ERC President met young scientists
21. 6. 2016 | 1669 visits
Fifty-six promising young scientists were selected from SAS and universities to attend the workshop with ERC president. It should help them to succeed with ERC project proposals and receive the grants.
Workshop with ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon took place on 20. 06. 2016 in the conference room of the Comenius University. It was led by Dr. Martin Penny, who is Head of Physical Sciences and Engineering in the ERC Executive Agency. The meeting was also attended by ERC Scientific Council member prof. Tomas Jungwirth, who advised the students, how to submit their scientific ideas in attractive way, but also not overestimate their skills.
The representatives of ERC, first briefly introduced options that ERC grant provides for scientists. It was for example the opportunity to work on any subject bottom up (topic requires excellence in scientific idea), financial autonomy, or the possibility to attract excellent co-workers to their team. The meeting then took the form of questions and answers. Students were particularly interested in evaluation process of the applications and rules for implementation of the grants and their flexibility.
Representatives of ERC recommended to scientists that they should not be disappointed in case of refusal of application, but they should rather look at the review from the assessment panel, learn from the mistakes and try again. Other recommendations included the meeting with the contact persons for the ERC and consult with them before hearing from the assessment panel in Brussels, and not replicate the same content at different stages of the selection process.
„You should come up with your best idea and formulate it in a way that can be understood by people in your area. Sometimes you get the idea very suddenly, but then you have to work on putting it in a way, that will be convincing for other people,“ said ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon.
At the end of the meeting Dr. Martin Penny wished good luck to the scientists with the comment that "if at least half of the workshop participants would submit the ERC application, Slovakia's participation in the ERC would improve dramatically for the better."
Zuzana Vitková
Workshop with ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon took place on 20. 06. 2016 in the conference room of the Comenius University. It was led by Dr. Martin Penny, who is Head of Physical Sciences and Engineering in the ERC Executive Agency. The meeting was also attended by ERC Scientific Council member prof. Tomas Jungwirth, who advised the students, how to submit their scientific ideas in attractive way, but also not overestimate their skills.
The representatives of ERC, first briefly introduced options that ERC grant provides for scientists. It was for example the opportunity to work on any subject bottom up (topic requires excellence in scientific idea), financial autonomy, or the possibility to attract excellent co-workers to their team. The meeting then took the form of questions and answers. Students were particularly interested in evaluation process of the applications and rules for implementation of the grants and their flexibility.
Representatives of ERC recommended to scientists that they should not be disappointed in case of refusal of application, but they should rather look at the review from the assessment panel, learn from the mistakes and try again. Other recommendations included the meeting with the contact persons for the ERC and consult with them before hearing from the assessment panel in Brussels, and not replicate the same content at different stages of the selection process.
„You should come up with your best idea and formulate it in a way that can be understood by people in your area. Sometimes you get the idea very suddenly, but then you have to work on putting it in a way, that will be convincing for other people,“ said ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon.
At the end of the meeting Dr. Martin Penny wished good luck to the scientists with the comment that "if at least half of the workshop participants would submit the ERC application, Slovakia's participation in the ERC would improve dramatically for the better."
Zuzana Vitková