ECIU recognises the importance of developing a culture of transnational and multidisciplinary collaboration among its researchers at different member institutions all together. Being aimed at stimulating and facilitating its researchers for cross member institutions scientific collaboration, the ECIU Researcher Mobility Fund (RMF) is launched to promote researcher exchanges and scientific visits. A researcher, incl. PhD candidate for research at any member institution of the ECIU may apply a grant for travels and associated costs to visit other member institutions to establish and extend collaboration for research. Mobility taking place in this framework in 2024 and 2025 will be mainly focused on visits aiming at facilitating exchanges of research ideas that will potentially lead to the submission of joint applications to EU, national or international funding schemes.
Any researcher, Ph.D. candidate for research based at a member institution of ECIU are welcome to apply.
Applicant may apply for up to €5,000 with a grant through the member institution which the applicant is based at.
Each member institution of ECIU makes €20,000 per year in 2024 and 2025 for the ECIU Researcher Mobility Fund dedicated to the researchers of the member institution.
In case an ECIU institution has available funds and does not have own candidates, this institution can decide to use the funds to host incoming researchers from other ECIU Institutions, provided that the visits are aiming at promoting future joint applications to any funding scheme.
RMF is in general open to all disciplines with preferences given to applications addressing the common research fields under the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 11 (Sustainable cities and communities)
Participants are encouraged to explore different types of exchanges, based on their needs, including but not limited to following examples:
The RMF in general is used for outgoing travels and associated subsistence costs to visit member or associate member institutions of the ECIU. The applicant remains an employee of the home institution, which is responsible for awarding grants to applicants from the same institution and paying the usual salaries according to its own financing rules and regulations.
The funding in principle covers following types of costs and expenditure:
The funding in principle does not cover following types of costs and expenditure:
Applicants are obliged to a minimum stay of 5 working days (excluding travel days). Duration of stay is negotiated on an individual basis.
The applicant must make sure that he or she has sufficient insurance coverage at all necessary levels while traveling abroad.
Contact the RMF Contact Person at your member institution where you are based to receive information on how to apply for a grant.
Each member institution of ECIU publishes regulations on RMF, including details of criteria on application, assessment, data protection provisions, the general rights and obligations of grant providers and grant holders etc., on its own website.
The application will be sent to and further assessed by the member institution where the applicant is based.
Decision to award a RMF grant is made by the member institution where the applicant is based. Criteria used to assess and select applications in principle include, but not limited to following aspects whether
Participants need to provide a report after their stay indicating potential calls they have scouted together with the hosting researcher for potential follow-up projects.
"When I first learnt about the ECIU mobility award,I couldn’t help thinking "here’s a cool way to fund a trip overseas and hopefully set in motion a new partnership". Surely, I was not wrong, but it was also so much more than that."
Within ECIU consortium, he found the University of Twente , one of the world leading Universities in developing pulsed laser technique. While he was staying there, he got training on their available facilities to conduct his research
"The mobility program provides a great opportunity to establish international contacts and build research networks"
"KTU’s membership in ECIU is beneficial for every researcher of the University. It benefits our image and opens new opportunities to disseminate information”
"It was one of my personal highlights of last year. Now, we have many ideas for joint publications on the science of music that are likely to get a lot of media attention."