Second call for Mobilitas Pluss mobility grants

The Mobilitas Pluss programme offers mobility grants for R&D institutions, companies and higher education institutions to bring talented researchers from abroad to Estonia. The Estonian Research Council (ETAG) offers grants for postdoctoral researchers, researchers who have been abroad for several years and wish to come back to Estonia and for top researchers to come and carry out their research project in Estonia. The call for applications for postdoctoral and returning researcher grants will be open from 1 February 2017 to 3 March 2017 at 5 p.m CET. Call for applications for top researcher grant will be open to 31 March 2017 at 5 p.m CET.

There have been some changes compared to the previous call for applications concerning the requirements  for the returning researcher grant. The period for the returning researcher grant is now 12 -24 months. The previous call it was up to 12 months.

„There are two reasons why we decided to change the returning researcher grant period. First of all, longer grant period will give the researcher an opportunity to settle in Estonia and devote to the research project. Secondly, the experience of the previous call showed us that the competition on the returning researcher grant was considerably lower than for postdoctoral researcher grant,” said Oskar Otsus, Mobilitas Pluss programme manager in ETAG.

ETAG is planning to give out approximately 20 postdoctoral, 10 returning researcher grants and 4-7 top researcher grants.

Mobilitas Pluss programme offers the following funding opportunities:

Mobilitas Pluss postdoctoral grant– support for researchers coming to Estonia to carry out their postdoctoral research projects. The support is aimed at researchers who have defended their doctoral degree abroad. The final recipients of postdoctoral researcher grant include R&D institutions, companies and higher education institutions. The grant is subject to an own contribution requirement of 5% by the host institution.

• The grant amount is:
  • 31 710 €/per year (non-experimental projects)
  • 34 650 €/per year (experimental projects)
• The grant period is 12-24 months.

Returning researcher grant– support for researchers who have carried out their postdoctoral research (or research at least at the same level) abroad and return to Estonia to continue their research  career . We support researchers who have been working abroad for at least two years. The final recipients of returning researcher grant include R&D institutions, companies and higher education institutions. The grant is subject to an own contribution requirement of 5% by the host institution.

• The grant amount is:
  •  31 710 €/per year (non-experimental projects)
  • 34 650 €/per year (experimental projects)
• The grant period is 12-24 months.

Postdoctoral researchers and returning researchers can apply for additional 6500 euros for relocation allowance in the first year of the project in case they have not lived, studied or worked in Estonia within 180 days preceding the opening of the call for applications.

Top researcher grant – support for top researchers who come from abroad to work in an Estonian R&D institution and to establish here their own research group. Top researchers are expected to produce high-level publications and steer the strategic vision for the future in their sector at the selected R&D institution. Preferably, they will meet the R4 level or, at a minimum, the R3 level requirements specified in the European Framework for Research Careers . The researcher must have been working outside Estonia for the past five years. The grant is subject to an own contribution requirement of 17% by the host institution.

• The cap on the grant amount is 150 000 €/per year (180 722,89 euros when including the host institutions own contribution).
• The grant period is 36-60 months.

The call for applications will be open from 1 February 2017 to 3 March 2017 at 5 p.m CET. Call for applications for top researcher grant will be open to 31 March 2017 at 5 p.m CET.

The Mobilitas Pluss Programme is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Estonian government. Total budget of the programme is 35 373 770 euros.

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