page 1 c.h.i.u. research office marie curie – funding opportunities not to be missed!! dr conor...

C.H.I.U. Research Office

Marie Curie – Funding Marie Curie – Funding Opportunities not to be Opportunities not to be missed!! missed!!

Dr Conor O’CarrollDr Conor O’CarrollCentral Universities Research OfficeCentral Universities Research OfficeConference of Heads of Irish UniversitiesConference of Heads of Irish Universities


Ireland’s Current Record – FP6

• Marie Curie accounted for ~€12m in 2003 out of total Irish FP6 income of ~€48m

• This compare to a total €25m in FP5 (25% of national total)

• In 2004 one scheme alone has brought over €8m - Transfer of Knowledge Scheme


• Lifelong research training

• Bottom Up programme• All of the Sciences, Economic Human &

Social Sciences (+Research Management & Ethics for Host Driven Schemes)

• Marie Curie label generalised

• Opening of schemes to 3rd country nationals

• No age limit, but experience criterion

Marie Curie - Major FeaturesMarie Curie - Major Features


The Marie Curies Schemes –some basic features

• Mobility – they recognise that researchers are inherently international – you will be hiring researchers from outside Ireland

• Fund the “human” element of research – covering full salaries and associated costs

• Take account of family and career development of mobile researchers

• Cover researchers at all stages of their careers – experience NOT qualifications matter


• EU Member States– Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,

Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia

• EEA Countries– Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein

• Association Agreement Countries – Israel, Switzerland

• Candidate Countries– Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey

• Third Countries– all other countries, almost!

FP6 – the competition!FP6 – the competition!

C.H.I.U. Research OfficeEuropean Commission,DG RTD-06 & RTD-D5

SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME 2002-2006Participation in Marie Curie International Fellowships

- Structuring the European Research Area -

The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of data includedin this map and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of

its use. The boundaries shown do not imply on the part of the EuropeanCommission any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the

endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

Data valid: 1.11.2002

European Union/Associated States (1)/Overseas Countries &Territories

Industrialised Countries andTerritories (2)

Developing Countries (2)Emerging Economies (2)Transition Economies (2)

Currently no cooperation

(1) Some agreements arenot yet in force(2) Cooperationagreements with certaincountries have to berenewed


Marie Curie ActionsEligible Researchers

Level of Experience:

Early-stage Researchers

at the beginning of their career < 4 years of active research experience (e.g. researchers undertaking a doctoral degree);

Experienced Researchers

• at least 4 years of active research experience or • have obtained a doctoral degree. (For some Actions, researchers with more than 10 years of experience will not be eligible)


Marie Curie Actions

not a national of the State in which they plan to be appointed and carry out their research;

Exceptions: European researchers working outside the EU for 4 years in the last 5 years. Return and Reintegration Mechanisms.Multiple nationalities (if not resided in the last 5 years)International Organisations

has not been resident or worked/studied in that country for more than 12 months out of the 3 years immediately prior to either the time of application (individual Actions), or the start of their work (host Actions).

Mobility & Nationality Requirements


Marie Curie ActionsHost Driven ActionsHost Driven Actions

• Host institutions/network applies for a number of fellows/researchers

• Host’s proposal is evaluated

• Selected host/network advertises fellowship position and selects fellows/researchers

• Contract duration with host, usually 4 years

• Fellows’ stay depending on Action (up to 3 years)

Individual Driven Individual Driven ActionsActions

• Researcher applies jointly with host

• Fellows’ stay depending on Action

• Fellows withdrawing cannot be replaced


Human Resources and Mobility (Marie Curie Human Resources and Mobility (Marie Curie Actions)Actions)

Host Fellowships for Early-Stage

Conferences and Training Courses

Research Training Networks

ChairsAdvanced Lifelong

Training and Excellence

Early-Stage Training

Profile ofFellows

4 yearsexperience

or Ph.D.

< 4 yearsexperience

Teams Awards

InternationalFellowships

Host Fellowships for Transfer of Knowledge

Development Action Industry-Academia Partnership

Intra-EuropeanFellowships

Return and R

eintegration

Transfer of Knowledge


Human Resources and Mobility in FP6Human Resources and Mobility in FP6

Type of actions covered by the call Deadline for reception of proposals

RESEARCH TRAINING NETWORKS 8 SEPTEMBER 2005

EARLY STAGE TRAINING FELLOWSHIPS -

CONFERENCES AND TRAINING COURSES 18 MAY 2005

TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE FELLOWSHIPS 18 MAY 2005

INTRA-EUROPEAN FELLOWSHIPS 16 FEBRUARY 2005

INTERNATIONAL INCOMING FELLOWSHIPS 19 JANUARY 2005

INTERNATIONAL OUTGOING FELLOWSHIPS 19 JANUARY 2005

EXCELLENCE GRANTS (TEAMS) 16 FEBRUARY 2005

CHAIRS 16 FEBRUARY 2005

EXCELLENCE AWARDS 16 FEBRUARY 2005

EUROPEAN RE-INTEGRATION GRANTS CONTINUOUS FROM 19 JANUARY TO 19 OCTOBER 2005

INTERNATIONAL RE-INTEGRATION GRANTS CONTINUOUS FROM 19 JANUARY TO 19 OCTOBER 2005









Profile ofFellows

4 yearsexperience

or Ph.D.

