 million Euros in EU funds.

An EU-funded research project managed by the REA has developed a low cost, fast and safe technology for egg shell sterilisation. The project has been backed by more than 1 million Euros in EU funds. Watch the report issued by the TV channel EuroNews.

The ESOF2012 call for scientific session proposals is now open. The event will take place in Dublin in July 2012. It will bring together over 5,000 scientists, business leaders, government officials, policy-makers and international scientific media representatives. They will discuss the best of European science and address all of the current major global scientific challenges, including energy, climate change, food and health. The deadline for proposals' submissions is 30 June 2011.

A German scientist supported by the Marie Curie Actions has found new evidence that a specific 'asthma gene' is a cause of the respiratory condition in children. The scientist, Michaela Schedel, believes that her findings could change our understanding of childhood asthma and lead to new treatments for this potentially fatal condition.

Schedel will participate at a Marie Curie symposium organised on 20 February in the framework of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Press release  

The proposed "Common Strategic Framework", set out in a Green Paper, would cover the current Framework Programme for Research (FP7), the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This will create a coherent set of instruments, bringing innovative products and services to market, and also supporting non-technological innovation, for example in design and marketing. Stakeholders have until 20 May 2011 to respond. Press release  

A new concept of running shoe has been developed by a team of scientists supported by 1 million Euros in EU funds for SMEs. The new running shoe, a prototype developed by the Heelless research team, puts less stress on the knees and ankles and prevents running injuries. The project has been managed by the REA. Video

The European Commission has adopted measures to make participation in the EU's current Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) more attractive and more accessible to the best researchers and most innovative companies. The measures respond to concerns repeatedly expressed by participants and would-be participants in FP7. More  

A new security tool for major events is in the making. The strategic roadmap for this virtual platform, which will be presented on 27 January in Stockholm, will provide coordination tools and methodologies to facilitate better security planning for major events across Europe, like the Olympics or the Champions League finals.

The new tool will be the main outcome of EU-SEC II, a three-year REA project aimed at strengthening the coordination of national security research and planning for major events.

TThe platform is expected to be launched before the Summer and it will be called the European House of Major Events Security, the "House".

22 EU Member States and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) back this security planning initiative, the initial budget estimate for which is about €3 million. More(68 Kb)

€40 million, to cover over 400 grants, will be offered to researchers starting their first full-time research job in a European research institute in 2011. The €100 000 'career integration' grants are funded through the EU's Marie Curie programme, managed by the Research Executive Agency. More  

EuroNews will issue a report on MVF-5, a new-generation robot intended to extinguish fires in nuclear, chemical and industrial parks, as of 11 January. MVF-5 has been developed by the Firerob research team. Firerob is an FP7 research project managed by the REA and supported by more than 800,000 Euros in EU funds. The video will be broadcasted on TV until 16 January.

The European Union's Marie Curie Actions programme, which provides funding for some of the world's best young researchers, celebrated a special milestone with a conference in Brussels to mark its 50 000th beneficiary. The event was opened by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Since its launch in 1996, the Marie Curie programme has supported training for researchers of 100 different nationalities working in 70 countries.

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek and Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, who has overall responsibility for the Marie Curie programme, joined President Barroso in the conference's opening ceremony.

The Director of the Research Executive Agency (REA), Graham Stroud, addressed a keynote speech on excellence in the FP7 evaluation process. The Marie Curie Actions are managed by the REA. Press release  

Do you want to participate, as a research project, in the 2011 Researchers' Night? The call for proposals, supported by €4 million in EU funds from the PEOPLE programme, is now open. You can apply for funding until 12 January. An information day was organised in Brussels next 13 October by the REA team in charge. Info day registration

Half a million Europeans participated in hundreds of experiments and live scientific demonstrations on 24 September. They celebrated the sixth European Researchers' Night, an initiative managed by the REA and supported by €3.5 million in EU funds. Press release  

Can you help shape EU policies on education, training and mobility? Chat online with Commissioner Vassiliou this Friday from 15:00 and have your say on Youth on the move, an EU 2020 policy initiative launched yesterday. More

Nearly 5 000 researchers have applied for EU-funded Marie Curie fellowship grants this year, an increase of 20% on last year and 70% on 2008. Around 800 fellowships worth a total of €150 million will be granted to researchers working on projects of up to three years in another country. For the first time, a funding category is available for researchers who want to restart their career after a break. More  

Professor Luisa Torsi, coordinator of a Marie Curie ITN project at the University of Bari, Italy, has been awarded the 2010 Analytical Sciences Merck Award. The prize recognizes her research work on organic semiconducting chemical sensors, key for the generation of new-age chemical and pharmaceutical products.

Luisa Torsi is the first woman and the first Italian person to receive the prestigious prize. The award ceremony took place on 31 August 2010 in the framework of the EuCheMS Chemistry Congress, in Nuremberg, Germany. More

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announces nearly €6.4 billion of investment in research and innovation. Mobility grants for 7,000 researchers will be provided through Marie Curie Actions (MCA), worth €772 million. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) will receive close to €800 million. The REA manages the MCA and FP7 research support for the benefit of SME. Press release  

Beneficiaries of the EU funding opportunities managed by ERC and REA will share their experiences on 5 July 2010 in Turin.

