The European Commission has published the new call of European Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) under the Marie S. Curie Actions Programme.

Object: The goal of Individual Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers (i.e. at the deadline for the submission of proposals, they must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least 4 years of full-time equivalent research experience) wishing to diversify their individual competence in terms of skill acquisition at multi- or interdisciplinary level through advanced training, international and intersectoral mobility.

Global Fellowships are composed of an outgoing phase during which the researcher spends 1 to 2 years on secondment to a partner organisation in a Third Country (TC), plus a mandatory 12-month return period to a host organisation (the beneficiary) located in a Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC).

The project proposals must be submitted by the host organization, represented by the future supervisor of the candidate, in liason with the researcher. All Marie S. Curie actions have a bottom-up approach, i.e. research fields are chosen freely by the applicants. The Experienced Researcher should write in the proposal a concrete plan of training-through-research at the host organisation’s premises. The action should aim to reach a realistic and well-defined objective in terms of career advancement (by attaining a leading independent position for example) or resuming a research career after a break. Training activities may include secondments to partner organizations (3-6 months).

Eligibility conditions:

- The applicant must be a national or long-term resident of the MS or AC. Long-term residents are researchers who spent a period of full-time research activity of at least 5 consecutive (without breaks in research) years in one or more MSs or ACs.

- The researcher must comply the mobility rule: s/he must not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the host organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the deadline for submission.

- Candidates may apply for one of the 8 scientific panels, according to the topic of their research proposal. These panels are: Chemistry (CHE), Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC), Economic Sciences (ECO), Information Science and Engineering (ENG), Environment and Geosciences (ENV), Life Sciences (LIF), Mathematics (MAT) and Physics (PHY).

- The benefiaciry (host institution where the return period will take place) must be localted in a MS or AC. The partner organisation (where the initial compulsory outgoing phase takes place) must be situated in a TC. Each partner organisation must include an up-to-date letter of commitment in the proposal.

Financial scheme:

The financial support for Marie S. Curie IFs takes the form of a grant covering up to 100% of the costs. Expenses (cost/month) covered include:

- Researcher costs: living, mobility and family allowances. (Living allowances will be adjusted through the application of a correction coefficient for the cost of living according to the country in which the host organisation is located.)

- Institutional costs: Research, training and networking costs; management and indirect costs.

Applicants are not required to calculate the amount of the estimated EU contribution. This will be automatically calculated from the information provided in the proposal (Part A) submitted.

Indicative budget of the IF-EF 2014: € 211.5 million.

Duration of the fellowships: 12-24 months (outgoing phase) + 12 months (return period).

Official deadline to submit proposals: September 11, 2014 (17:00h, Brussels time)

Further information: HERE

Guide for applicants: HERE