life and natural sciences
February, 2009
February, 2008
[Additional information on the IRSES scheme]
June, 2007
FRENZ NEWS
Upcoming FRENZ visits
Carole Glynn, FRENZ Director, will be travelling around NZ’s Universities and CRIs to discuss NZ participation in FP7 to date, and opportunities for researcher engagement with Europe in the coming months, such as Marie Curie Fellowships, and the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES). Confirmed dates are:
18 February 2009: Visit to UNITEC in Auckland from 10am-2pm. UNITEC researchers should contact Stephen Cox for further information: scox@unitec.ac.nz.
27 February 2009: Visit to the University of Waikato from 9.30am-3.30pm. Waikato researchers should contact Jan Bates for further information, or to arrange a one to one appointment: RGTY1014@waikato.ac.nz.
2 March 2009: Visit to Landcare Research in Lincoln from 1-2pm (time can be extended). Landcare Research staff should contact Diane O’Conner for further information, or to arrange a one to one appointment: OconnorD@landcareresearch.co.nz.
3 March 2009: Visit to the University of Canterbury from 9am-5pm. Canterbury researchers should contact Lisa Shorey for further information, or to arrange a one to one appointment: lisa.shorey@canterbury.ac.nz.
4 March 2009: Visit to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) in Christchurch from 9am-3.30pm. ESR researchers should contact Stephen On for further information, or to arrange a one to one appointment: Stephen.On@esr.cri.nz.
If you would like Carole to visit your organisation, please contact her at carole.glynn@frenz.org.nz for further information.
Website Updates
The FRENZ website has now been updated with fresh content and a new layout to help you find the information you need with ease. To ensure that you receive the latest information from FRENZ please subscribe to our new RSS feed. A calendar has also been added to website to provide users with an online diary of visits and events. The calendar can be viewed at:
http://www.frenz.org.nz/services_visits.html
Innovation Scoreboard published for 2008
The EC has just published the 2008 Innovation Scoreboard, which assesses innovation performance of countries across the Europe. The Scoreboard does show that Europe has some of the most innovating countries in the world. Finland, Switzerland and Sweden, for example, are cited as some of the world leaders in innovation. The scoreboard also finds that the gap between the best and worst performing EU Member States has narrowed, as has the gap between the EU and Japan/US. The study, however, does acknowledge that a significant gap remains. The study particularly welcomes progress in the EU on access to broadband and venture capital and the increased numbers of graduates from European universities. The Scoreboard tries to group countries together into one of four categories: the ‘innovation leaders’, which are Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark and the UK, have with innovation performance well above the EU average; the ‘innovation followers’ are Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, with a performance above the EU average; the ‘moderate innovators’ are Cyprus, Iceland, Estonia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, with innovation performance below the EU average; finally, the ‘catching-up countries’ are Malta, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, Romania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Turkey, where innovation performance is well below the EU average.
Further information:
The Innovation Scoreboard pages, which include links to Member State performances and comparisons with the U.S and Japan, are available at: http://www.proinnoeurope.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&topicID=437&parentID=51
R&D priorities of the 2009 Czech Presidency
The Czech Presidency of the EU started in January and runs until June 2009. During this period, the Presidency will focus on the following R&D priorities: research infrastructures; development of human resources in research and the development and mobility of researchers; the evaluation of results of investments into research and development; and the Ljubljana Process, which is the political agreement to achieve a true European Research Area (ERA). On the issue of research infrastructures, the Czech Presidency wishes to reach agreement on an EU-wide legal framework for a European Research Infrastructure (ERI). On the issue of the development and mobility of researchers, the key aim of the Presidency is to remove the barriers to the career development of young scientists. In relation to the evaluation of the results of investments into R&D, the Presidency will continue to stimulate the ex-post evaluation of FP6, but it will also focus on the preparation of FP7 mid-term evaluation. Finally, in relation to the Ljubljana Process, the Czech Presidency aims to initiate the discussion on how to implement this vision particularly in relation to Joint Programming.
Further information:
The website of the Czech Presidency is available at: http://www.eu2009.cz/en/
Formal adoption of the second phase of Erasmus Mundus
The decision to establish the second phase of the Erasmus Mundus programme (2009-2013) has been formally reached between the EP and the European Council and published in the Official Journal of the EU. There are three actions associated with the new programme: action one is for joint
masters and doctoral programmes, and a scholarship scheme; action two is for partnerships between European and non-European countries for structured cooperation, and exchange and mobility schemes; finally action three is for the promotion of European higher education through measures to
enhance the attractiveness of Europe as an educational destination. The Erasmus Mundus II programme is the joint responsibility of EC Directorate-Generals for Education and Culture, and EuropeAid – Cooperation Office. The new phase of the Erasmus Mundus Programme builds on the previous programme, which ran from 2004 - 2008. This original programme focused on the masters’ level and did not have support for the doctoral level which the new programme does.
