Serbia opens gates to research
Enhancing research in Europe is one of the EU's prime directives. This is being encouraged by Euraxess, a network involving 33 countries that assists researchers in finding employment opportunities in other EU countries and relocating there. Each EU Member State is developing or has developed a Euraxess portal for researchers to visit and consider potential research vacancies. Established in 2008, the EU-funded 'Development of Serbian network of mobility centers' (Ser-more) project has already made great progress in mobilising existing efforts to develop an infrastructure that facilitates researchers' mobility within Serbia and towards the country from the rest of Europe. The portal went online in early 2009 and saw more than 10\;000 unique visitors from 103 countries. Being fully integrated with the European Euraxess portal, it offers access to jobs, fellowships, grants and practical information, collected in a pan-European effort at the European portal. In addition, 5 service centres and 57 partners representing local contact points for researchers were also established. The project is amassing information on foreign researchers in Serbia and available job vacancies while responding to researchers' inquiries. It has also published a survival guide for visiting researchers, disseminated by Euraxess members, Belgium's Gent University, Serbian universities, and two student associations in support of student exchange. The project also prepared a guide for outgoing researchers in the Serbian language, with practical information on finding the right job and living abroad. It published several newsletters, organised info days in Serbian cities and promoted the project's initiatives during numerous meetings and events. In addition, Euraxess Serbia has contributed to European and national policies and strategies to facilitate researcher mobility and strengthen the Euraxess network. This includes active support for the 'Science and technological development strategy of the Republic of Serbia 2009-2014'. Overall, Ser-more has contributed significantly to the national research community, tacking career development through mobility, resolution of common problems, funding and dissemination of relevant information. Indirect impacts include an increase of Serbian participation in projects by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme. Both Serbian research and European research will benefit from Ser-more in a myriad of ways.
