European access restricted for up-and-coming researchers

Non-professorial academic staff are having a tough time of it at the moment. Research abroad is vital for post-doctoral students looking to pursue a career in academia. By proving themselves at another university and in an international environment, they expand their scientific network and skill set.

The European Research Area is highly important for up-and-coming researchers in Switzerland. In addition, the European Commission promotes the career development of up-and-coming researchers within their research framework programmes by providing special funding. Of particular importance are the external page Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) individual fellowships, which are aimed at researchers with a doctoral degree or at least four years’ research experience.

As these funded fellowships form part of the external page «excellent science» section of the Horizon 2020 EU framework programme, up-and-coming scientists also find themselves in a changed environment at present. Since the European Commission relegated Switzerland from associated-country to third-country status for its education and research programmes – initially for 2014 – the process of applying for EU funding has become even more challenging for post-doctoral and scientific staff in Switzerland.

Strong demand for information in a difficult situation

«The current situation is difficult for up-and-coming researchers. One has to be very familiar with the EU funding instruments and the relevant contacts,» says Sofia Karakostas, Co-Head of the information and advice centre EU GrantsAccess which offers advice and practical assistance to researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich who want to participate in international programmes. An information event organised by EU GrantsAccess together with external page Euraxess on Wednesday showed how great the demand is for information on specific options for participating in EU programmes. Euraxess is a European initiative which assists up-and-coming researchers in Europe with questions related to mobility and supports them in their career development.

Over 100 up-and-coming researchers from both Zurich universities used the opportunity to obtain first-hand information: «The EU continues to offer funding opportunities to researchers in Switzerland, but they have to invest more time in the search and selection process,» explains Kamila Partyka, who is responsible for the Research Careers dossier at the European Commission and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie funding programmes.

As a mobility programme, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie funded fellowships are, as a rule, available to all nationalities including, in principle, researchers in Switzerland. This is particularly relevant for the European Fellowships, which are open to applications from post-doctoral students and researchers at ETH or the University of Zurich who are planning to spend some time at a university in an EU member state or associated country. The identity of the host university at which they want to do their research must already be fixed when they submit their application. However, since Switzerland has third-country status, Swiss universities are excluded from participating in this programme as host universities for researchers from the EU.

The regulations for Global Fellowships are a little different. These programmes enable researchers to spend one to two years at an institution in a third country, but afterwards they have to return for one year to their guest institution, which must be located in an EU member state or an associated country. What is more, to participate in this programme, researchers must be nationals of an EU or associated country or have worked for at least five consecutive years in an EU member state or an associated country.

More difficult for universities than for researchers

The prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants are not available to Swiss researchers or foreign researchers employed at Swiss universities. Up-and-coming researchers who are interested in an ERC Starting Grant or an ERC Consolidator Grant must either submit their application via a university in an EU member state or an associated country or take advantage of the transitional arrangement put in place by the Swiss National Science Foundation by applying for an SNSF Starting Grant or an SNSF Consolidator Grant. According to the external page SNSF, 45 researchers opted for this solution in March. The SNSF and Federal Councillor Johann Schneider Amman provided more information on this on Friday.

Kamila Partyka summed up the situation by saying that the effects of having third-country status are more restrictive overall for the Swiss universities and research organisations than for the individual researchers, as the regulations for Marie Skłodowska-Curie programmes such as Research & Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) and Innovative Training Networks (ITN) state that – as is the case for EU project funding through Horizon 2020 in general – Swiss universities can only take part as partner organisations and will therefore not receive any funding from the EU. «An exception may be made if a Swiss research team’s expertise in a certain area is unique,» said Partyka, «but don’t count on this happening.»

A further programme that is closed to Swiss universities is COFUND, a scheme that supports universities’ development programmes for up-and-coming researchers. But at least there is one piece of good news for ETH: as the agreements for co-financing by the EU for their funding programme «ETH Fellows» were signed under the 7th Framework Programme before 9 February 2014, the university can continue to draw on EU funding until 2019.

A European charter

The fact that international mobility with as few restrictions as possible is a key factor for the careers of up-and-coming researchers is something Nassim Nasseri from the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH) and Wolfgang Fuhrmann from the Association of the Non-Professorial Staff of the University of Zurich (VAUZ) agreed on when they discussed the ‘challenges facing young academics’ on Wednesday with representatives of ETH and the University of Zurich. They recommended the external page European Charter and Code for Researchers, which contains guidelines for recruiting young researchers, as a basis for the discussions on career promotion for up-and-coming academics and scientists.