Questions and Answers Q. Can a CIG award be used to fund a sabbatical leave? A. No, it could not be used to fund a sabbatical, as there would be no longlasting professional integration in Europe arising out of the award Q. I have a fellowship from an Irish funding agency that supports my current position does this count as co-financing? A. Yes, it does.
Q. Can an Irish national who is currently living and working in the US for over 12 months apply to MC CIG using an Irish University as their host institution? A. Yes, they can, as long as they meet the Mobility Rule(see slide 10) Q. I have lived in the UK for 5 years, does this prevent me from applying for CIG? A. It does prevent you from applying with a host organisation in the UK, but it does not prevent you from applying with a host elsewhere in Europe (the Member States or associated countries)
Q. By mobility, does it mean moving from one institution in Ireland to another? A. No it is international mobility. Please see slide 10 for an explanation of the Mobility Rule. Q. Does the position you integrate into have to be permanent? Can you integrate into a postdoctoral position, but which has a limited contract period (1, 2 years). Do you have to apply for an existing position? A. No, the position does not have to be permanent, and you do not have to apply for an existing position. Your host organisation just has to agree that your employment contract at least covers the duration of the CIG award.
Q. Does the researcher or the host organisation apply for the grant individually, or is this done jointly? A. The researcher actually carries out the electronic submission, but they should prepare the application in collaboration with the host organisation. They will need the host s Participant Identification Code, for example. Q. Does the researcher have to be identified or employed/recruited before the proposal is submitted? A. As the researcher submits the application themselves, based on a proposal for their own career development, they have to be identified before the application! However, they do not actually have to be employed by the host organisation when they submit the proposal.
Q. What are the obligations of the host organisation to co-finance the CIG award? A. It depends on the situation of the applicant: an academic staff member will have their salary costs paid by the host organisation, therefore that suffices as co-financing. For research staff who have their salary and/or research costs paid from external funding sources, the host should agree to provide an employment contract for the duration of the CIG award, and support their access to facilities etc. It would be good if the host could commit to support the awardee s efforts to establish themselves in Europe, e.g. by supporting them to apply for other funding such as ERC grants. Q. Can the host institution contribution be made up through access to equipment / facilities / training? A. In the case where the awardee has their own external funding which covers salary etc., then yes, the host contribution could be limited to access to equipment/facilities/training. However, a CIG award would not be issued to an applicant who did not have co-financing in place, whether this comes directly from the host organisation, or from another external funding source.
Q. By flat rate of 25,000 p.a., does that mean you have to apply for that much, or can you apply for less? A. The amount you can apply for is fixed at 25,000 p.a., no more, no less Q. Can the CIG contribution be used towards salary payments to the CIG holder? A. Yes, it can. Q. If the researcher applies for a collaborator s salary, does the collaborator have to be identified by the time the application is submitted? A. If by collaborator, you mean a student or a staff member employed by the CIG holder to work on the project, then this person does not have to be identified at the time of application. You may wish to outline the general profile (qualifications, experience etc.) that you expect the person to have.
Q. I've been advised by an REA Project Officer that for the CIG grant, the expenditure is not checked by the EC -he said we could buy a car if we wanted, but the funding was at a flat rate of 25K per annum. Can you advise if this is correct? A. No, this is not correct. Records of expenditure will be maintained by the host organisation, and could be audited if the Commission suspect fraud. Q. I m applying for a 39-month award ( 81,350 total) and I want to employ a research assistant for 24 months at a cost of 28,500 p.a., so 57,000 in total, which is less than the value of the award. However it is more than the 25,000 p.a. awarded is this a problem. A. The amount allocated is 25,000 per year, so you cannot spend more than this in a 12-month period. The balance of 8,500 to pay the full cost of the research assistant will have to come from elsewhere. Remember that the 25,00 p.a. is allocated on the principle of co-financing.
Q. I have previously held a Marie Curie IEF award. Should I state this in form A1 in answer to the question Has a similar proposal been submitted to a Marie Curie Action under this or previous RTD Framework Programmes? A. Yes, you should. This information is usually for demographic purposes. Having a previous MC fellowship under another MC Action will not affect your chances of receiving a CIG award. Q. I applied for CIG last year and was not successful. Should I state this in form A1? A. Yes, you should. This will not affect your chances in this Call, as your new submission will be evaluated upon its own merits and not in comparison with last year s submission. The Evaluators will look at your previous submission, but only after the evaluation of the new one has been completed, and if there are any significant differences in scores, they will have to justify it.
Q. Can you say a bit more about the expected outreach activities please? A. A detailed guide to what is expected in terms of Outreach Activities is given on page 42. of the Guide for Applicants.