Marie Curie Actions: Fellowship and Researchers Training Programs of the European Union

The fellowship and researcher training programmes of the European Union could increase the impact of your funding applications. How? If you have a doctorate and are interested in a period working in Europe¹, your fellowship might be fundable from either Canadian or European sources. Furthermore, doctoral training in Canadian institutions could include early-stage researchers from Europe, with the EU covering their living, training/research and travel costs.

The EU finances researcher mobility and career development principally though the Marie Curie Actions, under the People programme of the Seventh EU Research Framework Programme (FP7). The eight Marie Curie Actions are targeted to different profiles of researcher and mobility period, but all are open to any scientific discipline (bottom-up), except nuclear science. All of the actions have possibilities for non-European involvement to some extent (the nationality rule which was applied to some of the Marie Curie Actions in the past has been removed). However, discussions in December 2011 between CIHR and the European Commission focused on four of the Marie Curie Actions in particular.

Any researcher worldwide with a doctoral degree or more than four years of full-time experience can apply for a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship to work in Europe for 1-2 years. 32 Canadians have successfully applied to this scheme since 2007. The researcher is employed by a host organisation in Europe, which receives an EU grant (average around 300 000 CAD) that must be used to pay the living and travel costs of the researcher at a specified rate (dependent on the European country in question), as well as to meet research costs and overheads.

The evaluation criteria related to the researcher and to the quality of the science/technology carry the most weight. They include the following sub-criteria:

• Research experience (accounting for career breaks)
• Research results including patents, publications, teaching etc., taking into account the level of experience
• Independent thinking and leadership qualities
• Research expertise of the European host organisation in the field concerned
• Quality of the group/scientist in charge

In addition there are sub-criteria concerning impact (economic competitiveness, public engagement), contribution to the knowledge-base of Europe, and project implementation.

Researchers based in Europe fitting the same experience criteria as for the Incoming Fellowship can apply for a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship to be funded to work in Canada for 1-2 years. This could be a Canadian researcher if he/she has been based in Europe for the preceding five years, but it should be noted that fellows must spend 12 months back in Europe after their period on another continent. The fellows are employed by a European host organisation throughout their period in Canada, receiving a gross annual living allowance equivalent to around 60 000 CAD or 90 000 CAD (if more/less than 10 years of experience), as well as funding for travel and the research costs and overheads of their project (for the Canadian institution hosting the fellowship). 38 of these fellowships have been held in Canada since 2007, of which ten were in non-environmental Life Sciences.

In addition, the Marie Curie Co-funding scheme supports a number of European fellowship programmes for researchers with doctorates, many of which finance mobility to and from Europe.

The theme and geographical scope of these fellowships, as well as the application procedures, are available via Research Participant Portal.

Canadian institutions participating in networks for doctoral training may wish to become involved in the European equivalent, the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks. These are competitively selected networks of organisations from different countries that are engaged in research training. The organisations can be non-European ('Associate Partners'), which provide secondment opportunities for the early-stage researchers recruited by the European partners within the network. The networks are built on a joint research training programme of up to four years, responding to well identified training needs in defined scientific or technological areas. Involvement of organisations from different sectors, including participation by private enterprises in appropriate fields, is considered essential. In particular, the action aims to add to the employability of the recruited researchers. Initial Training Networks (ITN) can be:

• Multi-partner: at least three organisations established in at least three different European countries².
• Innovative Doctoral Programmes: the best programmes ensuring the international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral training of doctoral candidates (at least one European organisation)
• European Industrial Doctorates: international research training in both a university/research institute and a company (at least two European organisations in different countries)

Canadian and European doctoral-level training networks on compatible research topics might wish to second researchers between each other. This would enable more researchers to be recruited overall, while increasing the scale and diversity of the research training activities on both sides of the Atlantic. If the Canadian organisations become Associate Partners to the European ITN, they may receive the researchers recruited to the ITN for free – the researcher's employer in Europe will have an EU grant to pay the living, travel and research/training costs incurred while he/she is in Canada. Canadian Associate Partners are already part of four of the ITN projects that were selected for funding in 2010 and 2011, all in physics/engineering. Training events offered within the ITN (summer schools, specialised training courses, seminars, etc.) may also be opened to external researchers.

The collaboration described above requires strong connections between researchers in Canada and Europe. European research organisations can obtain funding to foster relationships with equivalent Canadian organisations via short-term staff exchanges. The Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) supports a coordinated joint programme for the exchange of researchers for up to 12 months. Technical and management staff may also participate in the exchanges. Canadian research organisations have found the required resources to participate in 20 IRSES projects since its introduction in 2008, of which nine were in non-environmental Life Sciences.

More details on all of the Marie Curie Actions are available online. The next application deadlines for the Marie Curie Actions will be announced during summer 2012 in the 'People Work Programme 2013'³.

Example of Marie Curie Incoming Fellowship involving a health researcher in Canada (to be suggested by ERA-Can/CIHR).

Example of Canadian Associated Partner in a Marie Curie Initial Training Network in the health field (to be added by ERA-Can/CIHR).

Example of Canadian Partner in a Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme project in the health field (to be added by ERA-Can/CIHR).

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