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Newsletter N°1/11 (March 2011)
Dear Max Planck Director, group/lab leader, Post‐Doc, and PhD student,
News items at a glance
New Homepage Follow‐up on 4th Call for ERC Starting Grants Postdoctoral Fellowship Applications in 2010 ERC Advanced Grants FP7 Interim Evaluation and Simplification Consultation on the future of EU research funding Open Calls Open calls for MPI‐CC Freiburg MPG issues new FP7 overhead rates Upcoming Events EU Regional Office hours at MPIs Freiburg 2011
This newsletter is to briefly inform you about EU funding opportunities and related activities.
In the focus: info updates on the 4th Call for ERC Starting Grants (StG) and on the applications for postdoctoral research fellowships (Marie Curie, EMBO, HFSP), as well as background info on the ‘simplification’ debate related to the present and future EU research funding.
As usual, you will find an overview on open or upcoming calls for proposals (collaborative research funding and fellowships) and, more particularly, detailed information on the themes “Health”, “Bio”, “ICT”, and “Socio‐Economic Sciences and Humanities”. “Security” should be available mid April 2011. For in‐depth information on funding opportunities, please turn to http://eu.tuebingen.mpg.de.
Patrice Wegener Dr Christine Vogler
New Homepage
Did you visit us online during the last weeks? If so, you will have noticed a major change: we have gone TYPO3, the new CMS standard applied on many web pages of the Max‐Planck Society (e.g. at MPIs Tübingen and Freiburg, MPS Headquarters). The result is a new and more attractive layout, but the change also comes along with what we hope to be a more concise and intelligible menu structure. The address remains the same: http://eu.tuebingen.mpg.de
The homepage offers comprehensive information on EU research funding opportunities, along with in‐depth orientation for young scientists as well as for women in science. Importantly, you will find there an up‐to‐date overview of currently open calls as well as statistical information of past calls. Some parts of the homepage are still or again under construction and will be finished during 2011.
Starting this year, the Regional Office has expanded its portfolio to also provide assistance with applying for national and non‐EU international funding opportunities. This should make official what has become good practice during the last two years already.
Follow‐up on 4th Call for ERC Starting Grants
Researchers from Max Planck Institutes in Tübingen, Freiburg and Stuttgart have altogether submitted five projects proposals under the 4th Call for ERC Starting Grants. The call which is published on an annual basis closed in November 2010.
Applications were submitted from:
MPI for Biological Cybernetics: 2 MPI for Developmental Biology: 1 MPI of Immunobiology: 1 MPI for Solid State Research: 1 [MPI for Informatics: 1]
Due to the close thematic proximity, another project submitted from the Saarbrücken based MPI for Informatics was backed up by the EU office as well.
The two‐steps evaluation process for the submitted proposals is under way. Three of the above candidates have been invited to the step‐2 interview. These candidates will be given the opportunity to present their projects to the evaluation panels. The Interviews should take place between May and June 2011 in Brussels.
The EU Regional Office Baden‐Württemberg will be organizing for the interview candidates a training session in mid May 2011.
Candidates whose proposals have passed the quality threshold (min. score of 2 on either of the two criteria) during step 1 but which have been rejected may reapply under the upcoming 5th Call.
List of panel chairs for the 4th Call (ERC‐2011‐StG)
All in all, 4,080 projects were submitted which represents a considerable increase of 42% compared to the preceding 3rd call (2,873). On a positive note, the budget of the 4th call has also increased by 25% to reach now 661m € (3rd call: 528m €). A total of ca. 450 projects are expected to be funded.
With regard to the number of ERC grants awarded to its scientists, the Max Planck Society is the most successful research institution within Germany. As a result of the 3rd Call in 2009/10, 9 ERC Starting grantees are being hosted by Max Planck Institutes, 2 of which have recently started their projects at the MPI for Developmental Biology in Tübingen.
“PROTOBRAIN”: Sensory‐motor circuits in marine zooplankton and early evolution of the nervous system (Principal Investigator: Dr Gaspar Jekely)
“HIVEVO”: Intra‐patient evolution of HIV (Principal Investigator: Dr Richard Neher)
General info on ERC funding Statistics of the last call List of funded projects (2007‐2010) In March 2011, the ERC has launched the new funding instrument “Proof of Concept”. Researchers who are already holding an ERC grant can receive up to 150,000 € for technical validation, market research, clarification of intellectual property right issues, or investigating commercial opportunities of their innovations. The call closes 15 Jun 2011. Further info is available on the CORDIS website.
