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

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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
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.

5. Proposed implementation
40 eligible Fellows, share (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

6. 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?

7. Proposed Selection Procedure
Share budget about equally between Research and Applied Fellows (~ 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

8. 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!