EURAXESS Africa Newsletter
Issue 2 Year 2021

Horizon Europe is open to researchers and innovators from around the globe teaming up with EU partners in preparing proposals. It will include dedicated actions to support and strengthen cooperation through multilateral initiatives.
 
As a strategic partner, the EU seeks to enhance cooperation with Africa to promote actions targeted at finding locally adapted solutions to challenges that are global in nature, but which often hit Africa hardest. The Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 includes around 40 topics with a budget of around EUR 350 million under Calls for Proposals that are particularly relevant for cooperation with Africa. This reflects the joint priorities as agreed at the EU–AU Research & Innovation Ministerial meeting in July 2020 and these are ‘Public Health’, ‘Green Transition’, ‘Innovation and Technology’, and ‘Capacities for Science and Higher Education’.
 
TheCalls for Proposals under the Africa Initiative in the first Work Programme of Horizon Europe can be found on the EU Funding & Tenders portal. More information on cooperation in research and innovation between the EU and Africa can be found here. 

The European Commission has published the first targeted calls for proposals for collaboration with African researchers. There are nine calls, of which four are open for submission, whilefive are forthcoming. The total budget planned for these activities is estimated at EUR 90 million for three coordination and support actions (CSA), five research and innovation actions (RIA), and one innovation action (IA).
 
For full information on the calls please consult either the Funding and Tenders portal by clicking the title of the call or the relevant Work Programme underthe Reference section on the Funding and Tenders portal.
 

Whether it is tackling climate change, health crises or marine pollution, global challenges require a global research and innovation (R&I) approach that is open, reciprocal and focused.
 
On 18 May 2021 the European Commission issued a Communication on its ‘Global Approach to Research and Innovation’, Europe’s strategy for international cooperation in a changing world, aimed at making our societies green, digital and healthy.
 
Science takes place in a complex geopolitical setting with often competing demands on scarce resources and time. To achieve the best results and avoid fragmented efforts, the EU pursues open, multilateral, and reciprocal engagement with international partners and associates. Its experience is that working together like this is the best way to tackle pressing global challenges. ‘Openness has always been a cornerstone in our cooperation with the rest of the world,’ remarked Margrethe Vestager, Executive VP for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, on the new Communication. ‘Our response to the pandemic has shown the benefits of more open science, of sharing data and results for the benefit of people in Europe and the rest of the world.’
 

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality.
 
The scheme also encourages researchers to work on research and innovation projects in the non-academic sector and is open to researchers wishing to reintegrate in Europe, to those who are displaced by conflict, as well as to researchers with high potential who are seeking to restart their careers in research.
 
Fellowships will be provided to excellent researchers exercising international mobility either to or between EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, as well as to non-associated Third Countries. Applications will be made jointly by the researcher and a beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sector.
 
Postdoctoral Fellowships can either take place in Europe (i.e. in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country) or in a Third Country not associated with Horizon Europe:

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe. The standard duration of these fellowships must be between 12 and 24 months.
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to European nationals or long-term residents who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. These fellowships require an outgoing phase of minimum 12 and maximum 24 months in a non-associated Third Country, and a mandatory 12-month return phase to a host organisation based in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country. 

 Specific eligibility conditions apply to MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships in the research areas covered by the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021–2025.

On 30 June 2021, the European Commission appointed Professor Maria Leptin as the next President of the European Research Council (ERC). Professor Leptin, who is currently the Director of EMBO (the European Molecular Biology Organization), will take on her new role on 1 October 2021, when President ad interim Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon will end his mandate. The new President joins the European Research Council at an important moment for its development. Over the entire long-term EU budget 2021–2027, the European Research Council is set to receive over €16 billion from Horizon Europe, an increase of 22% vis-à-vis Horizon 2020.
 
Professor Maria Leptin is a highly respected scientist working on developmental biology and immunology. She leads research groups at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), in Heidelberg. In 2010, she was appointed Director of EMBO.
 
More Information

• Biography of Professor Maria Leptin
• Press statement of the European Research Council
• Interview with Professor Maria Leptin

 

While Romania is probably best known for the legend of Dracula, it is much more than that. Think medieval towns, time-capsule villages, delicious cuisine, picturesque monasteries, virgin forests, majestic mountains, a blossoming art community, impressive landscape and, of course, high-quality education and excellent research facilities. The RDI system in Romania consists of 263 public R&D organisations (56 public universities, 46 national R&D institutes, 65 research institutes and centres of the Romanian Academy, and another 96 public research institutes and centres), as well as about 600 private companies declaring R&D activities. Meanwhile, the Network for Technology Transfer and Innovation (ReNITT) has around 50 specific organisations (technology transfer centres, technology information centres, technology and business incubators) and four science and technology (S&T) parks.

 

The RDI sector employs 43 973 people nationwide. This includes 18 249 (41.5 %) with a PhD or postdoctoral degree, 37 393 (85.0%) with a higher education degree, and the remaining 6 580 (15.0%) who possess secondary education certificates. The vast majority of Romanian R&D staff members (31 271 or 71.1%) are active in the public sector, while the remaining 12 406 (28.2%) work in privately owned institutions. Nearly threequarters (72%) of the employees work full time; 27 168 (61.8%) are categorised as researchers, 6 195 (14.1%) as technical staff, and the remaining 10 610 (24.1%) are listed as ‘other’.