Specific Programme "People"

In the Specific Programme "People", opportunities for Third Country cooperation are offered by the Initial Training Networks (ITNs) and the Industry Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPPs). EU postdoctoral fellowships provide funding for research stays in EU Member States, Associated Countries, ICPC and High Income countries. A special scheme for International Research Staff Exchange (IRSES) was launched in FP7 to facilitate exchange with those countries which have a S&T agreement with the EU and Countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Specific Programme "Ideas"

By means of the Specific Programme "Ideas", the European Research Council (ERC) provides funding to individual European research groups of scientific excellence. Since the nationality of researchers does not play a role as long as the scientific research is carried out in Europe, researchers from Third Countries are equally eligible for this type of funding.

The ERC wants to attract the world’s best scientific minds to Europe: thus, researchers from Third Countries may apply for ERC funding in order to establish research groups in Europe. This applies for the establishment of young researcher groups (Starting Grants) as well as for established researchers (Advanced Grants).

Cooperative efforts between European research groups and individuals or research groups from Third Countries may of course be part of ERC projects, but these projects are predominantly aimed at fostering scientific excellence rather than establishing networks of international cooperation.