Natalia Balcázar, from the Marie Curie fellow association and Andrea Ferrari, ERC grantee, will participate in this workshop, given by ERC and REA staff at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) 2010. The workshop aims to attract first-class researchers to develop and fast-track their research careers in Europe.

The Marie Curie Actions (MCA), managed by the REA, provide fellowships for career development at post-graduate and post-doctoral level for excellent mobile researchers. The ERC offers attractive grants to promising post-doctoral researchers managing independent research teams.

The Commission disclosed on 2 July a list of beneficiaries of EU funds in policy areas like research, education and culture, energy and transport or external aid received in 2009.

The online database of more than 114 thousand entries going back to 2007 has been improved with more search options and provides information on Commission administrative expenditure. More  

An Italian scientist supported by the European Union's Marie Curie research fund is helping to pioneer a new treatment that could lead to a breakthrough in the fight against brain cancer. Press release  

400 Marie Curie fellows will be attending the Marie Curie conference taking place on 1-2 July in Turin. The conference, a satellite event of the 2010 EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference starting on 2 July, is intended for EU funded researchers interested in broaden their career perspectives. Programme

The generation of Grant Agreements for some Marie-Curie schemes (Individual Fellowships - IIF, IOF - & IRSES) is suffering minor delays. Normal grant agreement production will be resumed shortly. A stable IT system ensuring automatic data transfer should be soon in place. The issue is being addressed as a matter of priority.

46 Marie Curie fellows will participate at the 60th Nobel Laureate Meeting taking place from 27 June to 2 July in Lindau, Germany. The event brings together more than 650 young researchers from around the globe with 61 Nobel Laureates from the fields of physiology or medicine, physics and chemistry.

The Research Executive Agency is part of the European Commission delegation attending the event. Advice is to be given to scientists willing to apply for a Marie Curie grant. A debate on communicating research has been scheduled for 28 July to celebrate the EU Day in the framework of this Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The Nobel Prize Peter Agree will participate in the debate, organised by the EC Directorate-General for Research.

The REA, on behalf of the European Commission, is negotiating the signature of space and security research contracts worth €324 million with 108 consortia. Pictured, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani. More  

The European Commission has unveiled a plan to simplify the procedures for taking part in EU-funded research projects. The goal is to boost research and innovation. Pictured, Commissioner for Science, Innovation and Research, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Press release  

The SmartEN multidisciplinary science team will become fully operational on 28 May. SmartEN, backed by almost €3.7 million in EU funds and managed by the REA, will support 19 Marie Curie fellows building a researchers' network intended to provide sensor technology solutions for sustainable environmental management.

The project, triggered in December 2009, was officially launched last 23 April in Limassol (Cyprus) by the President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and EU Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, in charge of Education and Culture.

The REA is renewing and increasing its software licences. External providers are invited to present offers for renewal and acquisition of eight specific lots of software before 13 May at 17.00 pm. Call(1.13 Mb)

The movement of the plumes of ash and dust released into the atmosphere by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption is being monitored by the MACC and SAFER scientific teams.

Their maps and data analysis are supporting the work of EU member state authorities and the international advisory centres determining aviation risks.

The MACC and SAFER are two research projects funded by the EU and managed by the REA. The EU also funds projects that help to understand why a volcano eruption occurs. Some examples: Crystal2Plate and GreenCyclesII .

Sustainable energy projects can benefit from available Marie Curie funding opportunities. Find out more by following the People Programme presentation scheduled for 25 March in Centre Albert Borschette, in Brussels. All sessions are framed as part of the EU Sustainable Energy Week. Programme

New Marie Curie Actions Individual Fellowships calls for proposals (IEF-IOF-IIF) are open. The grant funding linked to these 2010 calls, intended to stimulate researchers' career development by fostering acquisition of new skills and competences, is of €151 million. The deadline to submit proposals is 17 August.

The 2010 IEF call, specifically focused on career mobility within EU Member States and associated countries, will give entry to a new category for the benefit of scientists who have not been active on a fellowship or employed under a contract in research for at least 12 months - the new category is named "career restart panel".

The 2010 IEF-IOF-IIF call budget is similar to that of last year's call (2009 IEF-IOF-IIF), which received more than 4000 proposals. Around 850 of them are currently under negotiation.

More on Marie Curie Actions

Do you have your background in audit? Are you included in the EPSO database for contract agents group IV? Apply for the post of External Auditor at the REA! At least two posts are vacant in this call for expression of interest. A reserve list to cover these and future needs will be established. The deadline for submission of applications is 9 April at noon. Vacancy notice(111 Kb)   - Vacancies

Dozens of North American researchers interested in EU funding opportunities for career development in Europe visited the EU pavilion at the AAAS meeting organised last February in San Diego. EU delegates from the REA, the European Research Council (ERC) and EURAXESS answered their questions on two main granting schemes: the Marie Curie Actions, managed by the REA, and those administered by the ERC.

