University group suggests widening measures for FP9

More funding for ERA Chairs and other widening measures could help to improve lagging participation in the Framework programme, the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities has said.

In a position paper published on 12 June, the guild called for Framework 9 to “enable the long-term sustainability" of research excellence in Europe by reducing the gap between countries with the greatest and least participation in the Framework programmes.

Suggestions from the guild included increasing the funding for ERA Chairs, which support institutions to attract the most talented researchers, helping them to compete with so called ‘centres of excellence’. This instrument should also be open to supporting outstanding researchers even at the mid-career stage, the paper said.