The goal of the DEASE project is to create a multinational and multidisciplinary Early Stage Training site (mEST) where the partners run a "joint PhD training programme" in a core field of Applied Mathematics: (Partial) Differential Equations are the basic mathematical description for many phenomena in physics, biology and other fields of basic science as well as in (fluid) mechanics, nanotechnology and other fields of engineering and technology.

Based on well established local "doctoral schools'' that have already passed a most rigorous peer review, both for the excellence and the relevance of the field, relatively little additional funding of the EC is used in order to enhance the impact of these PhD training sites on a European level and to implement new transnational training structures to foster the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). The 5 participating teams in 4 countries compose a carefully selected consortium: the WPI Vienna, the ENS in Paris/Cachan, the MIP in Toulouse, the TU/Uni Hamburg-Harburg and the FORTH in Heraklion have all a strong track of successful participation in international research training projects that are now adapted to the goals of FP6.

The participating senior scientists are mathematicians, many of them with a strong background in physics and engineering, as well biologists and engineers. About 50 "young researchers" will directly profit from the funding of this mEST in order to receive training on a high level of excellence, covering all the 3 intertwined aspects of modern applied mathematics: Modelling +Analysis +Numerics. Additional training in fields of applications and in skills like teamwork, project management, ... shall make the participating PhD students fit and mobile for lea ding positions both in academia and in industry. All PhDs in this mEST shall be "European PhDs".