Research bodies in 10 European countries will allow scientists to take grant money with them when they move between their nations, according to a letter of intent announced in November by the German Research Foundation (DFG). It had been signed at a recent meeting of European Heads of Research Councils (EUROHORC) in Lisbon. DFG President Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker currently holds the rotating presidency of EUROHORC.
Signatories included the leaders of two research organizations each from the United Kingdom and Belgium, and one each from Spain, Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and Portugal.
Christoph Mühlberg, head of the DFG's section for international cooperation in western Europe, says that another six to eight organizational heads are expected to sign the letter by the end of the year. Twenty-one European nations are represented in EUROHORC by 42 organizations. Not all member organizations provide grants, so they do not need to...