306 European researchers to receive grants from the Human Capital and Mobility programme
On a proposal from Mrs. Edith Cresson, Commissioner responsible for science, research and development, and education and training, the Commission has approved the latest list of 306 European researchers who will receive grants under the Human Capital and Mobility programme. The grants will enable the researchers to continue their research in laboratories and institutes in other Member States. This decision brings the number of "institutional" grantholders under the Human Capital and Mobility programme of the Third Framework Programme up to 2,142. Earlier, the Commission had selected the 732 European institutes to host the grantholders and released the funds needed for this purpose - a total of ECU 120 million. These institutes in turn proposed the names of successful candidates to the Commission, hence the term "institutional" grantholders. By the time the Human Capital and Mobility programme ends in early 1996, the total number of such institutional grantholders should have reached around 3,400, in addition to 2,500 or so individual grantholders. Measures to encourage the mobility of researchers are one of the top priorities of European R&D policy, as recommended in the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment. This contribution to the establishment of research networks helps to provide the EU with a top-level scientific community, thereby increasing its competitiveness. The same objective has been set all the more clearly in the Fourth Framework R&D Programme (1994-1998) in the form of the ECU 744 million specific programme on the stimulation of training and mobility of researchers. This is designed to establish research networks with the aid, in particular, of closer cooperation between universities and industry. The plan is also to provide researchers with easier access to large-scale scientific facilities in the Union and to organize training through research in other Member States. The new programme provides for funding for some 5,000 researchers a year. It also makes the administrative procedures considerably more flexible. Contrary to current practice, there will no longer be any pre-selection of the research institutes to receive researchers from other countries. Instead, the Commission will award the grants directly to the persons primarily concerned.