< 4 yearsexperience

Teams Awards





Return and R

eintegration



Marie Curie Actions

• Two Different Schemes under ToK

• Development Scheme

– “The reinforcement of the research potential of host entities, with priorities to those in Less Favoured Regions of the EU and in the Associated Candidate Countries, in need of new areas of competence”

• Industry-academia Strategic Partnership Scheme

– “The creation and development of real strategic and durable partnerships between the academia and enterprise, in particular SMEs, aiming at the establishment of lasting collaborations of mutual interest”

• Deadline 19th May 2008

Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge ActionsActions


Marie Curie Actions

To develop or reinforce research potential of institutes in need of new competencies

• Applications by research groups in need of developing new competencies

• All countries, with priority to Community LFRs/Associated Candidate Countries

• Host selects and recruits experienced researchers (2-24 months)

• Possibility to send own staff (2-12 months) to pre-determined institutions + return

• Overall EU success rate in 1st Call: 40%, 2nd Call 23%

• Irish Success rate 6/7 in 2003 and 14/54 in 2005!!

Development SchemeDevelopment Scheme


Marie Curie Actions

• Total 4 year contract• Commission fully covers salary costs plus

contribution to research/admin costs• e.g. postdoc in NUI-M would receive €50-55k salary

plus annual travel costs home.• Senior researcher would receive €70-75k• University gets about €18k for

research/admin/overheads



Marie Curie Actions

• Number of postdoc/senior researchers will depend on the size of the research group

• Average size of a ToK in the first round was 65-72 researchers months; 3 postdocs over 4 years

• The Commission will not fund a proposal with a single postdoc; there are individual fellowship schemes for this purpose



Marie Curie Actions

• Budget 2003 = €40m, Budget 2004 = €45m• Priority funding for Objective 1 / LFR regions + new

EU members 1st May 2004• LFR in Ireland = Borders, Midland, Western (BMW)• Very low numbers from the new countries in 2003 &

2004 so expect same in 2005• Big countries have not applied



ToK – First Round ResultsToK – First Round Results

Member StatesProposals 2003

(2004)Funded 2003

(2004)%

AT 1(4) 1(0) 100%

BE 8 (6) 3 (0) 38%

DE 29 (43) 9 (13) 31%

DK 2 (2) 1 (1) 50%

ES 13 (21) 3 (5) 23%

FI 2 (3) 1 (0) 50%

FR 7 (9) 4 (3) 57%

GR 8 (31) 3 (11) 38%

IE 7 (54) 6 (14) 86%

IT 19 (31) 7 (6) 37%

NL 9 (20) 6 (6) 67%

PT 3 (14) 1 (2) 33%

SE 7 (10) 0 (3) 0%

UK 15 (37) 7 (7) 47%

Total member states 130 (285) 52 (71)

40% (25%)


ToK – First Round ResultsToK – First Round Results

Associates Countries

Proposals Funded %

BG 2 (3) 1 (1) 50%

CZ 2 (7) 0 (1) 0%

EE 3 (6) 1 (2) 33%

HU 3 (11) 2 (3) 67%

LT 1 (1) 0 (0) 0%

LV 1 (1) 0 (1) 0%

MT 1 (0) 1 (0) 100%

PL 68 (55) 25 (9) 37%

RO 2 (3) 0 (2) 0%

SI 1 (4) 0 (0) 0%

SK 2 (3) 1 (1) 50%

TR 3 (3) 2 (0) 67%

Total Associated countries 89 (98) 33 (21) 37% (21%)


Panel Title Host organisation

CHE The Establishment of a world class European Industrial Alumina Research Facility through the Transfer of Knowledge from Australia and other Industries

Aughinish Alumina

ENG Micro Surface Science of Materials for Micro Total Analysis Systems

University of Limerick

ENG Development of a Physiological Simulator for Cardiovascular Devices

NUI-Galway

ENG Enhancement and Control of Laser-Assisted Material Processing

NUI-Galway

ENV Environmental Research Institute Transfer of Atmospheric Science Knowledge

UCC

MAT Data-Grid Environment and Tools for Distributed Management and Analysis of Large Sets of Scientific Data

UCD

ToK – Irish Funded Proposals 2003ToK – Irish Funded Proposals 2003


Marie Curie Actions

To create or develop true strategic and durable partnerships

• Application by consortium of Industry+Academia and academia or industry partners from at least 2 different countries

• Co-ordinating host from industry or academia, with one or more partners from the other sector

• Funding of exchange of experienced researchers amongst staff members, in both directions (2-24 months)

• Can include industry/academic transfer within same country!• Includes SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups

• Only 30 proposals in 1st and 2nd round!

