http://www.ukro.ac.uk

2nd stage proposal writing session for Marie Curie ITNs

Cecilie Hansen and Nicholas HarrapUK National Contact Point for MCAs mariecurie-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

Science and Technology Facilities Council

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Economic and Social Research Council

Medical Research Council

Natural Environment Research Council

Arts and Humanities Research CouncilU

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…promotes effective UK participation in EU-funded research programmes, higher education

programmes, and other related activities…

UKRO’s Aim

Based in Brussels, UKRO:

Provides early insight and briefing;• Disseminates EU funding opportunities; • Provides high quality guidance and training;• Exchanges information between the UK and EU

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UKRO Services include…

- Website with information on programmes, FAQs and Guidance http://www.ukro.ac.uk

- Information services – email updates (& searchable database) http://ims.ukro.ac.uk

- Enquiry service - Annual visit from an UKRO European Advisor- Specialist training courses and information events- Annual conference for European officers

- Meeting room in Brussels

- National Contact Point (Marie Curie and ERC)-- Monthly publication - British Council ‘RTD Insight’

Marie Curie NCP - helpdesk

• Web, email, telephone, visits• Advice on applying for MC actions:

• Eligibility• Application help• Results• Contractual issues

• Advice to those with MC contracts:• Social security and tax• Model agreements between host and fellow• Contractual issues

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Outline of the session

• General Introduction• Understanding the submission process• Writing your proposal

- S & T Quality - Training/Transfer of Knowledge - Implementation - Impact

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http://www.ukro.ac.uk

Understanding the submission process

Cecilie Hansen and Nicholas HarrapUK National Contact Point for MCAs mariecurie-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

Key documentsFP

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Call Fiche Focus“People” Work ProgrammeGuide for Applicants Preparation &

submissionEPSS GuideRules on Submission and Evaluation, Guide for Evaluators

Background

Model grant agreementFinancial, negotiation, reporting and IPR guidelinesFP7, “People” Specific Programme TextOther policy documents e.g. Mobility Strategy, “Charter and Code”

Technicalities of proposal submission

• Part A and Part B• Electronic submission – same password and

username• EPSS up and running from early August

onwards• Deadline is 17:00 Brussels time on Monday

25th September 2007

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Approaching your proposal writing

• Note the different weightings (impact on overall score)

• 60% to be rejected (40% accepted)• At least one of the evaluators will be the same

as in the first round • Talk to the Project Officer if unclear comments

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Approaching your proposal writing

• “The first two criteria already assessed at stage 1 will be re-evaluated taking into account the more elaborated text of the full proposal”

• Keep Guide for Applicants, ESR and evaluation criteria incl explanatory notes in front of you

• Consider and address issues in the letter to proposers

• Ask a colleague to read it through – do they understand it?

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General points on a good proposal

• Meet the deadline• Characteristics of success/failure

• 90%+ well detailed, excellent and clear training programme and great science of clear EU wide benefit and potential in a new area

• 80-90% good project, lacking some detail on training, evaluating output

• 70-80% Some obvious omissions, consortium design needs adjusting, some science issues not addressed, concerns over transfer of knowledge

• 60-70% Serious omissions, lack of detail, poor management plans, no milestones, consortium partners too similar

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ITNs: A reminder

“Marie Curie ITNs are aimed at improving the career perspectives of researchers who are in the first five years of their career by offering structured training in well defined scientific and /or technological areas as well as providing complementary skills and exposing researchers to other sectors including private companies.”

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ITNs: A reminderFP

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• An ITN aims to : • Strengthen Early Stage Training at EU level

Attract people to scientific careers• Improve career perspectives by development of broad

skills (including needs of industry)• By:

• Offering a series of fellowships to ESR and EXR through a Joint Training Programme including complementary skills modules

• As an option, hold short training events open to researchers outside the network

• As an option, recruit ‘visiting scientists’ • Defined scientific fields as well as inter-disciplinary, new

and emerging supra-disciplinary fields

Who participates in an ITN?FP

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• An ITN has both industrial and academic partners. Industry must be in involved at one of three levels:• As a full partner• Provider of specific training or secondment

opportunities• On the Advisory Board

• An ITN must have• Coherent quality standards and mutual recognition of

training/ diplomas

Who can you recruit to an ITN?FP

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• An ITN supports researchers: • With up to 5 years FTE • From all over the world• For periods of 3 - 36 months (ESRs)• For periods of 3 – 24 months (EXRs)

