Page 41 - Revista del Observatorio de la Internacionalización de la Educación SuperiorVol 3. 2019

State of Play in the EU–CELAC Common Research Area
de sole, m.

scientific dialogue, the participants committed their commitment towards the development of a regio-
to developing a regional mobility portal for nal portal for researchers in CELAC, based on synergies
researchers in CELAC, founded on the previous such as the ‘Ibero-American Knowledge Area’.
experience of the EU in the Euraxess portal.
2. Research infrastructure: the SOM endorsed the To assess the state of play for researcher mobi-
launch of the working group for policy coordina- lity in the EU and CELAC, we interviewed Boryana
tion on research infrastructure (RI) as a first step Yotova, a policy officer for the European Commis-
towards establishing more structured bi-regional sion Directorate-General for Education, Youth,
cooperation on RI. This group will ensure policy Sport and Culture, Directorate C, Innovation, Inter-
coordination and sharing of best practices in national Cooperation and Sport, Unit C.2, Marie
policy development and in mapping of RI. Skłodowska-Curie Actions
3. Societal challenges: discussions focused on
progress made in the thematic groups and on How many researchers from CELAC countries
the large-scale topics potentially related to are participating in MSCA, and how many
Horizon 2020, specifically devoted to interna- Europeans are choosing CELAC countries for
tional cooperation with the CELAC region in the their research?
areas of health, sustainable urbanisation and
clean urban transport. Since 2014, a total of 1005 researchers from
CELAC countries have been supported by the
MSCA. Argentina has sent the most of its nationals
Mobility of Researchers of all 33 CELAC countries, with 292 supported
fellows, followed by Colombia (160), Brazil (155),
The EU–CELAC JIRI Seventh Senior Officials Mee- Chile (126) and Mexico (100). In all, 599 research
ting on Science and Technology of 2 October 2017, and innovation staff members from CELAC coun-
held in San Salvador, El Salvador, again prioritised tries have taken part in short-term exchanges in the
researcher mobility. The joint communiqué issued RISE action, with their main destinations in Europe
after this meeting states the following: being Spain, the UK, Italy, Germany and France.
In addition, 152 postdoctoral researchers from
The Participants welcomed the progress made CELAC countries have obtained MSCA fellowships
within the EU–CELAC Common Research Area and to work mainly in the UK, Spain and France, while
agreed on concrete actions under each of its three another 254 nationals have gone to other European
pillars. 8. Under the pillar of mobility of researchers: countries (primarily Germany, Spain and France)
a) The Participants stressed the importance of efficient for doctoral-level training funded by the MSCA.
tools and instruments to inform on existing national, Over the same period, CELAC organisations have
2
regional and European programmes supporting mobi- hosted 525 MSCA fellows, including 13 European
lity of researchers, such as the European Research postdoctoral researchers (from Italy, the UK, Spain,
Council grants, Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Cyprus)
Actions for international mobility and Erasmus+ Pro- under IF, and there are a total of 443 research and
gramme in Latin America and in the Caribbean. b) The innovation staff members seconded by European
3
Participants welcomed the opening of the EURAXESS countries under RISE (the majority of them are
Worldwide Network to CELAC as a way to provide
information on mobility, jobs and funding opportuni- 2 'European' in the meaning of EU Member States and
H2020 Associated Countries.
ties for CELAC researchers in Europe, and re-iterated 3 Idem.

Revista Obies • Bogotá-Colombia • Vol. 3 de 2019 • pp. 38-43
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