Great interest was shown in the Training Sessions for National Contact Points (NCPs) and National Information Points (NIPs) of Chilean universities for the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), held on 17 and 18 March. The main speaker of the event was Dr. Paul Jamet, Coordinator of the Natonal Contact Points of France, who works at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
The event also featured outstanding presentations on the French cooperation policy by Laurent Bonneau, Regional Cooperation Council of the French Embassy in Chile; Jean-François Marini, representative of CNRS and IRD in Chile; and Pierre Pellat-Finet, Attaché for Scientific Cooperation and Cultural Affairs of the French Embassy.
The sessions, carried out at the facilities of the EuroChile Business Foundation, were organised by the European Union Programme at CONICYT’s Department of International Relations and sponsored by the Regional Delegation for Cooperation of the French Embassy.
“The aim of this event is to provide Chilean and Paraguayan NCPs and National Information Points of Chilean universities with the necessary tools in order to disseminate and support the successful application of Chilean researchers for annual calls for contests opened by the European Commission through its Seventh Framework Programme”, stated Laurent Bonneau during the inauguration event.
With this purpose, Dr. Paul Jamet presented on the operation of the National Contact Points System in France, taught how to prepare a successful project proposal for FP7, and talked about the main tasks that NCPs and NIPs must execute. Also, he addressed issues such as intellectual property, project management and the evaluation process.
From the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Dr. Jamet Coordinates the 20 NCPs of that country, who actively interact through the EUROSFAIRE website. “In France, NCPs are consortia integrated by large research centres, especially public ones, that canalise the information about the opportunities offered by FP7 to researchers of a specific thematic area”, stated Dr. Jamet.
In regard to the main tasks executed by NCPs and NIPs, Dr. Jamet highlighted that the NCP is in first place a facilitator: has good contacts in Chilean networks, has a good knowledge of European research and creates a bonding between the two worlds. Likewise, he stressed on the importance of orientating information in accordance with the requirements of the scientific community and identifying researchers interested in a particular call for proposals or need.
“We are currently living a time that is full of opportunities. The Seventh Framework Programme ends in 2013 and, therefore, there are still two open calls for contest to be carried out, which gather 35% of the total FP7 budget”, said Dr. Jamet.
He also highlighted the importance of diversity in projects of the Seventh Framework Programme: “A consortium gathers a wide variety of partners. Experience levels are not the same for everyone”, he said. Therefore, stated Dr. Jamet, it is important to put an emphasis on internal communication within the project, besides participating in periodical meetings of the consortium.
Finally, he encouraged researchers to register as experts and promote their activity. “Nobody will promote you if you don’t promote yourself”, he said. “You must disseminate your own scientific activities”.
The sessions were attended by a great number of National Contact Points from diverse thematic areas, and also by National Information Points from the main Chilean universities. Likewise, several people participated representing different Ministries and European cooperation agencies in Chile. The representatives from Paraguay were the NCP of international Cooperation, José Schvartzman, and the NIP of the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Mariano Bordas. The presentations of each training session can be found here.
About the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)
The Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) is the European Union’s main instrument for supporting research both in Europe and outside of it, allocating about 50 million euro for the period between 2007 and 2013.
National Contact Points (NCPs) are renowned experts from different thematic areas who are responsible for supporting the work conducted by the Liaison Office at CONICYT in order to disseminate opportunities offered by FP7 and provide support to those interested in participating in this programme.
NIPs, on the other hand, are representatives from prestigious Chilean universities who are appointed by Research Directorates in order to strengthen the support provided by the universities to the experts who want to apply for FP7.
About Dr. Paul Jamet
Dr. Paul Jamet has great experience in international cooperation. Among other activities, he was in charge of European Affairs at the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) from 1996 to 2001. In 1999, he was nominated as the NCP of the area “Quality of Life and Management of Live Resources”, in the Fifth Framework Programme, and he has been the coordinator of all NCPs in France since 2002, based in the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. He is also in charge of the EUROSFAIRE site, which is devoted to FP7 and research in Europe. As the NCPs coordinator in France, he usually conducts training sessions such as the ones he held in Argentina and Chile.