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Postdoctoral Fellowship Applications in 2010
Surprisingly, the summer/fall 2010 round of calls for postdoctoral fellowships resulted in a dramatic increase of applications throughout the major programmes. This was also reflected in a large number of applications submitted from the MPIs in Tübingen, Freiburg and Stuttgart for Marie Curie, EMBO long term, HFSP long term and Alexander‐von‐Humboldt foundation fellowships. Consequently, the success rates of the individual programmes decreased substantially, underpinning the need for outstanding quality of the submitted proposal as a prerequisite for success all the more.
As regards the Marie Curie Intra‐European Fellowships (IEF), International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF) and International Incoming Fellowships (IIF), the number of proposals increased by 12% (IEF) to 23% (IOF) compared to the previous year 2009. Positively, the evaluation process was concluded in November 2010 already, and the first projects are supposed to start in spring 2011.
Number of submitted
proposals 2010
Increase compared to
2009
Proposals recommended to
be funded
Preliminary success rate (rate 2009)
Intra‐ European
Fellowships (IEF) 2,858 19 % 504
17.7% (24%)
International Outgoing
Fellowships (IOF) 737 23 % 143
19.4% (20%)
International Incoming
Fellowships (IIF) 1,175 12 % 137
11.7% (14.8%)
If you are interested in more information, check the regularly updated EU office homepage.
The number of applications for the EMBO Long‐Term Fellowships also considerably increased in the last call which closed in August 2010. While the number of submitted proposals had remained constant during the previous years at 600 to 700 proposals, a surprising 950 proposals were submitted in 2010. The selection process has already been completed as well (and successful candidates informed). With only 120 fellowships funded, the success rate reaches a low 12.6%. A list of the 2010 Autumn Fellowship Awards is available on the EMBO website.
The evaluation process for HFSP Long‐Term Fellowships is more drawn‐out: The final decision about which and how many fellowships will be funded by the 2011 budget was taken 28 March 2011 by the final Trustees’ Board’s meeting. However, as HFSP saw an increase in application numbers by approx. 25% to over 900 submitted proposals, the competition was tough and resulted in a success rate below 10%. A list of the awarded fellowships is available on the HFSP website.
On a positive note, the number of funding programmes available under the COFUND fellowship scheme (regional, national and international fellowship programmes that are co‐funded by the Marie Curie actions) has increased greatly. Considering the dramatically increased competition in the ‘traditional’ Marie Curie actions, these COFUND opportunities are the programmes to look into in the first place now. Further information on COFUND and a list of available programmes with details on application details can be found here.
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ERC Advanced Grants Call
The ERC Advanced Grants (AdG) offers funding opportunities for exceptional research leaders to carry out high‐risk frontier research. Independent researchers from any scientific discipline with an outstanding track record over the last 10 years can apply. Projects will be funded with up to 3.5m € for a maximum of 5 years. Calls for the ERC Advanced Grants are published annually.
On November 4, the 4th call for Advanced Grants (ERC‐2011‐AdG) was published. The deadlines for the three domains are:
Physical Sciences and Engineering closed on 9 Feb 2011 Life Sciences closed on 10 Mar 2011 Social Sciences and Humanities 6 Apr 2011
General information Call link
In the previous 3rd Call (ERC‐2010‐AdG), 266 projects were awarded a total of 590m € of funding, and the overall success rate was 13%. Most positively, scientists from the Max Planck Society proved to be very competitive and totaled 13 grants (internal success rate of nearly 50%).
Statistics List of funded projects (2008‐2010)
FP7 interim evaluation and Simplification
In order to simplify what many researchers consider to be an overly complex and bureaucratic EU research funding, the EU Commission has implemented since 2009/10 a set of measures involving the scientific community and other stakeholders. This ‘simplification process’, which also drew on the feedback of an online consultation during 2010 ( Summary of the results), was taken up by an external group of experts’ Interim Evaluation. The report was published in Nov 2010.
The Interim Evaluation report which is well worth a read analyses comprehensively the current 7th Framework Programme (FP7) and lists several recommendations for the improvement of the programme handling. This set of recommendations centers on questions of technical and financial relevance (e.g. streamlining of FP7 regulations and documentation; improving uniform interpretation and application of rules; reducing time‐to‐grant factor; introducing average personnel costs etc.) and programme policy (e.g. developing high quality research infrastructures; strengthening the bottom‐up approach to research topics; increasing female participation etc.)
