The recent initiative between the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and European Research Council (ERC) has been taken a step further since last summer. The agreement, which provides opportunities for early-career NSF researchers to join ERC-funded teams in Europe, seems to resonate with ERC grantees; just over 760 already showed great interest in hosting talent from the US.
ERC President Helga Nowotny commented: "
I am delighted to see such enthusiasm from our grantees to draw from the pool of talent in the
US. It is a win-win situation; ERC grantees will benefit from a new influx of talented NSF
researchers, and they in turn will gain further experience with leading scientists and their ERC
teams in Europe. This will stimulate 'brain circulation' and scientific exchanges across the
Atlantic. The agreement is the first of its kind, but we hope that it will be developed further and
that other global collaborations will follow."
"
We are delighted with the extremely positive response from the European research community to
this agreement," said NSF Director Subra Suresh.
"The United States and Europe will benefit from having our best and brightest working together
on international opportunities that have enormous potential for discovery and innovation, while
establishing a strong foundation for future collaborations."
In November last year, the ERC launched an expression of interest to ERC grantees, of which
some 760 answered positively to hosting NSF scientists. The majority of the interested ERC grantees
hold Starting Grants (485). They are based in 23 different countries in Europe, and hold 42
different nationalities. Amongst them, there are 24 US nationals who currently have ERC
grants.
The ERC has provided the final list of all participating grantees to the NSF and, in parallel,
the NSF has launched a call for expression of interest addressed to all eligible post-doctoral
fellows and CAREER awardees. In the course of this spring, a matching between ERC grantees and NSF
researchers will take place.
More information on
http://erc.europa.eu/.
18 Feb 2013