1. 7th Framework Programme: Funding possibilities
Danuta Cichocka
European Commission, DG Research
Directorate Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology
Unit Biotechnologies
BACSIN course, 5-7 July 2009, Lausanne
13/11/2018

2. Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

3. People – Marie Curie Actions

4. IEF – Intra-European Fellowships for career development
Who can apply?
Researchers can be of any nationality and must demonstrate mobility from a Member State or Associated Country to another Member State or Associated country. You must have either a doctoral degree or at least 4 years’ full-time equivalent research experience, after obtaining a degree permitting you to embark on a doctorate.
Which topics can be funded?
IEF proposals are welcomed from all areas of scientific and technological research. But there is one exception: research areas covered by the EURATOM Treaty cannot be funded.
What does the funding cover?
Financial support is provided for a period of years (full-time equivalent), for individual projects presented by experienced researchers from Member States or Associated Countries in liaison with a host organisation from a Member State or Associated Country.
IEFs are specifically aimed at helping experienced researchers to try something new.
Generally, you must carry out the project on the premises of a host organisation in an EU or Associated Country other than your own.

5. ERG – European Reintegration Grant
Who can apply?
To qualify for an ERG, you must be a researcher from an EU Member State or an Associated Country with at least 4 years’ full-time research experience or a doctoral degree. And you must have benefited from a Marie Curie training and mobility action lasting at least 18 months.
Which topics can be funded?
ERG proposals are welcomed from all areas of scientific and technological research. But there is one exception: research areas covered by the EURATOM Treaty cannot be funded.
What does the funding cover?
The reintegration grant is a flat-rate contribution towards your project costs (e.g. the salary of the researcher or other staff employed in the project, costs of travel, consumables, patent and publications). The grant will be paid for 2-3 years.
The EC signs a grant agreement with your host organisation in Europe. The host will then reach an employment agreement with you and is expected to pay your salary. Your host organisation must be a university, a research centre or an enterprise in an EU Member State or Associated Country.
Many researchers have already benefited from training within a Marie Curie Action.
Naturally and positively, most of them will want to enter or re-enter long-term research employment as soon as possible after their training. Marie Curie’s European Reintegration Grants (ERGs) help them to do just that.

6. IRG – International Reintegration Grant
Who can apply?
IRG applicants must be researchers from EU Member States or Associated Countries with at least 4 years’ full-time research experience or a doctoral degree. You must have been actively engaged in research in a Third Country for at least 3 years.
Which topics can be funded?
All fields of research are eligible for an IRG. But there is one exception: research areas covered by the EURATOM Treaty cannot be funded.
What does the funding cover?
The reintegration grant is a flat-rate contribution towards your project costs (e.g. the salary of the researcher or other staff employed in the project, costs of travel, consumables, patent and publications). The grant will be paid for 2-4 years.
The EC signs a grant agreement with your host organisation in Europe. The host will then reach an employment agreement with you and is expected to pay your salary. Your host organisation must be a university, a research centre or an enterprise in an EU Member State or Associated Country.
As Europe’s knowledge-based economy develops and grows, top-level European researchers who have been working in other parts of the world now see bright new career prospects back home.
Their return is a good move for them and good news for Europe. But they sometimes require a little help to get back on the European career ladder. Marie Curie’s International Reintegration Grants (IRGs) meet that need.

7. People – Marie Curie Actions

8. IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships for career development
Who can apply?
Researchers can be of any nationality and must demonstrate mobility from a Member State or Associated Country to another Member State or Associated country. You must have either a doctoral degree or at least 4 years’ full-time equivalent research experience, after obtaining a degree permitting you to embark on a doctorate.
Which topics can be funded?
IEF proposals are welcomed from all areas of scientific and technological research. But there is one exception: research areas covered by the EURATOM Treaty cannot be funded.
What does the funding cover?
Financial support can be given for up to 3 years in all. This includes an initial outgoing phase of 1-2 years in a Third Country followed by a mandatory reintegration phase of 1 year.
European researchers can learn a lot from conducting high level research in other parts of the world. The knowledge that they acquire in Third Countries can then be brought back and used in Europe.
Your host organisation should be a university, research centre or enterprise established and located in a Third Country (for the out going phase) and another one in an EU or Associated Country (for the return phase).

9. IIF - International Incoming Fellowships
Who can apply?
Researchers can be of any nationality and must demonstrate mobility from a Third Country to a Member State or Associated country. To apply, you must have either a doctoral degree or at least 4 years’ full-time equivalent research experience, after obtaining a degree permitting you to embark on a doctorate.
Which topics can be funded?
IEF proposals are welcomed from all areas of scientific and technological research. But there is one exception: research areas covered by the EURATOM Treaty cannot be funded.
What does the funding cover?
IIF funding is provided for a research project which will transfer knowledge into your host organisation and building or enhancing collaborations between Europe and the rest of the world. The research project will also allow you to advance your career. Financial support is provided for 1-2 years (full-time equivalent).
Top-class researchers from Third Countries are welcome to work on projects in Europe. This helps to develop research cooperation between Europe and other parts of the world – to everybody’s benefit.
International Incoming Fellowships (IIFs) are a Marie Curie Action specially designed to encourage these moves.

