THE OFFICIAL KICK-OFF

Marie Curie Alumni Association Turkish Chapter (MCAA-TC) kick-off meeting was hosted by Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and the Turkish Chapter was launched on 3 August 2018 at the same meeting.

As the Chapter’s founding chair, Prof. Gözde Ünal officially opened the event by talking about her personal experience with the MCAA. Then, the EU Office of ITU presented some facts and figures about ITU and Turkey in relation to the Marie Curie and EC programmes in general.

MCAA Chair Dr. Matthew DiFranco and MCAA Secretary Dr. Murat Güneş also attended the event and provided an overview of the MCAA – about its benefits and opportunities, as well as some tips. During the meeting a scientific Speed Dating session during which the attendees paired up to tell each other what they are working on also held. Then the MCAA-TC discussed the objectives and future activities for the newly-launched Turkish Chapter.

After the kick-off event, MCAA joined the IEEE Turkey Section Award Meeting on February 11^th, 2019 at ITU by setting up a stand giving a few minutes of information about Marie Curie programmes during the main ceremony.

MEMBERS

MCAA currently has 70 Members registered through the MCAA portal. About 25 people attended the kickoff meeting last summer and their target is to double membership and boost attendance at future meetings. Any Marie (S.) Curie Fellow can be a member of MCAA.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CHAPTER

Some of the most important objectives set during the kick-off meeting are below:

• Increasing the visibility of the MCAA Turkish Chapter on a local and global scale and attract researchers to Turkey through MCSA;
• Raise awareness about EU-funding opportunities for early-stage researchers;
• Reach out and communicate to society on science and research;
• Promote social science research and integrate social science and humanities research into engineering projects;
• Create multi/transdisciplinary working groups for networking and collaboration on pressing issues such as sustainable development, artificial intelligence, and global economic problems.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The MCAA Turkish Chapter annual meeting will be held on June 21^st, 2019, at Istanbul Technical University. It will be open to all Marie Curie fellows, MCAA members, and future potential Marie Curie fellows, who would like to join. In the meeting, there is a plan to include a training seminar with the help of the National Contact Points. The main focus will be to network with each other, to spread the word about other European Commission and Marie Curie grant programmes, and encourage young scientists and students from Turkey to become part of the MCAA community.

JOIN THE TURKISH CHAPTER!

Feel free to contact MCAA-TC and join the Chapter to network with them, spread the word about Marie Sklodowska Curie and other grant opportunities, and to mentor young scientists in Turkey. Join them in their efforts to contribute to the culture of scientists and the society in Turkey in any way, either scientifically, academically or socially.

The next Chapter meeting will be on 21^st June 2019 at ITU. Here is the agenda.

You can register your interest following the link.

You can contact with MCAA-TC via turkish.chapter@mariecuriealumni.eu 

Their website is https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/groups/turkish-chapter

Here are some pictures from their events:

Horizon 2020 road show kicks off in Istanbul to promote research cooperation between the EU and Turkey

Today, the EU and Turkey kick off a roadshow promoting research and innovation cooperation under Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme. This first leg of the roadshow, taking place at the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, focuses specifically on funding for top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, and small companies. The event is part of a concerted effort by the European Union and Turkey to step up research and innovation cooperation and encourage Turkish participation in the Horizon 2020 programme.

The Horizon 2020 funding initiative, in partnership with TÜBITAK, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, has stimulated a knowledge-based and innovation-driven society in Turkey since 2014. Jean-Eric Paquet, the European Commission’s Director General for Research and Innovation, recently complimented Turkey for its commitment to boosting its participation in Horizon 2020.

Today’s Horizon 2020 Info Day in Istanbul solidifies this commitment, encouraging not only Turkish researchers, but also Turkish entrepreneurs and innovators at any business-stage to make use of Horizon 2020 funding mechanisms. The Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot is chief among these, bringing together the parts of Horizon 2020 that provide funding, advice, and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs and pioneers at the cutting edge of innovation. EIC pilot support is available to innovators from all EU Member States, and to those from countries associated to the EU Horizon 2020 programme, like Turkey.

Special emphasis at today’s event is placed on opportunities for Turkish innovators under the SME-Instrument – an EIC grant- and acceleration-instrument for small and medium-sized companies looking to scale up their ideas or get them to market. Thus far, 34 Turkish SMEs have received funding of a combined €9.21 million through the SME-Instrument, most of them located in Istanbul. The majority of this funding has gone to projects in the fields of construction and transport networks (€3.99 million) and business model innovation (€3.32 million). Turkish participants at the event today have the opportunity to get practical tips from SME-Instrument Jury Member Dilek Dayınlarlı, founder and Managing Partner at ScaleX Ventures, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco.

Today’s info day is the first in a roadshow of three Horizon 2020 events taking place in Turkey throughout the month of May. The two upcoming events will be held in Ankara (16 May) and Istanbul (17 May) and will focus on grant-opportunities for Turkish researchers offered by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions of the Horizon 2020 programme.

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Horizon 2020: Open to the World 

Horizon 2020 is the largest multinational programme dedicated to research and innovation and it is ‘Open to the World.’ This means that researchers, universities, research organisations or companies from across the globe can apply to participate in the activities of the Work Programme carried out through calls for proposals. The Work Programme for 2018-2020 represents a major investment of €30 billion, with more than 600 calls for proposals, including a list of 30 international flagship initiatives in areas of mutual benefit.

Follow updates on Horizon 2020 and EU-international research cooperation on Twitter: @EU_H2020

For press inquiries please contact:

Miray Akdağ  M +90 532 624 93 56, Tel: +90 312 4598877

miray.akdag@eeas.europa.eu