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ESF greets and welcomes you in Obergurgl!

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www.esf.org Dr. Aigars Ekers ESF-EUROCORES Coordinator PESC - Physical and Engineering Sciences Unit ESF and its instruments ESF Conference Quantum Engineering of States and Devices Obergurgl, Austria, 5 - 10 June 2010 2

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www.esf.org Outline What is ESF? What are the ESF instruments? 3

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www.esf.org ESF in Setting Science Agendas for Europe European Science Foundation provides a common platform to its Member Organisations in order to: advance European research explore new directions for research at the European level ESFs purpose to serve the needs of European research community in a global context through a range of activities ESFs values: excellence, openness, responsiveness, pan- European, ethical awareness and human values. 4

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www.esf.org ESF Member Organisations ESF is an independent association of 79 Member Organisations research funding organisations research performing organisations academies and learned societies in 30 countries 5

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www.esf.org About ESF Established in 1974 Offices in Strasbourg, Brussels, Ostend ESF budget: 58M in 2009 including COST Staff: equivalent to 170 full time in 2009 including COST Office ESF headquarters, Strasbourg Marine Board, Ostend Research Conferences Unit,15 th floor and COST, 21 st floor, Tour Generali, Brussels 6

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www.esf.org ESF covers all scientific domains Standing Committee domains Humanities Social Sciences Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences Medical Sciences Physical and Engineering Sciences Expert Board/Committee domains Marine Sciences Polar Sciences Space Sciences Radio Astronomy Nuclear Physics Materials Science and Engineering 7

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www.esf.org Exploratory Workshops Member Organisation Fora Science Policy Briefings Research Conferences Research Networking Programmes Forward Looks Implementing agent for the COST office through EC contract Strategic Plan 2006-2010 Coordination of ERA projects Peer Review support Coordination of EUROHORCs projects EUROCORES Research Programmes ESF Activities SCIENCE STRATEGY SCIENCE SYNERGY SCIENCE MANAGEMENT 8

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www.esf.org Open Calls for Proposals ESF issues annual calls for proposals for: Exploratory Workshops Research Conferences Research Networking Programmes EUROCORES themes and projects www.esf.org/calls 9

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www.esf.org Range of Instruments Funding available to researchers Exploratory Workshops Conferences RNPs EUROCORES Funding level Number of researchers per instrument 1030100 15 k 100 k 1 m 10

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www.esf.org 11 Forward Looks Medium to long-term scientific perspectives Multidisciplinary topics viewed at a European level Bring together scientists with policy makers Wide consultation Result in major reports and action plans www.esf.org/flooks

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www.esf.org 12 Address science policy issues of key concern to the ESF Member Organisations and the wider scientific community Draw on the advice and expertise of researchers Provide consensus on strategy recommendations to policy makers www.esf.org/spb Science Policy Briefings

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www.esf.org 13 Small specialist think-tank meetings Bottom-up topics based on open calls To determine next necessary steps in the development of new topics Should catalyse significant and/or strategic activities 25-30 scientists involved ESF grant per event: 15k Annual calls open beginning of March with deadline end of April www.esf.org/workshops Exploratory Workshops

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www.esf.org 14 Networking to enable major scientific endeavours over a four- to five-year period Supported by Member Organisations according to interest Typically include workshops, conferences, exchange visits, summer schools and dissemination Can link to other initiatives, including the EC Framework Programme Financing in the range of 100k-130k per year 6,500 participants per year in 45-50 programmes For new programmes starting January 2012 call opens on July 1, 2010 with deadline on October 14 www.esf.org/programmes Research Networking Programmes

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www.esf.org 15 Research Conferences Cover the latest topics, proposed by the scientific community and aimed at its benefit Stimulate dialogue between early-stage researchers and established scientists Full organisational support by ESF conference organisers 4-5 day events, 20-25 invited speakers, up to 120 selected participants Grants of 20-60k per conference, including support earmarked for early-stage researchers Conference Chairs select participants and may distribute grants to young researchers www.esf.org/conferences

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www.esf.org 16 Research Conferences www.esf.org/conferences 25-45 conferences per year in 10 scientific domains: Basic Science Global Change Research Biomedicine Humanities & Social Sciences Chemistry Life Sciences: Biology+ Mathematics Environmental Sciences Global Health Physics/Biophysics & Environmental Sciences Calls for 2012 conferences15 September Calls for 2012 conferences is open with deadline 15 September

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www.esf.org European-scale bottom-up collaborative research scheme in all scientific disciplines Topics for new EUROCORES submitted by scientists, peer- reviewed and recommended by ESF standing committees Topics with sufficient support from national funding agencies developed in new EUROCORES programmes in an open call procedure Research funding remains national, networking & coordination via ESF Typical EUROCORE: up to 80 research groups arranged in 5-15 collaborative research projects; budget 510M over 3 years Annual calls for new topics (called Themes) open 1 March with deadline end of May www.esf.org/eurocores EUROCORES EUROCORES (European Collaborative Research Programmes) 17

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www.esf.org No EUROCORES: spontaneous national research events EUROCORES: coherent transnational research effort Objective: to achieve major advances of cutting-edge topics and ensure a leading position of European research Topics: bottom-up, all disciplines Preconditions: hot topics and critical mass of researchers to achieve a breakthrough Selection criteria: scientific quality, strategic importance Mechanism: synchronous launch of national projects; reinforced collaboration and networking EUROCORES Vision 18

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www.esf.org EUROCORES structure (in ideal case a complete graph) Individual research groups national funding Research and networking activities within CRPs individual project budget Programme coordination and networking across the CRPs ESF (programme N&C budget) CRP5CRP2 CRP4CRP3 CRP1 EUROCORES Programme EUROCORES-wide networking: conferences, workshops, schools, exchange visits, dissemination 19

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ESF wishes you a productive event and welcomes future applications!