EC Funding Opportunities Women in Mathematics Meeting, 16 th April 2010 Cambridge Research Office Keith Cann Research Support Manager

EC Funding Introduction A swift look into the world of FP7 EC Marie Curie The European Research Council Some useful information

EC Funding – Overview (1) Average annual budget (in Billions) of previous EC Frameworks

EC Funding – Overview (2) FP7 Budget breakdown Total budget = €50.5 Billions ‘Cooperation’ stream is for collaborative res. ‘Ideas’ stream is for frontier res. ‘People’ stream is for developing human potential ‘Capacities’ stream is for developing research knowledge and capacity €32,413 €4,097 €4,750 €7,510

EC Funding – Overview (3) Bulk of the funding is made available for collaborative research These consist of between three and thirty organisations – all organised by a coordinator with whom the EC deal exclusively Most of these rely on established researchers collaborating throughout Europe However, this does mean that the consortia should have a good mix of partners Non Framework funding is available too, but this is mainly collaborative in nature Collaborative research under FP7 is expected to be carried out within ten main thematic areas…

EC Funding - Overview (4) Health Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology Information and communication technologies Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies Energy Environment (including climate change) Transport (including aeronautics) Socio-economic sciences and the humanities Space Security

EC Funding - Overview (5) Applications are all made online via the Electronic Proposal & Submission System (EPSS), registration is self-service FP7 projects are considered by some institutions as being overly burdensome in terms of administration So… speak to your local/central research office before taking the plunge Take the time to read the Guide for Applicants document of the scheme you are interested in as this not only contains information about how to apply, but also gives an overview of the decision process and the weighting of marks A system of National Contact Points (NCPs) are designated per scheme to provide assistance with preparing an application

EC Funding – Other sources Within the Framework there is also funding available for those at early-mid term stages of their careers. In terms of Early Career the Marie Curie (‘People’ stream) is probably the most well-known For researchers at a later stage in their careers the European Research Council (‘Ideas’ stream) provides considerable funding to build up research groups involved in what the EC term as ‘frontier research’.

EC Funding – Marie Curie (1) Marie Curie funding is mainly concerned with the development of researchers through intra-european mobility Types of funding run from single fellowships in a host institution to large cross- european research collaborations working on a central theme providing multiple positions and include the ability to travel out of europe or engage with industry They also provide specific support funding for ex Marie Curie Fellows after their original grant has ended A full list of specific schemes can be found in a document called the Work Programme People Fellowships can be held in wide-ranging areas of research, as well as within the Mathematics (MAT) area

EC Funding - Marie Curie (2) Funding available is based upon set criteria as detailed in the Work Programme (this differs depending on the scheme) Set levels of remuneration for the fellow depend on their experience, distances they may travel to the host organisation, family charges etc If you are intending to apply as a fellow there must be a senior scientist who acts as the ‘Scientist in Charge’ who is based at the host institution

EC Funding - Marie Curie (3) Algebra and Number Theory Algorithms and Complexity Analysis and Partial Differential Equations Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics Discrete Mathematics and Computational Mathematics Geometry and Topology Logic and Semantics Statistics and Probability Other Mathematics

EC Funding - ERC (1) The Ideas Programme is relatively new and has only existed in FP7 Funding is designed to support talented individuals to form research ‘teams’ to undertake ground-breaking research Collaborative research is possible, but the ERC award typically what they class as mono-partner projects, based in a single institution There are two main awards offered by the ERC: Starting Investigator Grant & Advanced Investigator Grant The main difference between the two schemes is the level of postdoctoral experience necessary to apply.

EC Funding - ERC (2) Given the emphasis on building a team there are relatively generous levels of funding available Starting Grants typically last for a maximum of five years and have a total budget available of up to 1.5 million euro (under exceptional circumstances this can be increased to 2 million) Advanced Grants also are expected to last for a maximum of 5 years and have a maximum budget of 2.5 million euro (which can again be increased, up to 3.5 million)

EC Funding - ERC (3) Unlike other schemes under FP7 you will need to have written support from your intended host organisation at the application stage Applications can be submitted from any eligible host organisation within the EC (and ‘partner’ countries such as Switzerland, Norway etc) so you do not have to be currently based at a particular University - just have their approval You can include your own salary in the proposal, but if you already have a tenured position you are still able to apply VAT is an inadmissable cost (across all of FP7)

EC Funding - Information Calls for funding on CORDIS can be accessed at For a list of National Contact Points - support_en.htmlwww.cordis.europa.eu/fp7/get- support_en.html UKRO is the NCP for both Marie Curie and European Research Council funding in the UK