An initiative that will foster international collaboration between top Brazilian and European Research Comission (ERC)-funded researchers was launched in Brussels on Oct. 13.

The Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, and the President of the Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies (CONFAP), Sergio Luiz Gargioni, signed the deal in the presence of Prof. Klaus Bock, ERC Vice-President. This agreement is set to encourage young Brazilian scientists to join ERC-grantees’ research teams, conducting frontier research across Europe.

On the occasion of the signing, Commissioner Moedas said “The agreement signed today is happy news for global science cooperation and very much in line with our strategy ‘Open to the World’. Top science is inherently international and this initiative will encourage this mind-set further. Young Brazilian talent can join forces with grantees of the European Research Council across Europe, which will help to push their research further and give them the opportunity to gain international experience. It will clearly benefit both the European teams and the bright minds coming from Brazil.” Prof. Klaus Bock also welcomed the initiative: “We are very pleased with this new addition to the many international initiatives launched with our counterparts around the globe over the last few years. It is clear to the ERC that scientific talent needs to interact and work closely together. Scientific exchange as top level is extremely valuable and may well lead to further scientific advancements which will benefit all.”

Background

The agreement (so called ‘implementing arrangement’) resonates with the overall “ERC – is Open to the World” strategy. The ERC awards grants to researchers of all nationalities if they undertake their projects in the countries of the European Research Area (ERA) that includes EU Member States and Associated Countries. It is important to enhance awareness of such possibilities among non-European researchers and to facilitate them in joining an ERC-funded project.

The signed agreement thus has as its goal to enable Brazilian top researchers to undertake research visits and cooperate with ERC-supported teams in the ERA. It is also a step forward on the implementation of the EU – CELAC Common Research Area, focusing on researchers’ mobility. The first initiative of this kind was signed in July 2012 with the US (National Science Foundation, NSF) to provide opportunities for NSF researchers to join ERC-funded teams. This was followed by similar agreements with South Korea (National Research Foundation of Korea, NRF) in November 2013, Argentina (National Scientific Technical Research Council, CONICET) in March 2015, Japan (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS) in May 2015, China (National Natural Science Foundation of China, NSFC) in June 2015, South Africa (National Research Foundation, NRF) in October 2015 and Mexico (Mexican National Council of Science and Technology, Conacyt) in November 2015. Set up by the European Union in 2007, the European Research Council is the first European funding organisation for excellent frontier research.

Read Gargioni’s speech in the cerimony

Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run five-year-projects based in Europe. The ERC also strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come to Europe. To date, the ERC has funded some 6,500 top researchers at various stages of their careers. On average, ERC grantees employ around six team members during their ERC project. An estimate shows that some 18% of these team members are nationals from countries outside Europe. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council, and, since January 2014, the ERC President is Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon. The ERC has a budget of over €13 billion and is part of the EU research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020, for which European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas is responsible.

Source: ERC

Professors Elison Matioli, Gargioni, Moedas e Klaus Bock.