• As well as visiting scientists (optional)• To carry out teaching and supervisory work• For a period of at least 1 month

The size of an ITN

• The size of the network should reflect your needs and the aim of the project, but• Indicative number of partners (Guide for Applicants):

6 – 10

• FP6 indicative number of researcher months:EST: 72 – 999 (average 300) (last call)

• 80/20 EST / ER split

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ITNs – key issues

• Ratio ESR/ER:- ‘The total amount of ESRs and ERs should be

reasonable and in line with what is recommended in the Guide for Applicants’ (80/20)

• Visiting Scientists:- Exceptional and duly justified in the context of the

training programme• Conferences:

- ‘should be proportionate to the proposed research training programme’

- ‘is an opportunity for the recruiter researchers to exchange knowledge with more experienced researchers from outside the network’.

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ITNs – key issues

• Role of the Visiting Scientists• Addressed under training & impact

• Industrial participation• Addressed under all four criteria

• Conferences and events• Addressed under training, implementation, impact

Aspects that are assessed under more than one evaluation criteria will count under each of these criteria

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http://www.ukro.ac.uk

ITNs – the evaluation process

mariecurie-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

Planning your proposal writing

In planning, have an understanding of:

1. Overall objective of an ITN2. All 4 criterion: science, training, implementation and

impact3. Financial issues4. Role of participants

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Weightings and thresholds for ITNs

Weighting Threshold

Scientific quality of the project

Stage 1: 50%Stage 2: 30%

3

Training and/or TOK activities

Stage 1: 50%Stage 2: 30%

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Implementation Stage 2: 20% 3

Impact Stage 2: 20% n/a

Overall threshold of 70% applies

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S & T Quality criteria Weighting 30% (stage 2), threshold 3/5

• S&T objectives of the research programme, including in terms of inter/multi-disciplinary, intersectoral and/ or newly emerging supra-disciplinary fields

• Scientific quality of the research programme • Appropriateness of research methodology• Originality and innovative aspect of the

research programme • Knowledge of the state-of-the-art

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S & T Quality tips

• Science is well specified and relevant• Cutting edge research – setting it apart from

the competition and clear• Each specific aim is well supported• Innovative element is clear• Clear potential of the research• Size of network • References • Unclear research methodologies

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Training criteriaWeighing 30%, threshold 4/5

• Quality of the training programme; • Consistency with the research programme • Complementary skills offered: Management,

Communication, IPR, Ethics, Grant writing, Commercial exploitation of results, Research Policy, entrepreneurship, managing projects, etc. .

• Importance and timeliness of the training needs (e.g. multidisciplinary, intersectoral , and newly emerging supra-disciplinary fields)

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Training criteria

• a) For multi-site proposals: Adequate combination of local specialist training with network-wide training activities

• b) For mono-site proposals: Adequate exploitation of the international network of the participants for the training programme

• Appropriateness of the size of the requested training programme with respect to the capacity of the host

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Quality of training - tips

• Impact of training is clear, including for both short and long term fellowships

• Training programme is clear and well described• Profile of researchers well described• Several methods of training• Detailed and exhaustive (credible activities)• Detail on collaborations between ESR and ER• Flexible, adaptable and well monitored• Balance of training across partners• Conferences and training courses part of

training package

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Quality of training - tips

• Training in research methods and techniques• Personal Development Plan• Complementary skills training – ethics, research management• Transferable skills training – cf Roberts • Graduate School Provision – including RC courses• Conferences, seminars, public fora etc• Any other suggestions?

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Implementation criteria Weighting 20%, threshold 3/5

• Capacities (expertise / human resources / facilities /infrastructure) to achieve the research and adequate task distribution and schedule

• Appropriateness of industry involvement • Adequate exploitation of complementarities

and synergies among partners in terms of research and training

• Non-ICPC participation – essential to the objectives of the research training programme?

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Implementation criteria

• Appropriateness of the overall management of the training programme (responsibilities, rules for decision-making)

• Networking and dissemination of best practice among partners. Clarity of the plan for organising training events (workshops, conferences, training courses)

• Clarity of recruitment strategy (incl timetable)• Competitive international recruitment• Equal opportunities• Coherence with ‘Code of conduct for recruitment of

researchers’

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Implementation tips (1)

• Describe capacities of each host – research expertise, human resources, facilities and infrastructure• Have you justified the number of researcher months

applied for, and demonstrated that you have the capacity (research expertise, human resources, facilities and infrastructure) to implement the project?