Interim Evaluation Report (worth a skim‐read!)
The above Interim Evaluation Report has triggered a detailed response of the European Commission which was supportive of the experts’ recommendations:
Response to the Interim Evaluation Report (COM (2011) 52 final, 9.2.2011)
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Although most of these recommendations will serve as a basis for the drafting of the upcoming FP8 only (see below article on Consultation on the future of EU research funding), the European Commission has reacted in Jan 2011 by way of an ‘administrative’ Commission Decision. It introduces further flexibility of the average personnel costs methodologies and establishes an Intra Directorates‐General Research Clearing Committee. The latter may prove particularly helpful for researchers and administrators as it will allow for a streamlining and a more consistent interpretation of the FP7 regulations.
For the sake of completeness ‐ and if you are interested in more technical details:
Measures for simplifying (C(2011) 174 final, 24.1.2011), and catalogue of criteria Updated version of Annex II ‐ General conditions (for project managers or administrators)
Consultation on the future of EU research funding
Would you like to take part in the shaping of the future EU Research funding? This is the chance for the individual researcher following the EC’s opening of an online consultation to contribute to the ongoing debate. You may respond to an online questionnaire, submit a written text, or just read and contribute to the interactive blog. The online consultation will close 20 May 2011. The EC plans to hold a closing conference as a follow‐up to the public consultation on 10 June 2011.
Online Consultation (homepage)
More specifically, the ongoing political debate draws on a Green Paper entitled “From Challenges to Opportunities: Towards a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation funding” (published in Feb 2011). The Green Paper proposes a “Common Strategic Framework” for Research and Innovation that merges the “big three” Framework programmes into one: Research (FP7), Competitiveness and Innovation (CIP), and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Importantly, the new programme would be expected to address the entire “innovation chain” in an integrative way.
Besides the inevitable political objectives (“giving the EU a world‐beating science base”, “boosting competitiveness”), the simplification ‐ see also above article on the FP7 interim evaluation and Simplification ‐ of the funding programmes remains a central focus of the Green Paper.
The major suggestions for simplifications concern, among others:
‐ a single entry point with common IT tools and a one‐stop shop for advice and support to participants throughout the entire funding process;
‐ a simpler and more streamlined set of funding instruments covering the full innovation chain, including basic research, applied research, collaboration between academia and industry and firm‐ level innovation;
‐ simpler and more consistent procedures for accounting for the use of the funds received (e.g. by increased use of lump sum payments).
Sources: Press release of the European Commission IP/11/138 (9 Feb 2011) Green Paper: “From Challenges to Opportunities (…)”
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Open Calls
The following tables provide a general overview of the currently open calls for proposals. For more details (incl. the info package), please click your way through in below “Open Calls” section.
More particularly, the European Commission will be publishing in July 2011 the next large round of calls for proposals. The work programmes’ topics which will be opened for funding are mostly still under discussion. However, the EU office has been able to grab early information already. On the following pages, you will also find a detailed overview of the programmes “Health”, “Bio”, “ICT”, and “Socio‐Economic Sciences and Humanities”. The original draft versions of the work programmes are available upon request at the EU office if you are interested in any of the topics. Please keep in mind that the documents are still in draft stage and therefore subject to changes.
1. Overview of OPEN calls for proposals in FP7
Programme Call ID Link1 Deadline Budget (m €)
Health ( below Annex 1) Call expected July 2011
Food, Agriculture/Fish, Bio ( below Annex 2)
Call expected July 2011
ICT ( below Fiche) Call expected July 2011 exp. Jan 2012 FET Open FP7‐ICT‐2011‐C >> open until 2013 46Nano‐Mat‐Pro Call expected July 2011
Energy Call expected July 2011
Environment Call expected July 2011
Transport Call expected July 2011
Socio‐economic Sciences, Call expected July 2011 Humanities ( below Draft)
Space Call expected July 2011
Security ( Info upon request) Call expected July 2011
Marie‐Curie Actions FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IEF >> 11.08.11 109.9Int’l Incoming FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IIF >> 11.08.11 40Int’l Outgoing FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IOF >> 11.08.11 40
Career Integration Grant FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐CIG >> 06.09.11 40
ERC Starting Grants Calls expected in Summer 2011
ERC Advanced Grants Calls expected in Fall 2011
ERC Proof of Concept ERC‐2011‐PoC >> 15.06.11 10
Research Infrastructures Call expected July 2011
Science in Society Call expected July 2011
General activities SP1‐JTI‐CS‐2011‐02 >> 28.07.11 12.7JPI ‐ Neurodegenerative Disease Research
Biomarker Transnational Call (BMBF) >> 05.09.11
1 Call documents are also available at http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm
The Open Calls section of the EU Regional Office’s Homepage provides updates on a daily basis.
