Scientists face new challenges as they bid for funding from the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), the main source of EU research funds. Launched in November, with the first calls for proposals published in December, FP6 puts ¤17.5 billion up for grabs between 2003 and 2006.
European scientists have always faced unique problems in getting EU funding: They must address trans-European political goals and present a convincing plan to do significant science. The new Programme would be "much more political than any of its predecessors," explained Hans-Olaf Henkel, president of Germany's Leibniz Association, during his keynote address at the FP6 launching. Bids for funding will need to address the grand aim of developing the European Research Area, in which nationalistic competition is diluted and replaced by trans-European cooperation.
When launching FP6, Philippe Busquin, EU's Commissioner for Research, admonished researchers that "more so than ever, we must 'think European.'" The ...