• Work Plan: task distribution, milestones, deliverables, schedule

• Industry involvement • Letter of support, industry at highest possible level?

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Implementation tips (2)

• Information on key scientific staff, three most significant recent publications

• Outline the financial management strategy, relevant project management experience

• Management structure: coordination, communication and monitoring progress• Role of supervisory board, consortium agreement,

communication and decision-making mechanisms • IPR protection

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Impact criteria Weighting 20%, no threshold

• Contribution of the proposed training programme to the career prospects of the fellows

• Provision to establish longer term collaborations and/or lasting structured training programme between the partners’ organisations, including between private and academic partners

• Where appropriate, justification of the training events open to external participants and their integration in the training programme

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Impact criteria

• Where appropriate, mutual recognition of the training acquired by multi-partner hosts

• Where applicable, relevance of the role of the visiting scientist with respect to the training programme

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Impact tips (1)

• Benefits of the training project:• At the level of the individual researcher:

• Enhance researchers’ capacity to progress in research, communicate across disciplines & sectors

• At the level of the participating institutions: • Foster existing / create new collaborations

• At the level of European research • Cutting edge research, interdisciplinary, e.g. European

Competitiveness, the European Research Area

European Charter and Code

• European Charter for Researchers addresses:• Roles and responsibilities• Entitlements • of researchers and their employers or funding

organisations. • Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of

Researchers aims to:• improve recruitment and make selection procedures

fairer and more transparent• proposes different means of judging merit

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European Charter and Code

• The RCUK/UUK provided a UK HE sector analysis of the European Charter and Code against current UK guidelines and employment law

• The analysis indicates there are no major barriers to UK HEIs wishing to adopt the Charter and Code in a more formal way,

• Advise acknowledging adherence to the Charter and Code in all applications

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Links

• UK National Contact Point for Marie Curie• http://www.ukro.ac.uk/mariecurie

• CORDIS• http://cordis.europa.eu/mariecurie-actions/

• The Charter and the Code• http://europa.eu.int/eracareers/europeancharter/• UK HE Sector analysis:

http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/news/gapanalysis.htm• European Researchers’ Mobility Portal

• http://ec.europa.eu/eracareers/index_en.cfm

• Marie Curie Vacancies• http://mc-opportunities.cordis.lu/

• Queries• mariecurie-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

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ITNs- additional information

Cecilie Hansen and Nicholas HarrapUK National Contact Point for MCAs mariecurie-uk@bbsrc.ac.uk

Definition of Fellow’s Allowances• These are all flat rates• Living

• Basic salary • Varies according to research experience

• Mobility • Relocation costs • Varies according to family situation

• Travel • Every 12 months travel from location of origin to fellowship location

• Career exploratory• Fellowships at least one year to spend on career development

activities

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Community Contribution - ITNs

• Includes: • Salary costs (living, mobility, travel and career

exploratory allowance) • Contribution to research costs, networking and

organisation of conferences• Contribution to management costs• An overhead

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Researcher Salaries for ITNs

Experience Stipend(€/yr)

Employment contract (€/yr)

Early-Stage researchers

16,900 33,800

Experienced researchers (< 5yrs)

26,000 52,000

Visiting Scientist (4 - 10 yrs experience)

33,800 67,600

VS (> 10 yrs experience)

50,700 101,400

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Salaries are inclusive of all compulsory deductionsCorrection factor applied for cost of living (UK Coefficient 109.2%)

• Travel costs – depending on distance

€ 250 - €2500• Mobility allowance

Without family: €500 per monthWith family: €800 per month Correction factor applied for cost of living

• Career Exploratory allowance€ 2000 for stays of more than one year

• Training / research costs of eligible researchers • Lab-based research: € 600 per month• Non-lab-based research: €300 per month

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Benefits for the institution - ITN• Research Training• €600 (ITN) per month• Organisation of international conferences etc• €300 per researcher per day for those outside ITN• Management Activities

Multi-site: 7% of the total EC contribution Mono-site / twinning: 3% of the total EC contribution

• Contribution to overheads • 10% of direct costs except for subcontractors• Other types of eligible expenses • N/A

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