Training and mobility of researchers - Call for RTD actions

The European Commission, DG XII, has published a call for proposals for RTD actions under the Community's specific RTD programme in the field of training and mobility of researchers (TMR). This call for proposals relates specifically to Activity 3 of the TMR work programme (T...

The European Commission, DG XII, has published a call for proposals for RTD actions under the Community's specific RTD programme in the field of training and mobility of researchers (TMR).

This call for proposals relates specifically to Activity 3 of the TMR work programme (Training through research). Participants in this activity are, on the one hand, researchers, primarily with a doctoral degree or equivalent level of education, wishing to receive training or to specialize outside their country of origin and, on the other, the research institutions hosting them.

The beneficiaries of this activity will be called "Marie Curie Fellows". Researchers must be citizens of Community Member States or of an Associated State of the programme. The research institutions must be legal entities, established in the Community or an Associated State of the programme, and have the capacity to provide training through research.

The aim of the programme is to promote, through the stimulation of training and mobility of researchers, a quantitative and qualitative increase of human resources within the Community and in the Associated States of the programme. The programme covers all fields of the exact, natural, economic and management sciences, as well as those social and human sciences that contribute to the objectives of the Fourth Framework Programme.

In order to encourage the creativity and innovation of researchers in conceiving their projects, there are no pre-established targets or priorities in the fields covered by the TMR Programme. Scientific merit will be the overriding criterion in the evaluation and selection of projects.

While respecting the overriding criterion of scientific quality, the selection will also take into account the element of scientific and technological cohesion and the involvement of industry and SMEs (researchers from industry, industrial host institutions or industry related projects). In this context, particular attention will be given to training activities devoted to the management of change in enterprises dealing with new technologies.

Activity 3 will concentrate on the training of European researchers at the post-doctoral level through research and through the stimulation of their mobility. This activity will be implemented through three types of grant:

- Grants for training:
These grants are offered to post-doctoral or post-graduate researchers who wish to receive training or to specialize outside the country of their nationality and their country of residence. Community support will provide, for a period of between six months and two years at post-doctoral level, and between six months and three years at post-graduate level, an allowance for the researcher and a contribution to the research and administrative costs of the host institute;

- Return grants:
Return grants are reserved for researchers from less-favoured regions who wish to return and undertake research in a less-favoured region in the country of their nationality and who:
. Have been in receipt of a full 2-year post-doctoral grant for training under this programme; or
. Have been in receipt of a post-doctoral fellowship of at least 20 months under the HCM programme.
Community support will provide, for a period of up to 12 months, an allowance for the researcher and a contribution to the research and administrative costs of the host institute;

- Mobility grants to established researchers:
These grants are reserved for established researchers who wish to join a research team in the less-favoured regions outside the country of their nationality, in order to impart their knowledge and research experience. Applicants for these grants should have at least eight years' full-time research experience at post-graduate level. Community support will provide, for a period of three months to one year, an allowance for the researcher and a contribution to the research and administrative costs of the host institute.

The TMR work programme, the information package explaining the procedure to follow for submission of proposals, the application form, a copy of the contract that will be established with the host institute in respect of selected proposals and the general rules governing contracts are available from the Commission on request.
All correspondence concerning this call should be addressed to:

European Commission
DG XII - Science, research and development
DG XII/G-3 - TMR Information Package
200 rue de la Loi (MO-75 5/34)
B-1049 Brussels
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail].

Proposals should be submitted to the address above. Requests for the information package should include name and full address (no PO Box numbers).

Documentation relating to this call is also available on the CORDIS WWW server at:

http://cordis.europa.eu/tmr/home.html.