Rüdiger Voss PH Senior Staff, April 20, 2009 COFUND Fellows Rüdiger Voss PH Senior Staff, April 20, 2009

Key features COFUND: New FP7 funding tool for co-funding of existing or new Fellowship programs Total budget of 2007 call: 65 M€ EC 40% funding for part of Fellowship program, up to 5 M€ over 4 years 7.5 M€ from CERN existing ‘DGP’ budget total budget 12.5 M€ Excellent career development opportunity for 40 excellent Senior Fellows (CERN–Marie Curie COFUNDED [CMCC] Fellows)

Special Benefits 3-year contract, non-renewable (CERN SRR) possibility to spend (part of) 3rd year outside CERN open to ALL nationalities (no MS restriction) research cost contribution (4’800 €/year) free choice of research topic for ALL successful applicants (including Applied Fellows) based on personal research proposal research proposal must be compliant with the mission and research programs of CERN, and feasible with the existing infrastructure

History Proposal submitted in spring 2008 New funding instrument, sceptical about our chances... Very positive evaluation received in May 2008 Contract with EC signed in early March 2009 ... just before application deadline for present exercise has prevented adequate publicity Post-mortem remedy: eligible candidates invited to convert previous application into COFUND application has prevented adequate planning of implementation in selection procedures etc.

Proposed implementation 40 eligible Fellows, share 20+20 (adjustable) between May + November 2009 committees COFUND pays for 40% of these Corresponding amount of money freed in DGP budget, however not in a 1:1 ratio because of ~20% higher cost of CMCC Fellows Net gain to CERN ~40 Fellow-years Expect to recruit ~12 additional Fellows (conservatively) in 2009 Focus on Research Fellows Share between May + November committees

Extra cost of CMCC Fellows Total cost of CMCC Fellows ~20 higher than “standard” Senior Fellow Elements: Research cost contribution 4800 €/year Management cost 10% overheads Overheads supposed to cover Exchange rate fluctuations Ineligible costs Deviations from standard salary cost Re-investment of unused overheads?

Proposed Selection Procedure Share budget about equally between Research and Applied Fellows (~ 10+10 per committee) Merit-based selection should be unbiased by Research/Applied distinction: Ranking panels to shortlist ~15 candidates each from their area Ad-hoc panel to make final choice by direct comparison between the two shortlists AFC Chair, 1–2 members of each ranking panel Identify reserve candidates

Perceived problem: free choice for Applied Fellows Departments request Applied CMCC Fellows in the usual way Applied CMCC Fellows are committed to their Research Proposal – should allow for unambiguous matching Fellow ⬌ group/activity in vast majority of cases CERN is not obliged to hire a CMCC candidate if a good match cannot be found! In PH, most CMCC Fellows expected to be Research Fellows!