After four full days devoted to genomics, epigenomics and other kinds of -omics, together with the role of environment and microenvironment in cancer, I spent the last lunch break at the 21st EACR meeting listening to a lovely Dutch lady, Elisabeth Schermer, coming all the way from Brussels to Oslo to present young researchers with opportunities offered by the Marie Curie Actions within the 7th Framework Programme (FP7).

Schermer's youngest son – apparently not so happy that mum would be away- asked her why she had to travel so far from home to explain in person something that he thought could be done on the internet. Dr Schermer's son is, indeed, partly right, as many things can be done on the internet, or by phone. The Icelandic volcanic ash has been the most recent demonstration at the AACR meeting in DC last April, when many speakers from Europe did not make it overseas due to the ash cloud and had to give their talks on the phone. But Dr Schermer's was also partly right in wanting to come in person to Oslo, as for sure the hour I spent listening to the workshop devoted to grant opportunities in Europe was incredibly useful, an opinion I think was shared by the several other researchers that preferred eating their sandwiches inside, instead that lying on the grass and enjoying the  Norwegian sun at its zenith. Not only discussion directly with Dr Schermer and prompted by the questions of many researchers turned out to be much more valuable than a google search, but also the overview provided by Dr Schermer helped us disentagle among the many different types of actions and fellowships for all kinds of disciplines that are covered under the big umbrella called “Marie Curie Actions”. For instance, there are fellowships aimed at initial training of researchers (ITN), fellowships aimed at life-long training and career development, industria-academia fellowships and individual driven grants for outgoing researcher, for reintegrating researcher and for staff exchanges. 

Among all these opportunities, I am now briefly going to describe the grants available for outgoing and reintegrating researchers, which I believe are the most relevant for young European researchers which possess a PhD and are ready to spend a period abroad. For the other kinds of grants within the FP7 program, calls for proposals can be read and are periodically announced on the CORDIS website (http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/index.htm ), even though you may have to spend some time navigating it in order to familiarize with it. Alternatively, you may download the pdf brochure which provides an overview of research funding through the Marie Curie Action at the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/home_en.html

IOF is the acronym standing for “International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development” and it refers to fellowships aimed at offering European researchers the opportunity to be trained and to acquire new knowledge in a third country, and then to come back to their home organisation or another organisation in the EU. In order to apply, candidates must possess a doctoral degree or have at least 4 years full-time equivalent research experience. Eligible candidates can belong to all areas of scientific and technological research without limitations. Financial support will be provided for a period of up to three years, including an initial outgoing phase (1-2 years) followed by a mandatory reintegration phase. Therefore, Marie Curie IOFs provide researchers with the unique opportunity to gain experience and knowledge abroad, while also offering a most valuable help in bringing this knowledge back home, avoiding the infamous brain drain that has characterised Europe in favor of US in the last decades.

Dr Schermer concluded her talk encouraging researcher not to be afraid to risk in their career, referring to risk failing a fellowship, risk missing an opportunity for research, or risk missing all other kind of opportunities in life. “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood”, as Marie Curie put it.

Once back in Brussels, we could suggest Dr Schermer another quote by Marie Curie that she could use with her youngest son, in case he were still having a hard time understanding why mum had to be away from home for work: “I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy” (http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/marie_curie.htm).