Today EMBO has announced the 11 winners of the 2023 EMBO Installation Grants, which provide multi-year funding for principal investigators to establish and grow their groups in participating countries. Among them, there are 2 Lithuanian representatives from Vilnius University (VU) Life Sciences Center (LSC): Dr Gytis Dudas (on the left, in the photo) and Dr Patrick Pausch. This EMBO funding scheme provides researchers in participating countries with several years of funding to set up and develop research teams.
The grantees will undertake a wide range of life science projects: from viral dynamics to the role of phytoplankton in the carbon cycle.
The new installation grantees will set up their laboratories in seven countries: Lithuania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Portugal, and Turkey. Research projects will cover themes as diverse as cancer biology, viral dynamics, gene editing technologies, and the role of phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle.
“EMBO Installation Grants provide a tremendous opportunity for researchers to embark on a wide range of ambitious life sciences projects,” says EMBO Director Fiona Watt. “The programme supports group leaders in founding and growing their labs, provides mentoring, networking and training opportunities, and also helps build vibrant, interdisciplinary national and international research communities.”
Each group leader receives 50,000 euros annually for three to five years and can also apply for additional grants of up to 10,000 euros per year. Grantees become part of the EMBO Young Investigator Network, which consists of more than 600 current and former EMBO young investigators, installation grantees and global investigators. Benefits include networking, mentoring, and training opportunities, as well as access to core facilities at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany.
35,000 euros of the annual payments are provided by funding agencies or ministries in each participating country, and 15,000 euros are provided by EMBC (European Molecular Biology Conference), the EMBO funding body.
The new EMBO installation grantees will establish laboratories in different European countries. In Lithuania, the grant winners, Dr G. Dudas and Dr P. Pausch, will use the funding to develop their laboratories and research at the VU LSC. One laboratory will be established in Croatia, one in the Czech Republic, one in Estonia, two in Lithuania, two in Poland, two in Portugal, and two in Turkey. Six of the 11 grantees are females (55%), and five are males (45%). In the four years preceding their application, all of them have spent at least two consecutive years outside the country in which they are setting up their laboratory.
This year’s grants are supported by the Research Council of Lithuania; the Ministry of Science and Education of Croatia; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic; the Estonian Research Council; the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland; the Champalimaud Foundation, the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal; and the Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBITAK) of Turkey.
The next application deadline is 15 April 2023. More information on EMBO Installation Grants, including eligibility criteria and the application process, is available here.
EMBO is an organization of more than 1,900 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.
EMBO helps young scientists to advance their research, promote their international visibility and ensure their mobility. Courses, workshops, conferences, and scientific journals disseminate the latest research and offer training in techniques to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice. EMBO helps to shape science and research policy by seeking input and feedback from our community and by following closely the trends in science in Europe. For more information: www.embo.org
Photo: Justinas Auškelis / VU
