EU applicants chase research funds

Scientists in the European Union's prospective new member states are keen to tap into the funding opportunities EU membership will bring, but many feel that obstacles are causing problems for them. This was a key conclusion of a conference in Romania recently (February12–13) to discuss the participation of the acceding and candidate countries (ACCs) in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), the EU's main source of centralized research funding.The conference in Bucharest was jointly organized by the European Commission (EC), the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research and Youth, and the Romanian Academy. Hugh Richardson, the European Commission's deputy director general of research, pointed out that in research, the enlargement of the European Union is already a reality, since candidate countries have been able to participate in EU-funded programs for some years. He emphasized, however, the need for these countries to improve their participation in FP6 through more and better quality proposals.There are more than 167,000 researchers in the 10 acceding countries due to join the European Union on May 1, 2004, and the three candidate countries lined up for membership at a later date. That is equivalent to about 20% of the researchers in existing member states, but the ACCs account for only 13% of funding proposals.Despite Richardson's call for better quality proposals, many scientists in the ACCs feel the funding system works against them. “Factors [determining] success are not the quality of the project, but accidental parameters, like the subjective opinion of the referee, perfect English, or being familiar with fashion at this moment… in Brussels,” Valdas Laurinavicius of the Lithuanian Institute of Biochemistry told The Scientist. He also complained that although the FP6 Programme is now well underway, “one of the main documents, [the] financial guidelines document of crucial importance for all applicants, is still in the draft stage.”Laurinavicius also feels that the EC needs to change the procedures so that the bidding process operates less like a “simple market in which only powerful groups win.” To support the EC's stated aim of fostering a cohesive European Research Area, he urged more special programs to promote the integration of the new countries into the EC research process. Special programs, however, are unlikely to be supported by scientists in existing member states, where the loudest refrain is that excellence should be the only criterion on which European funding is distributed. “The EC does much… but we still have problems that need a long-term approach,” Galia Angelova of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and moderator of the general debate at the conference, told The Scientist. She pointed out that scientists in many ACCs are struggling with low salaries, so many “need two jobs to survive.” But she is keen that all the countries should be considered individually and not be artificially grouped together. “The poorer countries, like Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, have different problems from, say, Hungary and the Czech Republic,” she added.She also advocated more self-help, saying: “It is clear that complaints do not help much and we have to be more active.” Laurinavicius also accepts that improvement will require a “reconstruction of the support” available within the ACCs themselves.Ivan Horvath of the Slovak Academy of Sciences told The Scientist that the major problems for the ACCs are “shortages of governmental financial resources for research, obsolete equipment, and a shortage of high-tech [industrial and] applied research units.” He said that FP6 offers “good and bright opportunities.” Delegates focused on ways to improve the organization of procedures for putting together proposals and disseminating information. They identified a key need for more professional assistance in writing proposals. They also highlighted the need to intensify the training of researchers and research administrators to allow them to understand and exploit the opportunities for funding.Correction: When originally published this article referred to Valdas Laurinavicius as Laurinavicius Valdas and also attributed Hugh Richardson to the European Union rather than the European Commission. The Scientist regrets these errors.

EU applicants chase research funds

Countries lined up to join the EU seek an easier path to their share of research cash

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