British Council young scientists programme
Ms. Irina Kouklina, Assistant Director, Science, Engineering and Technology, British Council, Moscow
WHY DO WE NEED THIS?
International Networking for Young Scientists is an initiative that supports the Council’s purpose of ‘nurturing mutually beneficial relationships with other countries’, by encouraging and facilitating the mobility of, and direct contact between, young researchers. It supports face-to-face meetings between young scientists and engineers from the UK and other countries, for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and information and the building of international connections that assist the innovation process.
The mobility of scientists is the social glue that gives meaning to distant communications. By supporting the mobility of young scientists, the British Council has a key role to play in helping to create and maintain the lasting relationships.
Links are fostered not only between the young researchers, but also their mentors, projecting an image of British science as creative, innovative and internationally competitive. They also focus attention on the importance of Britain to international science and vice versa.
DOES ANYONE ELSE DO THIS?
Other organisations fund international mobility of scientists and engineers in relation to specific research work (e.g. Fellowships schemes run by Royal Society, Research Councils etc) but none has an initiative that is, effectively, an exploratory and preparatory measure for support from international, longer-term mobility programmes. The Council initiative is a mechanism for encouraging researchers to travel and be mobile, with the aim of gaining knowledge and ideas that help in applying for international fellowships or scholarships under e.g. the Sixth EU Framework Programme (FP6).
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
The Network is specifically targeted at post-doctoral researchers or people who have been tenured for five years or less. The intention is to avoid established collaborations and concentrate on new faces and encouraging new links. PhD students can be included, to encourage them to have direct contact with researchers in other countries, put forward original research ideas and contribute to the development of links, with a view to applying for postdoctoral fellowships. The workshop location can be in either country, but more commonly outside the UK.
British Council Russia INYS events:
2003 - Green Chemistry Workshop (location: UK)
2004 - Green Chemistry Workshop (location: Moscow, Chernogolovka)
2004 - Climate Change Workshop (location: Moscow)
2005 - Probabilistic networks and proactive computers (location: Nizniy Novgorod)
Application for INYS 05-06 should cover the following points:
Local partner organisation.
Main contact person (Name and position in organisation).
Amount of funding requested by you (should not exceed 10 000 GPB).
Amount of funding provided by partner organisation (can include cost of venue, equipment, interpreting, publishing and printing of the materials etc.).
Research topic of the workshop.
How does this fit into national priorities?
Local co-ordinator (Name & address, and position in organisation).
Local institutions (Names & addresses).
UK co-ordinator and partner organisation if identified.
Has a meeting taken place between the two co-ordinators or is one scheduled?
In which country will the workshop take place?
Number of participants from each side expected to attend the workshop.
Breakdown of costs.
What is your capacity to put out an open call for participants on both sides (national & UK),carry out the selection process and run the workshop?
Details of your follow-up plan, in terms of networking to sustain contacts made at the workshop.
Details of your media plan for the workshop.
What funding routes do you and the partner organisation envisage the participants pursuing to further links made at the workshop?
How will you report on the workshop outcomes and evaluate the usefulness of this initiative?
Examples of previous INYS events:
Green Chemistry Workshop in Moscow and Chernogolovka, March 2004
The workshop focused on Green Chemistry topic, which is aimed at the development of environmentally friendly products, preventing pollution and reducing waste. The first workshop which involved 6 UK and 6 Russian young scientists was organised by the University of Nottingham and Institute on Laser and Information Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences and held in the University of Nottingham, UK 23-28 March 2003.
Following the success of the first workshop and the importance of the questions raised it was decided to hold another event under the same theme. Key partners were Moscow Sate University, Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics (Chernogolovka) and School of Chemistry University of Nottingham (UK). The event was also supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research.
Proposals for UK-Russia research collaborative projects, prepared at the seminar were supported by this year by Research Councils and the Royal Society.
Climate Change Workshop in Moscow, July 2004
This event was focused on the world problems of climate change. Both Russian and British young scientists made their presentations on the modelling climate change issues and participated in the round-table. Main purpose of the workshop was to foster new links between Russian and British scientists in the area of Climate change and to explore opportunities for joint collaboration between Russia and the UK.