10. Calls for proposals
Call Identifier
Call Title
Publication Date
Deadline
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF
Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development (IEF)
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF
Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF
Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development (IOF)
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG
Marie Curie Reintegration Grants

12. Ideas - European Research Council (ERC)
The European Research Council (ERC) is the first European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier research.
The ERC complements other funding activities in Europe and is a flagship component of the 'Ideas Programme' of the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7).
Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative scientists, scholars and engineers to be adventurous and take risks in their research
The scientists are encouraged to go beyond established frontiers of knowledge and the boundaries of disciplines

13. ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant
Research proposal: pioneering frontier research in any field of science, engineering and scholarship
Principal Investigator: candidates can be of any nationality, and must have obtained their PhD and more than 2 but less than 10 years of research experience
Host organisation: legally recognised public or private research organisation situated in an EU Member State or an Associated Country.
Funding: up to € 2.0 M per grant (normally up to € 1.5 M per grant)
Duration: up to 5 years
Calls for proposals: published annually in summer (normally late July each year) with deadlines in autumn

14. ERC Advanced Investigators Grant
Research proposal: pioneering frontier research in any field of science, engineering and scholarship
Principal Investigator: candidates can be of any nationality, must be scientifically independent and have a recent research track-record and profile which identifies them as leaders in their respective field(s) of research
Host organisation: legally recognised public or private research organisation situated in an EU Member State or an Associated Country.
Funding: up to € 3.5 M per grant (normally up to € 2.5 M)
Duration: up to 5 years
Calls for proposals: published annually in autumn with deadlines in spring

15. Future calls http://erc.europa.eu
The next call - Starting Grant call will be published on 20th July 2010 with deadlines for the three research domains throughout autumn
The next call - Advanced Grant call is likely to be announced in winter 2010/2011 with deadlines for the three research domains throughout spring
To be kept updated on this call and more, you can subscribe to the ERC news alerts

16. Cooperation – collaborative research 10 thematic areas
Theme 2
≈ € 2 billion
One of these themes is “Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology”. The EU Member States have earmarked more than € 1.9 billion for funding this theme over the duration of FP7.

17. Activity 2.3 – Biotechnologies Criteria for successful implementation and impact - WP2011
Mission oriented research
SME participation in selected topics
EUR 12 (“Enlarged Europe”)
International Cooperation
Coordination: Other themes and Member States
Ocean 2011 call
ERA-NETs: Synthetic Biology, Industrial Biotechnology, Marine Biotechnology
WP 2011 publication: 20th July 2010 on CORDIS

18. Activity 2.3 – Biotechnologies Main groundbreaking elements in WP2011
Indicative topics
INCO
SME
EUR 12
Plant photosynthetic efficiency
Biomass from perennial grasses
India Partnership Initiative 
25%
Marine Biotechnology (ERA-NET)
Industrial Biotechnology (ERA-NET)
Biocatalysis from chiral compounds
Biotechnology for novel compounds
Bio-waste
Towards bio-industry
GM crops in the EU
Marine microbial communities (OCEAN-2011)
TBD
Bioinformatics for Biotechnology
Bioinformatics infrastructure for Biotechnology
Standardisation in Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology and the Cell Factory
Safety of Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology (ERA-NET)

19. 2.3.5 Environmental Biotechnology
KBBE : GM crops in the EU – systematically assessing environmental and economic impacts
Funding scheme: CP-IP; Max EC contr: 6 million EUR;
International Cooperation Partner Countries
(ICPC) — see Annex 1
Call for Africa: Africa is targeted as a priority in 2010 with a call for Africa in a crossthematic
collaboration with Themes Environment (including climate change) and Health.

20. 2.3.6 Emerging trends in biotechnology
KBBE : Increasing the accessibility, usability and predictive capacities of bioinformatics tools for biotechnology applications
Funding scheme: CP-FP; Max EC contr: 3 million EUR; 25% SME; Up to 3 projects
KBBE : Supporting the development of Bioinformatics Infrastructures for the effective exploitation of genomic data: Beyond health applications
Funding scheme: CSA-CA; Max EC contr: 1 million EUR

21. 2.3.6 Emerging trends in biotechnology
KBBE : Towards standardisation in Synthetic Biology
Funding scheme: CP-IP; Max EC contr: 6 million EUR;
KBBE : Applying Synthetic Biology principles towards the cell factory notion in biotechnology
Funding scheme: CP-FP; Max EC contr: 3 million EUR; Up to 2 projects
KBBE : Ensuring the safety of Synthetic Biology applications
Funding scheme: CSA-CA; Max EC contr: 1 million EUR
KBBE : Synthetic Biology– ERA-NET
Funding scheme: CSA-CA

22. Staying Informed on European Research:
European Research portal
General information on the EU FP7
Specific information on research
programmes, projects and FP7 call documents