European funding for researcher training and development

Marie Curie Action - European reintegration grants - FP7-PEOPLE-ERG-2009

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals for Marie Curie Action European reintegration grants under its Framework 7 programme (FP7). The total budget for this programme is 31 million Euros.

This call is limited in its eligibility, in that it is aimed at supporting training and career development of researchers who have previously had funding from FP7 or a previous framework programme of at least 18 months full-time equivalent.

Eligible researchers must, at the time of the relevant deadline, either be in possession of a doctoral degree, irrespective of the time taken to acquire it, or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience. Researchers must also be nationals, or assimilated nationals, of a member state or associated country.

Deadline: applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with cut-off dates of 5pm Brussels local time 2 April and 8 October 2009; the call remains open until a subsequent call is published but no longer than 5pm, Brussels local time 31 December 2009.

Full details of the call are available on the Cordis website at:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.PeopleDetailsCallPage&call_id=168

If you are considering applying for any EU grant to enable you to join the Open University Faculty of Arts as a researcher, you must have a 'sponsor' academic from the Faculty supporting your application. EU funding applications generally involve a lot of work and are highly competitive. You need to allow plenty of time (we advise 3 months) to prepare your application and to receive advice about how to strengthen it, to give it the best chance of success. So you should have contact with a willing sponsor who is familiar with your work at least 3 months ahead of the deadline. Before considering making an approach, please read the eligibility criteria in the full call (not just the summary) carefully and make sure that you meet all the criteria.