Calls have been issued under the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window which aims at aims at mutual enrichment and better understanding between the EU and Third Countries. It is designed to foster institutional co-operation in the field of higher education between the EU and Third Countries through a mobility scheme addressing student and academic exchanges for the purpose of studying, teaching, training and research. This call is the third EM ECW call for proposals. The deadline for the submission of proposals is 13 March 2009 at the latest. The guidelines for grant applicants and the relevant application form are available at the following website: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/extcoop/call/index.htm.
Further information:
Further information on Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 is available at:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/static/en/mundus/erasmus_mundus_2009_2013_en.htm
FP6/FP7 Project Reporting/Financial statements - FORCE
The EC has launched a new, online system (FORCE) to allow FP6 and FP7 project coordinators to submit their Form C financial statements electronically. Part of the SESAM project management application suite, the system will be further developed to allow all partners to prepare and submit their financial statements online. At present, the FORCE system is option for FP6 projects, but is already mandatory for use in FP7 reporting.
Further information:
In both FP6 and FP7 project reporting, a financial statement must be submitted by each partner at the end of each period. This is normally done through the completion of the Form C (annex to the contract/grant agreement), with an accompanying Excel spreadsheet. However, the European Commission has just launched a new web based application, called FORCE, that allows coordinators to access, complete and submit forms C. It is expected that in later versions of the application, other partners will also be able to view, edit and print their own Form C).
For FP6 project: although it is still possible to submit Forms C through an excel sheet, it is highly recommended by the EC to use FORCE for financial statement submission from now on.
For FP7 projects: it is now mandatory to use the FORCE web-based application to submit Form C.
FORCE is accessible via the EC’s online reporting tool, SESAM, at http://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sesam To access FORCE, coordinators must create an account in SESAM and indicate the link to their project. FORCE is available for all FP7 projects managed by the Directorates-General Research (RTD) and Enterprise and Industry (ENTR). In Directorate-General Energy and Transport (TREN), FORCE should be also available in a near future.
It should also be noted that, due to internal operational reasons at the EC, the mechanism to access Form C is slightly different for Directorate-General Information Society (INFSO) projects. However the Form C is the same.
For any technical question on the use of FORCE, please send your request to the IT Helpdesk at the following E-mail address:
EC-FP7-IT-HELPDESK@ec.europa.eu
Education Co-operation with Industrialised Countries
The EU is investing €9.2 million for academic co-operation with industrialised countries in North America and Asia-Pacific. In addition to the launch of 24 innovative projects involving universities and training institutions between Europe and North America, 11 joint curriculum development and student mobility projects were agreed and launched with Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. The projects are jointly funded and supervised by the EC and partner country governments. The objective is to promote mutual understanding, transparency and quality in higher education and training, by setting up long-term institutional co-operation at bachelor's and master's level, allowing students from Europe and partner countries to have a unique experience studying abroad in a global context. The 35 projects launched this year involve 189 institutions and more than 2,000 student exchanges. The funding comes through calls for proposals under the EU-US Atlantis Programme, the EU-Canada programme and there are new joint projects with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Further Information
Further information on selected projects is set out in EC press release IP/08/1872, which is available at: http://europa.eu/rapid/
Further details about the programme can be found from: http://ec.europa.eu/education/index_en.htm
Several calls for proposals published
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Research has launched a number of calls for proposals under the 2008 and 2009 work programmes of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and under the 2009 work programme of the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme for Nuclear Research and Training Activities.
The calls address the following areas:
- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT);
- Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies;
- European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigators Grant;
- Marie Curie Co-Funding of Regional, National and International Programmes;
- Nuclear Fission and Radiation Protection;
- ERA-NET coordinated call (themes: Health; Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology; Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies; Environment (including climate change); Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities).
There are also two joint calls, combining the following themes:
- Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies/Environment (including climate change).
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/calls/
International Research Staff Exchange Scheme call for proposals launched
The European Commission's Directorate General for Research has published a call for proposals for the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES). The call is part of the 2009 People work programme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
The IRSES is a new type of action. It aims to strengthen research partnerships through staff exchanges and networking activities between European research organisations and organisations from countries with which the Community has a science and technology agreement or is in the process of negotiating one, and countries covered by the European Neighbourhood policy. It was first implemented in 2008.
While existing Marie Curie actions promote mobility of individual researchers, this new scheme is designed to establish or reinforce long-term research cooperation through a coordinated joint programme of exchange of researchers for short periods.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/calls/
Genomics in Business 2009
Explore the latest innovations and business strategies of genomics in the agro and food industry
April 19-21, 200,
Koepelchurch and Renaissance Hotel
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Main Topics:
Agro food industry and business models, enabling technologies that drive industry, plant based economy, food quality, safety and nutrigenomics, health products, new high throughput technologies - sequencing and screening, DNA diagnostics, plant breeding traits for the future.
