Money, money, money... where to find it in Europe
You need money to do research. That is stating the obvious. The question is: where can you get it? A good source of money may be the European Commission (EC). In the seven-year period between 2007 to 2013 the EC is spending a good 50 billion euros on the stimulation of research and development. This is the budget for the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). Marie-Curie fellowships and ERC grants are one of the instruments within FP7 and may be just what you are looking for.
The Marie Curie actions (part of the People programme within FP7) provide a series of fellowship opportunities aimed at research training and knowledge transfer. The programme has an inherent ‘transnational dimension’. This means that to be eligible for a Marie Curie fellowship, the researcher must move to a different country, where he or she has not lived for more than twelve months during the previous three-year period. Proposals for a Marie Curie fellowship can include any research subject, with the exception of nuclear energy research and research with unacceptable ethical issues.
Eligibility
Age is not a relevant eligibility criterion for the Marie Curie actions. Experience in research is. The individual Marie Curie fellowships are only open to experienced researchers, which means researchers who are either in possession of a PhD degree, or have at least four years of research experience at post-graduate level. You can find an overview of the individual fellowships and specific details on the FP7-websites for life-long-learning and the international-dimension.
There are also options for early stage researchers (less than four years of research experience after their graduation). For instance, a consortium of host organisations forming a Marie Curie Initial Training Network, offers research training to early stage researchers. You can find these vacancies on the Euraxess Job Portal .
ERC grants for top researchers
If you are a researcher ranking among the top in your research field, and you are planning to set up a research project with high risks, but potentially high gain as well, you could consider applying for an ERC grant. The ERC (European Research Council) is a flagship component of the Ideas programme of FP7 and aims to support frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence. There are two types of ERC grants. The ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant amounts to up to € 2 million for up to five years and is meant for young researchers (two to twelve years of experience), who want to set up or consolidate their first research group. The ERC Advanced Investigator Grant amounts to up to € 3.5 million for up to five years and is meant for excellent established researchers, who are leaders in their specific field of research.
Where can you get help?
The Marie Curie and ERC National Contact Points (NCP) can inform you in detail about the different grants and actions of the FP7’s People and Ideas Programme. They can also give you customised personal advise if you are in the stage of setting up or finalising your research proposal. You can contact the Marie Curie NCP via egl.mariecurie@agentschapnl.nl and the ERC NCP via egl.erc@agentschapnl.nl.
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