A specific career development workshop organised on Saturday focused on the different funding schemes available to researchers and included a presentation from Marie Curie Outgoing Fellow, Juan Bautista Blanco Canosa, a Spanish chemist currently based at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Overall, EU participation in the conference sought to increase awareness of the opportunities available through the Marie Curie Actions and to promote the recognition of PhD researchers as professionals rather than as students.

The Marie Curie Actions provide fellowships for the career development and international mobility of the very best post-graduate and post-doctoral researchers. The ERC offers grants to outstanding post-doctoral researchers willing to establish or consolidate their positions as independent leaders of a research team.

EU funding schemes for first-class researchers keen to develop and fast-track their career in Europe will be presented in an EU-led workshop taking place next 20 February in San Diego at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Meeting.

EU delegates from the REA, the European Research Council (ERC) and EURAXESS, a joint initiative of the European Commission, will focus on two granting schemes: those channeled through the Marie Curie Actions, managed by the REA, and those handled by the ERC.

The career development workshop will raise the aim and synergies of the mentioned funding schemes. The Marie Curie Actions provide fellowships for career development at post-graduate and post-doctoral level for excellent mobile researchers. The ERC offers attractive grants to promising post-doctoral researchers enabling them to establish or consolidate themselves as independent leaders of a research team.

The 2010 AAAS Meeting will bring together an excellent array of speakers addressing some of the most crucial areas of science, education and policy-making.

The United Nations has officially expressed its gratitude to the G-MOSAIC team, involved in the rescue operations launched in Haiti by the UN and other international organisations such as the Red Cross in the aftermath of the earthquake registered in this Caribbean island last 12 January.

In a letter addressed to the G-MOSAIC team coordinator, a UN spokesperson insisted on the suitability of this project's state-of-the-art technology to provide the necessary information for the required "rapid relief operations". The project, funded by the EC and managed by the REA, has been particularly useful for damage assessment analysis and automatic identification of destroyed buildings. According to the UN, G-MOSAIC has substantially contributed to increase the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the mobilised rescue teams in Haiti. More

The European Union supports research to push the barriers of space exploration further. The projects featured in this video, managed by the REA, contribute to the reduction of radiation risks for astronauts, improve robotic vision for planetary exploration and develop advanced space transportation systems critical to the success of future Mars missions and probes to Jupiter and Saturn. HAMLET, ProVIsG and AEROFAST are just a few stories paving the way for further technical breakthroughs.

The United Nations' and Red Cross rescue teams, mobilised in Haiti as a result of the earthquake registered last 12 January, are benefiting from state-of-the-art technology delivered by the G-MOSAIC project. G-MOSAIC, funded by the European Commission and managed by the REA, assists in damage assessment analysis and automatic identification of destroyed buildings.

This is one of many other research projects financed by the EU to help rescue teams in case of natural disasters and hazardous situations. Another one, SGL for UsaR, currently inits development phase, combines chemical and physical sensors to rapidly locate entrapped or buried victims in cities after earthquakes. The project will support relevant urban search and rescue services, like the ones currently operating in Haiti, by integrating early location and monitoring systems with communication and information management applications. G-MOSAIC and SGL for USaR are managed by the REA.
More on G-MOSAIC and SGL for USaR

Final results for the FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF call are expected for the coming weeks. More

The FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF call is expected to open in March 2010. Please check regularly the REA page on calls or CORDIS to get the latest news.

25 September 2009 - 200 European cities
200 cities all over Europe celebrated science in different ways, but under the same flag, during The 5th European Researchers' Night. More  

17 September 2009 - Cracow, Poland
The third FP7 SMEs call, open for submission of proposals, was presented in Cracow, Poland, before an audience made up of around one hundred stakeholders.
The info day main objective was to inform participants (SMEs, representatives from the academia and other members of the research communities) on how to prepare a successful FP7 proposal under the SMEs scheme. The event was organized by the Polish National Contact Point in cooperation with Enterprise Europe Network and the Regional Contact Point for SMEs. More(2.87 Mb)

16 September 2009 - Warsaw, Poland
The 3rd FP7 Space Call was presented in Warsaw, Poland, to 200 stakeholders interested in space-based research. The EU space policy context, the FP7 Space Programme, the role of the Research Executive Agency and new opportunities beyond FP7 were also discussed.
The event represented a good opportunity for participants to network and meet with potential partners for proposal ideas. Around 60 interested stakeholders presented their work on GMES and space foundations. More

16 September 2009 - Brussels, Belgium
The event served to disseminate information on the new call launched under the Security theme of the FP7 Cooperation Programme. Around 300 participants were welcome at the Research Executive Agency's headquarters, in Brussels.
This info day supported applicants in preparation of their research proposals by encouraging networking and by clarifying questions linked to areas covered by the call and established legal and procedural conditions. More