Geneva, 1 October 2002. CERN1 becomes a showcase for European Union (EU) research on 3-4 October when it hosts a workshop for EU-funded Marie Curie fellows working in various fields of physics and technology. The Marie Curie scheme gives young researchers from around the continent the mobility to go to wherever Europe's best facilities in their chosen field happen to be, and it is a key plank in the EU's strategy of creating a European Research Area.
The workshop will take stock of the Marie Curie programme, allowing some 50 fellows working in many disciplines to share their experiences with each other. Many of them will present their research goals and the importance of the scheme in helping them to achieve them.
Highlights of the two-day meeting include a foretaste of the sixth EU research framework programme (FP6) from Theodore Papazoglou of the EU's Marie Curie fellowship office. FP6 aims to move firmly towards the creation of a European Research Area, with emphasis on integrating research across national borders in fields ranging from information technology to sustainable development. A total of 11 500 expressions of interest were received for FP6 before the deadline of 7 June, and a call for proposals will be made later in the year.
Presentations by fellows who have travelled far for their work - thanks to the Marie Curie scheme - cover a range of topics from pure physics to practical technology. They include Miguel Torres of Spain, currently working in Italy on the physics of supernovae; Florence Jolly, who is French and working in Italy on microelectronics; and Nicolay Nikolaev, a Bulgarian who is currently working on techniques for microlithography at the Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany.
CERN Director General, Luciano Maiani, will open the workshop with a discussion of the role of large-scale facilities and centres of excellence. In the closing keynote speech, Maurice Jacob, former President of the European Physical Society, will address the importance of physics in today's knowledge-based society.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Full details are available here.
Contact at CERN: Monica Pepe-Altarelli, Division Human Resources, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland,
Tel.+41 22 767 4473, Email : Monica.Pepe.Altarelli@cern.ch
Dr Papazoglou will be available during the workshop to answer questions on EU research, Dr Jacob will be available to discuss science in a knowledge based society, and Marie Curie fellows will also be available for comment.
CERN is currently host to some 20 Marie Curie fellows.
1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and Unesco have observer status.