Confirmed Keynote speakers:
Cynthia P. Schneider PhD, U.S.A. - Distinguished Professor in the practice of diplomacy, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Former US ambassador to the Netherlands.
Barbara J. Mazur PhD, U.S.A. - Vice President Research Strategy, Pioneer Hy-Bred International Inc.
Xiao-Ya Chen PhD, China - Professor, National Key Lab of Plant Mol. Genetics, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, SIBS, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Mark Mansour, U.S.A. - Partner, Bryan Cave LLP. Prof.dr. Arjen van Tunen, the Netherlands - CEO, Keygene N.V.
Other presenting companies:
RainDance Technologies Inc. - U.S.A..
Life Sciences Partners - the Netherlands, Unilever Research - the Netherlands.
Florigene PTY Ltd. – Australia.
Bayer CropScience SA – France.
Dow AgroSciences LLC - U.S.A.
Crop Design N.V. - Belgium.
For further details please email leon.mur@genomicsinbusiness2009.com or visit www.genomicsinbusiness2009.com.
Adoption of EU Maritime Transport Strategy 2018
The EC has adopted a Communication entitled ‘Strategic goals and recommendations for the EU's maritime transport policy until 2018’. The strategic plan presents measures in response to the impact of the world economic crisis in the shipping sector, and explores the continuous performance of the maritime transport system and its contribution to sustainable development, which in turn could help to limit the effects of climate change. The EU has the most strict maritime transport regulatory framework in the world. Trends need to be considered such as the economic slowdown and impact on seaborne trade, piracy, climate change and other environmental concerns, volatility in energy markets, ports' capacity and, above all, human resources. The EC's strategic review and proposed actions will be discussed with all relevant key stakeholders at a European conference in the first half of 2009 on the future of maritime transport and maritime professions in Europe.
Further Information:
EC press release AGENDA/09/1 of 9 January 2009 is available at: http://europa.eu/rapid/
New Database to Bring Stem Cell Researchers Together
A new database has been created as part of the European Federation for Systematic Stem Cell Biology (EuroSyStem), to help improve collaboration between stem cell researchers. The database is called Stemdirect, and is currently being developed. It will be available online for free. EuroSyStem is an FP7 funded project under the Health theme. The aim of the project is to interlink contemporary expertise and skills in stem cell research to drive forward progress in this area of research across Europe. To help achieve these aims, EuroSyStem is mapping stem cell activities across Europe to develop a smart contact database of active stem cell researchers. Stemdirect is aimed at helping researchers in the field to network with each other as efficiently as possible. The database will be available to the stem cell community and will feature both a quick search function and a more advanced search taking in specific research and expertise areas.
Further information:
To sign up for Stemdirect: www.stemdirect.net
Further information is available at: http://www.eurosystemproject.eu/
New Partner Search Tool for the EU Public Health Programme
The EC DG Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) has launched a new partner search tool for the EU Health Programme. The new partner search tool will be managed by the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC) (formally the Public Health Executive Agency (PHEA)) which is responsible for the implementation of the EU Health Programme and the EU Consumer Programme. The EU Health Programme gives much importance to ensuring that the funded projects involve diverse participants from different Member States. This is also an important criterion in the evaluation of the proposals and the award of the grants. If you are looking for a partner, you can use this search facility and just fill in the online form to announce on their website that you are looking for a project partner. You can also browse through the proposals already posted or check their project database and contact details of project partners. The tool has been launched ahead of the next call, which is expected in spring 2009.
Further information:
The partner search tool is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eahc/management/finding.html
Further information on the DG SANCO Public Health Programme is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_programme/pgm2008_2013_en.htm
EuroNanoForum 2009
The EuroNanoForum 2009 is a four day conference taking place from 2 - 5 June 2009 in Prague under the Czech Presidency of the EU. The theme of the conference will be ‘Nanotechnology for a sustainable economy’ and will aim to address several acute issues underlining sustainable development of European society and industry, such as the need for a reduction in carbon emissions and fossil fuels dependence, a substantial increase in energy and material efficiency, pollution control, clean water management and sustainable quality of life of the European citizen, all through the application of various nanotechnologies. The conference will comprise of a mixture of plenary and parallel sessions covering the whole range of nanotechnology themes.
Further information:
The conference website is available at: http://www.euronanoforum2009.eu/
EC Biodiversity Strategy on Invasive Species
The EC has released a Communication that puts forward a series of policy options for developing a strategy to deal with the species from abroad that pose a threat to European biodiversity. These foreign species are known as alien invasive species, one example is the Harlequin ladybird, originally from Asia, which is a threat to native ladybirds in the UK as well as butterflies and other insects. These invasive species can disrupt local flora and fauna, which can cause damage to the natural environment and human health. Controlling these species and repairing the damage is estimated to cost European economies at least €12 billion per year. Whilst some countries have legislation to protect their natural biodiversity there is no harmonised approach across the EU. The EC Communication proposes several options for a coordinated approach and also measure which can be put in place immediately, including a Europe-wide early warning system to report new and emerging species. Feedback from stakeholders and other EU institutions will be taken into account by the Commission in finalising its proposal for an EU strategy, which it intends to bring forward in 2010.
