Commission awards 350 scientific fellowships under the TMR programme
On a proposal from Mrs. Edith Cresson, Commissioner responsible for research, education and training, the Commission has awarded 350 fellowships under the Community's specific RTD programme for the training and mobility of researchers (TMR). The programme allows young scientists to work in the laboratories of their choice throughout Europe. The fellowships, which were awarded on the basis of a call for proposals published by the Commission on 15 September 1995, were chosen from among 1,730 applications and represent a total grant allocation of ECU 30 million. The TMR programme aims to achieve a quantitative and qualitative development of EU human resources in science and technology through the promotion of training and mobility. The specific training activities are, on the whole, directed towards young post-doctoral researchers aged 35 years or under. In total it expects to award about 3,500 such fellowships during the Fourth Framework Programme. The TMR programme supports, in particular, four types of activity: - Support for research networks to encourage teams from a number of countries to work together on high-quality joint research projects; - Financial support to enable researchers to have access to large-scale facilities that are unique or rare in Europe; - Research training grants, particularly for post-doctoral researchers; - Financial support for organizers of Euroconferences, summer schools and practical training courses. TMR is a "free research" programme. Ideas for projects are put together by the researchers themselves, including those working in basic sciences, without the constraints of targets and area-specific selection criteria. In addition, a number of special grants are available to boost research efforts in the EU's less-favoured regions. The programme also promotes cooperation between higher education and industry.