EMBO Installation Grants help nine scientists set up in Europe

Nine talented life scientists will receive the 2007 EMBO Installation Grants, assisting them to relocate and set up their research groups in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Turkey. These nine scientists are the second group of awardees since the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) introduced the scheme in 2006.

EMBO Installation Grants are awarded annually and aim to strengthen science in selected member states of the EMBC, the EMBO intergovernmental funding body. The EMBC Member States hosting the grantees finance the grants entirely. EMBC Member States participating in the scheme include Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Turkey.

Each scientist receives 50,000 euro annually for three to five years to help them establish their groups and themselves in the European scientific community. Grantees are integrated into the prestigious EMBO Young Investigator network, providing networking opportunities with some of Europe's best young group leaders and a range of career development programmes.

“We welcome these nine scientists to the EMBO community and congratulate them as recipients of the 2007 EMBO Installation Grants,” said Hermann Bujard, EMBO Executive Director. “These talented scientists will benefit from the secure financial backing of their host countries plus the active interest and support of EMBO in their scientific and professional development. They represent a promising scientific future for the countries receiving them and for Europe as a whole.”

A committee of EMBO Members selected the successful candidates for the high standard of their research. By bringing this level of scientific talent into the participating countries, EMBO hopes to improve the competitiveness of these countries in European science. Two of the nine grantees will establish groups in the Czech Republic, two in Hungary, two in Turkey, one in Croatia, one in Poland and one in Portugal. Four scientists will move from positions in the USA, two will move from the UK, two from Switzerland and one will move from Sweden.

Please visit the online press release for a list of grantees, their research areas and their associated research institutions.

The next application deadline for EMBO Installation Grants is 15 April 2008.

About EMBO
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) promotes excellence in molecular life sciences in Europe. Since 1964, leading scientists are elected annually to become EMBO Members based on proven excellence in research. Members number more than 1300 today with a further 80 associate members worldwide. Forty-five scientists from the EMBO membership have received the Nobel Prize. More than half of the EMBO Members are involved in guiding the execution of the many EMBO initiatives offered to life scientists and have a significant impact on the direction of European life sciences.

Leading peer-reviewed journals – The EMBO Journal, EMBO reports and Molecular Systems Biology – span a broad spectrum of topics of molecular biology and reflect how science is shaping the world. EMBO-sponsored training and networking activities impact thousands of scientists every year, promoting collaboration in all areas of molecular biology – within Europe and worldwide. EMBO is renowned for the quality and funding of these programmes and activities that include EMBO Courses & Workshops, EMBO Long-and Short-term Fellowships, the EMBO Young Investigator Programme, the EMBO Science & Society Programme, EMBO Installation Grants and EMBO Women in Science.

Annual awards, such as the EMBO Gold Medal and the EMBO Award for Communication in the Life Sciences, recognise significant contributions of European researchers to the advancement of science.