Each scientist will receive $75,000 U.S. a year for three years. HHMI will contribute $50,000 per scientist, and EMBO and participating member countries will provide the additional $25,000. EMBO will oversee the grants as part of its Young Investigator Programme, which has been identifying and supporting young scientists in Europe since 2000. The competition for the Startup Grants was extremely selective and applications were subject to the same rigorous scientific criteria as the EMBO Young Investigator Programme.
"HHMI already has an ongoing programme in support of established science in Central Europe, but we recognise that for science to flourish, fresh new ideas often come from fresh new scientists," said Peter J. Bruns, HHMI Vice President for Grants and Special Programmes. "This new programme aims to help promising new scientists get established with resources, space and time in the early years of their independent careers."
The new joint initiative will help scientists start independent careers in Central Europe with the resources to be competitive in contemporary world science. In addition to helping establish labs, a key element of the EMBO/HHMI Startup Grants is a guarantee of ongoing support. The institutions where the scientists are establishing their labs have made a commitment to continue to fund these researchers when the Startup Grants run out.
Said Frank Gannon, Executive Director of EMBO, "This new initiative is very timely. In an expanded Europe, where the focus is increasingly on excellent research, the need to streng
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Contact: Lindsay Johnson
communications@embo.org
49-6221-889-1108
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
7-Dec-2005