do yoU work in science and would like to share your enthusiasm with the up and coming generation? If so, discover Science and engineering would like to hear from you. new recruits are needed for the Science ambassadors programme, an informal group of people with careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Becoming a science ambassador can be as easy as you wish. at the most basic level, all you might be asked to do is provide some details for posting up on My Science Career website, but if you would like to do more, there are opportunities to participate in Science Week events or to become involved in promotion of science. To get started, simply email a few essential details about yourself to [email protected] with ‘science ambassador’ in the subject line.
Science ambassadors
UPFRONT
www.sciencespin.com
MalaySIan science, engineering, and business students were at athlone in June to meet with their counterparts from the Institute of Technology. during a two-day symposium the aIT and Universiti Malaysia Perlis students heard experts discuss developments in biomedical science, computer networking, technology transfer, and other topics of common interest. Sharing of ideas and working in groups, said aIT President, Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin, are points often stressed in policy recommendations, and events such as this, help realise those aims.
Attracting skills
Under an agreement signed with the european Commission, researchers who want to live and work in Ireland will be given a fast-track visa. The hosting agreement scheme allows close relatives to accompany the researchers and apply for work permits. Since signing up, the Irish Euraxess office, which provides a one-stop-shop to facilitate the movement of researchers, has processed over 1,000 agreements with 30 research related organisations. The 460 researchers represent 15 per cent of the total Irish researcher population.
during an expedition to nepal, TCd Phd student, Paul egan, discovered two new poppy species. The late flowering Meconopsis autumnalis, and M manasluensis, are high altitude species endemic to the 8,156 metre Mount Manasul. according to TCd’s School of natural Sciences, this species rich region lacks an adequate floral inventory. Nepal is a biodiversity hotspot, and it is thought that over two per cent of the world’s flowering plants are native to this area.
rESEArCHEr mobIlITy
For morE than a decade the European Commission has made significant efforts to emphasise the importance of researcher mobility as part of career development and creating a “single market” for research; a core part of the European research Area (ErA), recently renewed with the European Commission’s publication of the Innovation Union policy. many funding schemes like ErASmUS and marie Curie fund researchers’ mobility. In 2010 marie Curie celebrated its 50,000th fellow. However, there are significant challenges concerning the practicalities of mobility, including questions like; where can I find a job; how do I get health insurance where I am moving to; can I send my children to public schools; do I need a visa and work permit?
www.EUrAXESS.IE
LIVE LINK
In 2004, Ireland, with European Commission support, established the researchers’ mobility office and associated portal to provide free advice and guidance on these practical concerns. other nations established similar services. In 2008, the European Commission re-launched this initiative with the objective of providing a more coordinated and consistent European approach. Now called EUrAXESS, the Irish centre piece of this service is the EUrAXESS.ie portal. The portal is part of a European network of thirty-seven national EUrAXESS portals. All portals have a similar design and structure and are linked to the central EUrAXESS portal (http://ec.europa.eu/ euraxess), which features over 800 research vacancies from all EUrAXESS member states. Uniquely, the Irish portal allows both the researcher and research organisations to create profiles that link when vacancies of mutual interest arise. There are now 5,197 registered portal users who receive regular job and funding opportunities updates; registered users have made 375 job applications through the portal and conducted 3,419 organisation profile searches seeking information on research organisations and vacancies. The EUrAXESS Ireland office also administers a scheme that fast-tracks non-EU researchers’ immigration. This scheme allows the researcher’s immediate family to live in Ireland for the agreement’s duration and entitles their spouse and dependents to apply for a work permit. This is known as a ‘Hosting Agreement’ (Scientific researcher Visa); more information is available from EUrAXESS.ie. The office has processed 1,100 Hosting Agreements with thirty accredited organisations, and 460 researchers, approximately 15 % of the total Irish researcher population, are employed through a Hosting Agreement. In essence EUrAXESS Ireland is a brokerage that ensures those who are respectively seeking research talent and research opportunities find each other and can realise the objective of a European research Area.
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 47 Page 7