Some 65 professionals from entities related to R & D in Castilla y Leon and from different research areas have attended this morning at the University of Salamanca to an information day on the program PEOPLE, part of the 7th Framework Programme the European Commission and is intended to support mobility of scientists. Nicolas Ojeda, National Contact Point for this program at the European Office of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, explained the details of the calls to eligible researchers and noted that the current economic situation is reflected in increased interest to develop a scientific career abroad.
“We are seeing an increase of Spanish researchers who apply for shares to go to other countries,” he said in remarks to DiCYT. This increased interest may be related to the current situation, as he said, but also the opposite phenomenon occurs because “there are researchers were seeking to return to Spain” and scientists from other countries “want to come for the quality of the Spanish centers “.
In any case, “Spanish researchers are among the most active when applying for this program,” aimed at training and exchange. “PEOPLE funded human resources of the European Union, both to incorporate qualified staff for research projects to help ease the brain drain and encourage research careers,” said the expert.
Universities, companies and any entity engaged in R & D & I can benefit from these aids include professional scientific projects already underway, but also an individual researcher can submit a proposal for development at a given site. To do this, we must have an experience of at least four years of full-time research and present a science project that meets certain requirements. Ultimately, the Commission calls “that research is sufficiently relevant.”
Several options
The People program, which is part of the Marie Curie Actions of the 7th Framework Programme, is endowed with 4,750 million euros divided into various calls and those who opt for competitive European scientists according to different options: move into Europe, get out of Europe and return or non-European researchers incorporate research centers on the continent. This encourages the formation of international networks of research centers.
The 7th Framework Programme, which is part of this program, launch calls each year for each of the eight actions, but end in 2013. In the future, the promotion of European research will go through the Horizon 2020 program, which will keep this type of financing, as Nicolas Ojeda.
The information day was held today organized by the Office of Research Results Transfer (TTO) of the University of Salamanca in collaboration with the General Foundation of the institution and the Foundation University of Castilla y Leon and is part of the Transfer Project University-Industry Knowledge (T-CUE) of the Junta de Castilla y Leon.