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Preliminary version of the Work Programme for Theme 1 “Health”
‐ for more details see Annex 1 of newsletter ‐
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Preliminary version of the Work Programme for Theme 2 “Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and
Biotechnology” ‐ for more details see Annex 2 of newsletter ‐
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Fiches of expected ICT CALLS 8 and 9 “Information and Communication Technologies” ‐ Comprehensive text available at EU office ‐ a) Fiche of ICT Call 8 (publication: Jul 2011, deadline: 17 Jan 2012, budget: ca. 785.5m EUR)
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b) Fiche of ICT Call 9 (publication: Jan 2012, deadline: Apr 2012, budget: ca. 291m EUR)
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2. OPEN calls for MPI‐CC Freiburg (Criminal Law & Criminology related)
Programme / Call Work document/link Deadline
EU PROGRAMME “FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE”
Programmes of DG “JUSTICE” General link
‐ Criminal Justice
Link, Work programme Call expected Oct. 2011
‐ Daphne III (victims/”groups at risk”) Link, Work programme
Call expected Oct. 2011
‐ Civil justice
Link, Work programme Call expected Oct.2011
‐ Drug prevention and information
Link, Work programme
Call expected Oct. 2011
‐ Fundamental rights and citizenship
Link, Work programme
Call expected Oct. 2011
Programmes of DG “HOME AFFAIRS” General link
‐ Prevention of /Fight against Crime (ISEC)
Link, Work programme Call expected summer 2011
‐ External Borders
Link, Work programme
‐ Integration
Link, Work programme
‐ Return
Link, Work programme
‐ Preparedness (CIPS) Link, Work programme Call expected July 2011
‐ Refugee Link, Work programme
EU PROGRAMMES in FP7
“Socio‐economic Sciences and Humanities” General link Call expected July 2011
“Security” ( Info upon request) General link Call expected July 2011
“Science in Society” General link Call expected July 2011
ERC Starting Grants General link Call expected July 2011
ERC Advanced Grants General link Call expected fall 2011
ERC Proof of Concept General link Call “ERC‐PoC” Call link 15.06.2011 (€10m) Marie‐Curie Actions General link
FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IEF (Intra‐European) FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IIF (Int’l Incoming) FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐IOF (Int’l Outgoing) FP7‐PEOPLE‐2011‐CIG (Career Integration Grant)
Call link Call link Call link Call link
11.08.2011 (€109,9m) 11.08.2011 (€40m) 11.08.2011 (€40m) 06.09.2011 (€40m)
BMBF‐ SICHERHEITSFORSCHUNG
General link No open calls
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Preliminary draft of the Work Programme for Theme 8 “Socio‐Economic Sciences and Humanities” ‐ Comprehensive text available at EU office ‐
MPG issues new FP7 overhead rates for 2009 and 2010
Following a technical audit conducted by the European Court of Auditors, the Max Planck Society had to adjust its 2009 and 2010 overhead rates for FP7 Collaborative Projects and Networks of Excellence. The new overhead rates, which should be applied in Form C as an adjustment, are as follows:
• 2009: 133.67% overhead for projects funded during calendar year (previously 135.71%) • 2010: 134.29% overhead for projects funded during calendar year (previously 140.50%)
For the application/submission phase, proposers apply the 140% overhead rate as usual.
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Upcoming Events
4 – 6 May 2011 fet11 The European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary Link
6 Jun 2011 Freiburg/Breisgau: Info day on FP7 Health and Bio programmes 6 Jul 2011 Tübingen: Info day on FP7 Health and Bio programmes For More details (incl. a general event calendar): Link
EU Regional Office hours at MPIs Freiburg 2011 (update)
MPI for Immunobiology and Epigenetics MPI for Foreign and International Criminal Law 06 Apr 07 Apr 20 Apr 21 Apr 04 May 05 May 18 May 19 May 08 Jun 09 Jun 22 Jun 21 Jun 06 Jul 07 Jul 20 Jul 21 Jul
‐ to be continued ‐
Annex: Work programme information sheets
‐ Annex 1: HEALTH ‐ Annex 2: BIO
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