Industry-Academia Strategic Partnership Industry-Academia Strategic Partnership SchemeScheme









Profile ofFellows

4 yearsexperience

or Ph.D.

< 4 yearsexperience

Teams Awards





Return and R

eintegration



Marie Curie Actions

To promote excellence in European research

• Marie Curie Excellence Grants (Teams)- To set up or extend teams of the highest level- Up to 4 years duration- Leading edge or interdisciplinary research- Team Leader profile is key to success- Deadline 16th February 2005- Success rate 1/10 in 1st and 2nd calls- Similar to SFI schemes

Excellence Promotion and RecognitionExcellence Promotion and Recognition


Marie Curie Actions


• Marie Curie Excellence Grants (Teams)- Grant in range of €800k to €1.6m- Covers usual project costs (PhD/postdoc

salary, equipment, consumables, travel, - Can cover salary cost of Team Leader- 20% overhead



Marie Curie Actions


• Marie Curie Excellence Grants (Teams)- Exception to all other schemes on mobility of

Team Leader- Team Leader can be Irish, - Could be already in host (<1 year prior to

deadline)- Move from other Irish institution- Team members subject to usual mobility rules



Results from 1st & 2nd Rounds

• 18 out of 195 proposals funded (9%) 2003 – no Irish

• 20 out of 292 (7%) in 2004 – 2 Irish proposals


Excellence Grants – the Team Leader

“…a researcher who has early in her/his career the potential to reach a high level of

excellence so as to enable her/him to attain

more rapidly independence in research”.









Profile ofFellows

4 yearsexperience

or Ph.D.

< 4 yearsexperience

Teams Awards





Return and R

eintegration



Marie Curie Actions

To support integration of a stable research career following a period of mobility

Following a 2-year Marie Curie fellowship• EU and Associate Country fellows• Reintegration of country of origin or elsewhere• Obligation for host to offer minimum 2-year work contract

and research projectFollowing a stay outside Europe• European researchers who have been outside Europe for 5

years• Success rate > 90%

Reintegration Grants (continuous call)Reintegration Grants (continuous call)


Marie Curie Proposal Writing…

Science is not the whole story


Do’s and Don’ts

• Read the Guide for Proposers (application form!)• http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/calls.cfm

• Note that there have been updates!

• Follow the instructions to the letter!

• Use common sense!

• Electronic submission – get your password in time!

Marie CurieMarie Curie


Marie Curie ActionsPreparing a proposalPreparing a proposal

Infopack: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6Infopack: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6•The Call Text•The Guide for Proposers (containing the proposal

submission forms)•The Work Programme of the HRM Activity

Also:•The ‘Handbook’ for the corresponding action•The brochure ‘a rough guide to the Marie Curie Actions’• http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/indexhthttp://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/indexhtm_en.htmlm_en.html


http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/home_en.html


Marie Curie ActionsProposal Submission FormsProposal Submission Forms

A proposal has two parts:

• Part A

Set of forms on administrative information about the proposal and the proposers (pre-prepared form).

• Part B

Free-text description of the research project.

Series of headings and explanatory notes based on the evaluations criteria.


Part A – easy!

• Basic details – abstract, name, address etc

• “Head counts” not budget estimates

• Slightly different forms for different schemes – use the right ones


Part B – the who, what, why and how?

• Scientific content for TOK is only 15%!• B2 Transfer and embedding of

knowledge details most important……..• Practical details – how is the project

going to be managed and implemented?

• Is it relevant to the European Research Area and the needs of researchers?


Marie Curie ActionsProposal Submission FormsProposal Submission Forms

•Part B•Address the issues in a clear, concise fashion. It is the basis on which the evaluators will referee the proposal!

•Recommended length in numbers of pages: not mandatory, but

•Think of the evaluators: avoid excessive length, being repetitive, padding out with unnecessary or irrelevant material

•References to web pages will not be taken into account as part of the proposal during evaluation.


