Marie Curie 2013 Fellowships

On March 14th the 2013 Marie Curie Fellowship calls have opened. The Marie Curie program is the name by which the People Work Programme of the Seventh Framework Programme is known. The deadline to these fellowships is August 14th. But don't be too confident. Completing a good Marie Curie proposal is complex business, and requires a lot of work on behalf of both the beneficiary, and both host institutions (local one and outgoing).
These fellowships, however, are very generously endowed, not only in the form of base salary, but also extra income for training needs, travelling expenses and if you have a family.
The three types of fellowship are:

• Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development (IEF): funds 1-2 years in a Member State or Associated Country.
  
• International Incoming Fellowships (IIF): funds 1-2 years for a researcher to stay in a Member State or Associated Country, and, if desired, up to 12 months of 'return phase' in his country of origin, which must be an International Cooperation Partner Country (ICPC).
  
• International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development (IOF): funds 1-2 years in another third country, and up to 12 months of 'return phase' in a Member State or Associated Country.

If you are interested in requesting funding for these calls, make sure you read the basic documents:

• Work Programme 2013 - People
• Guide for Applicants (common to all People calls)
• Guide for Applicants, specific for IEF, IIF and IOF.
• A good idea to check with your National Contact Point, or the one of your outgoing host institution, for guidance.
  

Marie Curie dictionary:

• "Experienced researcher": Basically it means you have completed your university degree at least 4 years before the call deadline, time which has been spent doing research, of course. Being a PhD is not a requirement.
• "Mobility": Marie Curie wants you to move so you can advance in your career. By "move" it means, save for exceptions, that you must go to a place where, at the maximum, you have spent 12 of the last 36 months.
• "Member State or Associated Country": You may have forgotten that Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom are still EU Member States. But it is natural that you may not know which the Associated countries to 7FP are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Faroe Islands, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey. This status, basically, gives them free access (and responsibility) to the European Research Area in the form of Framework participation. Some of these (notably Israel and Switzerland), have been extremely successful participants.
• "International Cooperation Partner Country": Annex 1.1 of the People 2013 Work Programme lists the International Co-operation Partner Countries. These countries can benefit, under certain conditions, from Framework Programme money.
• "Other third countries": None of the above. In other words: Europe's competitors (China, Ukraine, United States of America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Russia, etc.).