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.

European Individual Fellowships provide opportunities to acquire and transfer new knowledge and to work on research in a European context (EU Member States and Associated Countries), within organizations of the academic and non-academic sectors that must be represented by a fellow supervisor (different from the researcher candidate).

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).

European Individual Fellowships categories:

a) STANDARD EUROPEAN FELLOWSHIPS: mobility of experienced researchers from any country to the Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC) of the host institution (the beneficiary).

- The researcher may be of any nationality: researchers either coming to Europe or moving within Europe.

- The researcher must comply the standard 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).

b) CAREER RESTART PLANEL (CAR): specific multidisciplinary panel which provides financial support to individual researchers who want to resume research in Europe after a career break (i.e. must not have been active in research for at least 12 months immediately prior to the deadline for submission of proposals).

- The researcher may be of any nationality: researchers either coming to Europe or moving within Europe.

- The researcher must comply with the CAR mobility rule: s/he must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of his/her host organisation for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately prior to the deadline for submission.

- Although included in the CAR panel, the applicant will have to indicate at submission stage in which of the 8 scientific areas (CHE, SOC, ECO, ENG, ENV, LIF, MAT or PHY) their proposal best fits.

c) REINTEGRATION PLANEL (RI): specific multidisciplinary dedicated to researchers who want to return and reintegrate in a longer term research position in Europe.

- 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 with the RI mobility rule: s/he must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of his/her host organisation for more than 36 months in the 5 years immediately prior to the deadline for submission.

- Although included in the RI panel, the applicant will have to indicate at submission stage in which of the 8 scientific areas (CHE, SOC, ECO, ENG, ENV, LIF, MAT or PHY) their proposal best fits.

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.

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

Further information: HERE

Guide for applicants: HERE