Evaluation Criteria/ Proposals Part BEvaluation Criteria/ Proposals Part B

1. Content of the Proposal / Project

2. Training Activities/Transfer of Knowledge

3. Quality of Host

4. Quality of Researchers (Individual actions & Excellence)

5. Management and Feasibility

6. Added Value and Relevance to the Objectives


• Evaluation by competent experts in the field

• Need to address all of the issues to maximise scores

• Total score for a proposal is 100%

• Some areas require a minimum score (threshold)

• In many cases the science scores less than 50%!

• You must focus on the objectives of the activity to be successful

• Look carefully at the score matrix

Marie Curie – Evaluation of ProposalsMarie Curie – Evaluation of Proposals


Activity Transfer of Knowledge

W=Weighting(1)

T= Threshold W T

Content of the Proposal / Project 15 3

Training Activities / Transfer of Knowledge 15 4

Quality of the Host 15 -

Quality of the Researchers N/A N/A

Management and Feasibility 15 3

Added Value and Relevance to the Objectives 40 -

Evaluation: Weightings & Thresholds


Transfer of Knowledge – Development Scheme

Key Points to remember

• Need to expand R & D activities into a new complimentary area – not just a continuation of current activities

• Require highly qualified postdoc/senior researchers

• Overall the research group gains – transfer in!• How to embed this new expertise and capability

in the group after the 4 years of EC funding


B1 Content (FOUR A4 PAGES)

• 15% ---- 3/5• B1.1. RESEARCH TOPIC (½ A4 PAGE)• B1.2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES (½ A4 PAGE)• B1.3. IMPACT TO THE HOST

ORGANISATION (ONE A4 PAGE)• B1.4. RESEARCH METHOD AND WORK

PLAN (TWO A4 PAGES, PLUS TABLES AND CHARTS)


B2 TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITIES

• 15% ----- 4/5• B2.1. NEED FOR TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE

(ONE A4 PAGE)• B2.2. CONTENT OF TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE

(ONE A4 PAGE)• B2.3. EXPECTED IMPACT ON TRAINING AND

TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE (ONE A4 PAGE)• B2.4. REQUIRED RECRUITMENT OF

EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS (ONE A4 PAGE PLUS TABLE)


B3 QUALITY / CAPACITY OF THE HOST ORGANISATIONS

• 15% --- no threshold• B3.1. PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS (TWO A4

PAGES)• B3.2. QUALITY OF INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE

HOST ORGANISATION (ONE A4 PAGE)


B4 MANAGEMENT AND FEASIBILITY

• 15% ---- 2/5• B4.1. PROPOSED MANAGEMENT AND

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE (ONE A4 PAGE)• B4.2. MANAGEMENT KNOW-HOW AND

EXPERIENCE OF THE MAIN CONTRACTOR (ONE A4 PAGE)


B5. ADDED VALUE AND RELEVANCE TO THE

OBJECTIVES (Four A4 pages)

• 40% ---- no threshold• Describe the extent to which the

overall capacity and research profile of the host organisation will be increased by the proposed transfer of knowledge. Outline the benefit that will be gained from undertaking the project at Community level.


B5. contd.

“Outline the extent to which the project will contribute to the objectives of the European Research Area or address other Community policies (e.g. the target of 3% spending of GDP on research, integration of Less-Favoured Regions and Associated States) will be advanced through the project activities and present, where possible, co-ordination or synergy with regional, national or international activities. The ability of the project to increase the competitiveness of Europe should also be mentioned”


N.B.B.2 “ToK” evaluation

• Need• Content• Impact• Size

Threshold is 4/5 for “ToK”It is the first “gate” in the evaluation


..and B5 -“Added Value and Relevance to the objectives”??

• Remember this is the ToK scheme – not “my science is the best” scheme!

• What is the overall effect on the group?

CapacityResearch Profile


The EU bits…• Lisbon Objective to create a European Research Area (ERA)• Barcelona Target: EU R&D spend average should be 3% of GDP

by 2010• http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/

researchers/research_en.html• “RESEARCHERS IN THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA:ONE

PROFESSION, MULTIPLE CAREERS” –http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/pdf/careercommunication_en.pdf

• “A MOBILITY STRATEGY FOR THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA” - http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0331en01.pdf

• First Implementation Report - http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/pdf/implement.pdf


Hands-on Assistance

• Guidance and advice on schemes to match your needs

• One-to-one meetings• Assistance with proposal writing –

particularly the “EU” bits• Proposal review by NCP, prior to

submission – proven to increase chances of success


More Information

• CHIU Research Office: – [email protected]– [email protected]

• http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/mariecurie-actions/home_en.html

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Documents

research office slide

research exceptions

years of experience

human element of research

stage researchers

european researchers

eligible slide

years fellows