"Setting Up European or International Scientific Networks" At a Glance

"Setting Up European or International Scientific Networks" (MRSEI), created in 2015, supports the creation of transnational networks coordinated by French researchers. The instrument encourages French participation in European and international calls, with the ultimate aim of giving the country’s research greater international visibility. The third edition of this call for proposals opened recently (submission deadline set for 6 June 2016). The following is a look back at the call’s main features:

Facilitate the drafting and carrying out of collaborative research projects (short-term)

Several reasons account for the complexity involved in setting up European and international research projects; in some cases, the desired consortium has not yet been formed, in others, meetings and workshops are needed to determine the best possible research strategy.

Proposals for the call aim to set up networks spanning all scientific disciplines. In keeping with expectations set out by Horizon 2020, multidisciplinary topics are highly valued. MRSEI’s short-term objective is to enable the drafting and carrying out of collaborative research projects involving the members of a designated network.

An instrument tailored to the needs of the communities

MRSEI is distinguished by its flexibility and efficiency, ensuring swift decision-making and appropriate deployment of funding. MRSEI holds two calls for proposals per year and features a simplified submission file, a single grant beneficiary (the French public research organisation coordinating the project), and peer selection by a single ad hoc committee without mandatory recourse to external peer reviews.

Projects are funded to the tune of €30 k for a period lasting up to 18 months. Grants may only be used towards operating expenditures (communication activities, meetings, workshops, etc.), as the call is not designed to subsidise research.

A high success rate

The first two MRSEI calls have logged respectively 84 and 69 proposals. Thirty-six proposals were selected in the first edition and 30 in the second, for a success rate of 43 %. This high selection rate reflects ANR’s desire to give French researchers added impetus in responding to European H2020 calls.

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