Writing the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (IEF) proposal for career development

Well then, let me share some experience about the writing of the proposal.

First you have to find a European research unit which is willing to be your host. Second, you have to download the call fiche, the work programme and the guides for applicants, read them carefully and design a project which answers to their requests. The application consists of a part A, which has to be taken care of by your host institution and a part B, which you (the fellow/project proposer) have to take care of. In the specific guide for the call you will find a template for part B. Here it is stated very specifically what you have to include in your application. Make sure you include text which covers all the requests.

In part B you have to include some information about the host institution. I advice you to contact your host institution as early as possible in order to get this information/help writing it.

You also have to provide names and contact details of up to three scientists who know you, who can submit reference letters on your behalf. Contact your references well in advance and remind them about the submission deadline when it is getting close.

My proposal was designed based on research I was already doing, and I could use some text that I had written before, but still it took me at least four weeks to write the proposal. Thus, start well in advance before the deadline.

Also, use your national contact point for the Marie Curie action if you have any questions or doubts. They are there for you and are always very helpful.

My timeline:

January 2011: Information meeting at the University of Tromsø about the Marie Curie action

March 2011: Call published

March – June 2011: Reading/project design

July 2011: Writing of the proposal

July 8^th 2011: Contacted my host institution

August 5^th 2011: Contacted references

August 11^th 2011: Submitted proposal – deadline August 12^th

December 2011: Result published – invited to negotiation

January 2012: Submitted negotiation forms

April 1^st 2012: Project start J

Good luck!!!

Sick children, booking systems and proofs

Your children doesn't stop being sick even if you are a Marie Curie fellow, so this week it was full stop in the lab work. Fortunately the MX-unit at the ITQB has an excellent online instrument booking (and unbooking) system (WikiXtal) which makes it easy to manage your planned lab-activities without generating too much trouble for your fellow equipment users. This Wiki page also possesses all general methods which are being used in the lab, and other relevant information for the group. A very nice system which I think is worth spending time and energy to implement in any research lab!

And finally - ending the week by correcting proofs of a paper which is going to published in Acta Crystallographica Section D: Biological Crystallography very soon. Tedious but pleasant work!

Have a nice weekend!

Finally in the lab

After spending some time making plans for the progress of the project, I have finally started working in the lab :-) I'm just doing some basic stuff - its a good way to start in order to learn where different things are and to get insight into the routines of the lab of my host - the Macromolecular Crystallography Unit.

My first day as a Marie Curie fellow

Today is my first day as a Marie Curie fellow, and it feels good to get going. I submitted the proposal in August 2011, recieved the message that the proposal was granted in December 2011, and now on April 2nd 2012 I'm already working on the project. I'll post more information about writing up the proposal later. Normally I work at the Norwegian Structral Biology Centre (NorStruct) at the University of Tromsø in Norway, and I can see that the temperature there is below 0C while it is 16C here in Oeiras. I do know which one I prefer :-)