June 23, Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council (ERC), and Dr. Laurent Bochereau, Minister-Counselor and Director of Scientific Environment Division of the EU’s delegation in China, paid a visit to Tsinghua University. The General Office of Scientific R&D invited representatives from the School of Aerospace Engineering, the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, the School of Environment, the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, the Department of Engineering Physics, the School of Public Policy & Management, the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Electronic Engineering, including Fu Song, Li Jinhui, Lu Wei, and Li Shizhong, to take part in the forum.
Prof. Bourguignon introduced the organizational structure and funding policy of the ERC, as well as the situation of foreign universities that apply frequently for EU projects. Dr. Bochereau introduced other supporting plans, including the short-term exchange projects of the ERC and the National Natural Science Foundation, and projects co-supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Tsinghua staff and students discussed with Prof. Bourguignon and Dr. Bochereau a range of issues concerning both ERC projects and other projects within the EU framework. Prof. Bourguignon and Dr. Bochereau emphasized that the ERC projects run from bottom to top and are open to all academic disciplines. The discussion was hosted by Director Ma Jun of the Overseas R&D Management Office.
The current European Union (EU) Framework Programme (FP7) is one of the biggest official scientific and technological projects in the world today, with a high research level and a wide research area coverage, providing strong funding support for the numerous participant countries. The first EU framework programme was started in 1984. The European Research Council is a subsidiary institution under the European Commission, as well as the major sponsor of the FP7 and Horizon 2020 programs, the total budget of which from 2014 to 2020 exceeds 13 billion Euros. Tsinghua University first participated in FP3 in 1993, and since then has been involved in 86 supporting projects. According to current statistics, FP7 has so far included support for 22 projects involving Tsinghua University, of which 9 are for part of the Horizon 2020 program.
[update:2017-06]
