AAAS 2011

'Science without Borders'

For the fourth time, the ERC is participating in the Annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which takes place on 17th - 21st February 2010 in Washington, D.C.
The following ERC activities are foreseen:

ERC Scientific Symposium
"Crossing Boundaries and Opening Borders: The European Research Council as Innovation"

Date: 18 February 2011
Time: 10am-11:30am
Location: Washington Convention Center, room 143AB

Speakers:

Prof. Helga Nowotny, President European Research Council
"The European Research Council: Taking Stock and Future Perspectives" (http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2011/webprogram/Paper3014.html)

Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
"Crossing Boundaries: A Transatlantic Perspective on Supporting Frontier Research"

Prof. Juleen Rae Zierath, ERC Advanced Grantee, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
"Nurturing the Best: An American in Stockholm"

The speakers will offer their perspectives on the ERC and on the importance of funding frontier research. They will also provide insight into upcoming challenges and the ERC's possible future direction as well as the internationalization of science. Examples of funded projects will be highlighted.

ERC Press briefing and Interview opportunity for the media with ERC President Prof. Helga Nowotny and two ERC grantees.
- Prof. Juleen Rae Zierath, ERC Advanced Grantee, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

and
- Dr. Jean-Luc Lehners, (Max-Planck Institut, Germany), ERC Starting grantee and Luxembourgish astrophysics researcher coming from Princeton University

Date: Saturday 19 Feb. 2011
Time: 10am-11:30am
Location: Washington Convention Center, room 202A


Workshop for early-career researchers
The ERC organises a joint workshop together with the Marie-Curie Actions and Euraxess Links US, as part of the career programme at AAAS, entitled "Funding Opportunities in Europe for Creative Minds from Anywhere in the World".

The speakers of the session will present funding opportunities for first-class, up-and-coming researchers, who are keen to develop and fast-track their careers in Europe. The Marie Curie Actions (MCA) and the European Research Council (ERC) offer such funding in a complementary way: whereas the first provides fellowships for career development at post-graduate and post-doctoral level for excellent mobile researchers, the second offers attractive grants to promising post-doctoral researchers enabling them to establish or consolidate themselves as independent leaders of a research team.

Date: 19 February 2011
Time: 3pm – 4pm
Location: Washington Convention Center Room 158AB

Speakers:
Samantha Christey, Communication Officer, ERC Executive Agency
Dr Louise Byrne, Research Programme Officer Marie Curie Actions, REA
Dr Izabella Zandberg, Information Officer, EURAXESS Links US

Testimonials:
Dr Jean-Luc Lehners, ERC Starting Grantee (Max-Planck Institut, Germany)
Dr Ilja Voets, Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow (Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

ERC booth at the European Research stand.
ERC representatives will be available to provide documentation and answer questions about the ERC.
Date: 17 – 20  February 2010 from 9am to 5pm