15 projects from the University of Padua are awarded a total of almost 3 million euros in Marie Curie research grants
06.02.2020
Almost 3 million euros from Europe for research awarded to the University of Padua.
Conducted under the banner of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, the University of Padua is thus associated as being an international pole of excellent research. Ranked first in Italy in the Evaluation of Research Quality (VQR ANVUR) our University offers a wide range of possibilities for those who want to undertake research activities in pursuit of innovative ideas.
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships are research grants aimed at funding research training and career development by supporting their international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility (this year the European Commission has allocated 296,490,000 million euros). These grants are part of the Horizon 2020 call, intended to finance research projects or actions aimed at scientific and technological innovation that bring a significant impact on the lives of European citizens.
The Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) are singular fellowships lasting between 12 and 36 months that finance the transnational mobility of promising researchers.
On February 4, 2020, The European Commission announced the winners of the 2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019).
This year Padua has received excellent result with as many as 15 projects that will receive European funding for a total of € 2,978,051. This is a number that has steadily increased since the first edition of the call in 2014. In 2018, 11 scholarships were funded while in 2017, 9 scholarships, and in 2016, 4 scholarships were funded. Of these, 10 were Standard European Fellowships, 1 was a Career Restart Panel for scientists who want to pick-up their research career after a break, 1 was a European Reintegration Grant for those who want to return to Europe after conducting their research in a Third World country, and 3 were Global Fellowships which are distributed over a period of 1 to 2 years to institutions located in a Third World countries.
The success achieved is a witness to the strategic investment of the University in initiatives that support the attraction of Padua for first-class research in Italy as well as internationally, which the University supports along with its participating European competitors.
For the Marie Curie call (H2020 - MSCA - IF), the University of Padua organizes the MaRaThon@Unipd, an intensive three-day training course aimed at potential candidates for the Marie Curie Individual Fellowships scholarships who choose Padua as the research site. Each spring, the selected participants meet current research groups at the University, learn about their research infrastructures and take part in specific training learning the most effective ways to submit their application.
In addition to the 15 funded projects, another 18 projects scored "above the threshold" (≥ 85/100), and while being recognized as of excellent quality, could not be financed due to the limitations of the budget available in the program. To these 18 projects, the European Commission has symbolically recognized a seal of excellence called "Seal of Excellence - MSC Actions" and the University of Padua will offer an alternative funding opportunity through the MSCA Seal of Excellence@Unipdinitiative, the first of its kind in Italy.
Under this program research with high potential are funded with a loan of € 50,000 per year under the MSCA - IF Calls from 2017 to 2020 and with the University as Host Institution, "Seal of Excellence - MSC Actions" award. Researchers who choose to present a project with the University of Padua and receive the ‘seal’ are offered a research grant and funds to cover research, training and networking expenses, encouraging the participation of promising researchers in the MSCA-IF call (Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions - Individual Fellowships)
Among the 15 awardees, 9 participated in Marathon 2019 initiative (MSCA MARaThoN 2019 -Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - MAster your Research and Training Needs). This is an excellent result for those who designed the research policies of the University and for those who implemented them.
The International Research Office is available to support all researchers and supervisors interested in participating.
The edition of the MSCA MARaThoN@University of Padova 2020 will be re-launched in May 2020 (13-15 May).
The photo includes a group of participants in the MaRaThon @ Unipd 2019 initiative (9 of them winners of the MSCA - IF call)
