Marie Curie Actions - Where innovative science becomes success
Science would stand still if young people never dared to become researchers: seeking the training they need, the skills they need, and the networks they need to push the boundaries of human knowledge. But the career of young researchers has traditionally been tough and full of hurdles, for instance, due to job insecurity or difficulties in reconciling professional and family life.
The Marie Curie programme, since renamed the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme in recognition of the scientist’s full name, has been working towards lowering these hurdles since 1996 by providing financial support to young researchers wanting to expand their horizons through a period of work in another European country. It has encouraged researchers to work together, fostered pan-European collaboration and built upon EU cultural and social diversity.
In short: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) put individual researchers at the centre of policy and seek to address many of the issues they face.
Being a programme based on fellows, MSCA aim to support the professional development of those who decide to become scientists. Many of the criteria demanded from applicants, besides excellent science, are conceived to help fellows mature and grow. The opportunity to build experience and obtain scientific and transferrable skills enlarges their curricula vitae, demonstrates their flexibility and increases their employability.
This book profiles some of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie projects financed under the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development and Demonstration (FP6). During the training period (2003-2012), funding was provided for almost 14,500 fellows coming from 121 Countries. The book therefore presents only a limited selection of the outstanding accomplishments of this multidisciplinary international research programme.
The 30 projects showcased on the pages that follow demonstrate, however, what the whole MSCA world - research fellows, project coordinators and participants, organisations, mentors - was able to achieve at the beginning of this century by investing in research and innovation. The European Union’s next research framework programme, Horizon 2020, will build on the experience gathered so far, helping Europe’s brightest and most creative minds extend the frontiers of knowledge by strengthening activities, including Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, that support researchers’ careers and mobility.
Document type
- Report
Language
English
Publication Year
2012
Geographical focus
- European Union (EU 27)
Scientifc field / Thematic focus
- Social Sciences
Attachments
Related users
Entry created by Bostjan Sinkovec on November 12, 2012
Modified on November 30, 2012