Further information
Further information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/index_en.htm
Tender: Studies and Pilot Projects for Carrying out the Common Fisheries Policy
The European Commission's Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has published a call for tenders on studies and pilot projects for carrying out the Common Fisheries Policy.
The tender involves four service contracts on a number of topics relating to the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy.
http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:000193-2009:TEXT:EN:HTML
[Additional information on the IRSES scheme]
The EC’s new ‘International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES)’ is a secondment scheme to link at least two independent (not linked) organisations in different European countries with at least one in a third country (e.g. New Zealand). Several individuals should be exchanged between Europe and New Zealand over 2-4 years, with each person moving for 1-12 months.
Although mainly intended for research staff, it is also possible to exchange technical staff and management, where appropriate. The scheme is intended to build organisational links through several exchanges, rather than just a one to one exchange of individuals. The programme is open to all areas of research related to the Framework Programme.
As a secondment activity, there is no funding from either the EC or MoRST for salaries or research costs. These are expected to be borne by the host organisations in a demonstration of their commitment to a sustainable research partnership.
The EC funding (25 million Euros for this call) supports researchers to come here from Europe, and the NZ (MoRST) counterpart budget supports researchers going from NZ to Europe. Overall, the exchange between Europe and NZ should be balanced. Transfers between the European groups are not funded at all from this scheme.
The EC funds the travel and subsistence of the Europeans going out of Europe at 1800 euros/month per fellow, adjusted according to the cost of living in the host country (eg in NZ it’s 89% of 1800 euros); and MoRST may contribute up to 3000 NZD per month plus 3000 NZD for a flight for NZ researchers going to Europe. This should allow the NZ researchers to have shorter stays in Europe since, if a flight between Europe and NZ is included in the T&S funding, a stay of at least 3 months would probably be required to allow the costs of the flight and living to be covered fully.
All of the information concerning this call for proposals can be downloaded from the European Commission’s website. The most important document that you will require is the Guide for Applicants, as this illustrates the format of the proposal, gives an indication of the evaluation process, and also outlines the rules for the partnerships themselves.
In essence, the proposal is in two parts: Part A contains the ‘administrative’ information about contacts, organisations, and an abstract for the project; and Part B provides a ‘free text’ description of the activities (limited to 20 pages) following a prescribed template. The Part B is normally prepared using a standard word processing package (e.g. Word) and then the document must be converted in a portable document format (pdf) file. Proposals are submitted electronically, with Part A prepared directly using the EC’s electronic proposal submission service and the Part B pdf file then uploaded to the system.
The proposal must be submitted by one of the European partners as the co-ordinator, not NZ.
There is no additional process to access the MoRST fund, other than sending a copy of your proposal to corey.wallace@morst.govt.nz. All proposals will be subject to the European Commission’s proposal evaluation process. MoRST will then be advised of those ‘successful’ ranked proposals that involve NZ, and an advisory group will meet to agree the distribution of the MoRST fund.
Researchers interested in this programme should contact FRENZ at the earliest opportunity.
On 26th May, the EC launched a call for tenders for a Study on the Economic Impact of Interoperable Electronic Health to support its eHealth Initiative.
Tenders may be of specific interest to NZ organisations since it is possible to fix a price for the work to be done: tenders are not subject to the reimbursement rules for normal FP7 grants. In addition, there is no obligation to be part of a consortium.
Tenders must be submitted by 13th August 2007.
The second call in the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology (FAB) theme (FP7-KBBE-2007-2A) was launched on 15th June 2007. With this call comes a new workprogramme and information package. Those intending to respond to the call should ensure that they have the correct documentation. Links to the information package and workprogramme are available from the FRENZ website.
This call offers a two stage application process. The deadline for stage one proposals is 11th September 2007, with those retained submitting the full proposal by 19th February 2008.
The second call for the Health theme (FP7-HEALTH-2007-B) was launched on 19th June 2007. With this call comes a new workprogramme and information package. Those intending to respond to the call should ensure that they have the correct documentation. Links to the information package and workprogramme are available from the FRENZ website. The deadline for proposals is 18th September 2007.
A new call for Infrastructures proposals - FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2007-2 - was lauched on 19th June 2007. With this call comes a new workprogramme and information package. Those intending to respond to the call should ensure that they have the correct documentation. Links to the information package and workprogramme are available from the FRENZ website. The deadline for receipt of proposals is 20th September 2007.