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PPMI to study international cooperation in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

19 Oct 2018

News
PPMI to study international cooperation in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

The European Commission’s DG for Education and Culture has recently contracted PPMI to study international cooperation in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).

The MSCA provide grants for mobile researchers at all stages of their careers – be they doctoral candidates or highly experienced researchers – and encourage transnational, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility. In the context of this study, international cooperation will be understood as cooperation with third countries, i.e. non-EU countries and countries not associated to Horizon 2020.

Horizon 2020 and the MSCA in particular has a goal to be ’Open to the World’.  In case of the MSCA, the fact that researchers from any place in the world can participate in the programme means, among other things, the opportunity to attract the best scientific minds to Europe. This, in turn, will ensure that Europe is a leading place in the world when it comes to developing innovations and scientific discoveries that influence the future of our planet and contribute to solving major societal and environmental challenges of our times.

Our study will take stock and gather evidence on the structure and impacts of international cooperation within the MSCA. To give just a few examples, we will provide answers to the following questions:

  • What are the main drivers of international cooperation with third countries in the MSCA and how is it structured?
  • What are the benefits/ added value and what are the main obstacles of such cooperation?
  • In how far have MSCA projects with third-country participation helped to support the EU in attracting and retaining leading talent across the globe?
  • In how far and according to which criteria should a prioritisation of the MSCA collaboration with third countries take place?
  • What are the main recommendations for embedding MSCA priorities into the overall EU policies for international people-to-people contacts, R&I collaboration and science diplomacy?

We are excited to implement the first ever in-depth study of this important topic.

For more information about the study, please contact Mantas Pupinis.