The FRENZ project comprises a series of activities to both:

• provide researchers with the practical assistance they require to get involved with the Framework Programme, and

• help structure the environment for future collaboration

FRENZ has developed a suite of services to help you to break down the barriers that might affect your participation in the Framework Programme.

FRENZ Helpdesk- Call or email an advisor with over 10 years experience of involvement with the Framework Programme to answer any and all of your FP7 related questions.

Briefing Visits - FRENZ comes to you! An in-house visit from a FRENZ advisor, tailored to respond to the needs of your organisation: European strategy development, seminars, training courses, or one-to-one discussions on current and future opportunities in FP7.

 Email Updates - FRENZ produces a monthly series of research discipline-themed emails, addressing opportunities and key policy developments in FP7. 

Web Site - FRENZ offers documentation and presentations relating to NZ participation in the Framework Programme and FRENZ activities. In addition, a regularly updated RSS feed provides a complement to the monthly email newsletter.

Training Courses - FRENZ offers a series of training courses and information events tailored to specific calls (e.g., Marie Curie Post-doctoral Research Fellowships) or topics (e.g., Food, Health, Environment).

 Working with Europe - FRENZ will engage with other European Commission funded projects and networks that seek to enhance the collaboration of third country (e.g., NZ) researchers in the Framework Programme, to identify best practices, and to strengthen NZ research connections with Europe. 

To date, FRENZ partners are involved formally with:

Biocircle: The network of third country Contact Points in the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology programme. www.biocircle-project.eu

IdealIST: The network of National Contact Points for the ICT theme. www.ideal-ist.net

PACEnet: currently under negotiation

 ACCESS4EUNZ: currently under negotiation 

Activities to structure future research

 Diaspora – The European Commission and MoRST understand that the mobility of scientists is both necessary and beneficial to advancing research. However, whilst many would view this mobility as ‘brain drain’ from one country or region, we firmly believe that this ‘brain circulation’ would provide an excellent overseas resource if we knew more about them.

Therefore, FRENZ will carry out a survey of EU-NZ scientific Diaspora, addressing both Europeans in NZ and Kiwis in Europe to get a better picture of the motivations and conditions that encourage mobility and develop a better understanding of how this resource might be mobilized for collaborative research.

For more on the FRENZ Diaspora project, please click here.

Sandpits – These thematically based intensive workshops seek to identify the high-risk, high-return solutions to some of the problems that face the world today. Based on a model developed by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the FRENZ project aims to bring together NZ and European researchers to take the first steps in identifying truly novel, interdisciplinary approaches to today’s big issues.

A flyer of FRENZ Services is available for download here.