"Researchers without frontiers"
MCFA General Assembly 2019 - Update
Dear members,
for the one of you that want to use the online participation at the General Assembly 2019 please use this link: https://talky.io/MCFA. The best ist to use it with the Browsers Mozilla Firefox or Chrome, Safari gives sometimes problems. You only need to join the call, not installation is needed.
As we expected not to reach the quorum, you can join short before 11:00 h, where the Extraordinary General Assembly will start.
For the Administrative Board we have received only 2 candidatures (Gianna Avellis and Natalia Balcazar). The consequence is, that we will not be able to elect a new board and the actual board will stay temporary active until the Association ist closed. All the data that are actually in our database will be deleted according with the actual Data Security Law in Europa. We will send a last information to all of you short before the database will be deleted.
The Facebook group will stay working thanks the voluntary engagement of some members. In the future, after closing MCFA, it will be under the umbrella of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu). For the one of you that have not join MCAA until now, we encourage you to do it soon. Great activities are planned in this year!
See you on Sunday!
Natalia Balcazar, Chair, in name of the Administrative Board
MCFA General Assembly 2019
Dear MCFA member or affiliate,
we invite you to the celebration of our biannual General Assembly. The meeting will take place in Duisburg on the 7th of April 2019 with following agenda:
09:30 in situ / on-line Registration
10:00 Start of the Ordinary General Assembly (only for MCFA members)
In case no quorumis reached, there will be a networking slot and the Extraordinary General Assembly
will start one hour later with the same agenda, as stipulated at the statutes.
11:00 Start of the Extraordinary General Assembly (only for MCFA members)
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Welcome, Agenda
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Activity report, including the relationship to MCAA
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Financial report
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Discharge of the Administrative Board
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Proposal to dissolve the MCFA and to relocate the activities into the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) – next steps
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Election of the new Administrative Board
14:00 Lunch time and end
Please register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mcfa-general-assembly-2019-tickets-58399570688
At the MCFA General Assembly, a new Administrative Board will be elected. Any member can candidate to join the Administrative Board. If you are interested please send an email to office@mcfa.eu with your profile and your motivation to candidate until Friday 29th March 2019.We will present all the candidates onhttp://mcfa.eu/on the days before of the General Assembly.
Please consider that only full members have the right to vote at the General Assembly and to be candidate for the Administrative Board. In case it is necessary, you can still pay the membership fee for 2019, at http://mcfa.eu/site3/?q=membership2 (accessible once logged in to http://mcfa.eu/ ).
We will be happy to see you in Duisburg or get your vote on-line. Instructions about how to do it on-line will be sent per email.
The MCFA Administrative Board
Reasons for the Proposal to dissolve the MCFA and to relocate the activities into the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA)
Since the foundation of the MCAA in November 2013 many of the MCFA active members have supported the start activities of the MCAA. The MCFA itself was in the same manner founded 1996 by the European Commission and after 3 years of financial support, became independent due to lack of further founding. Therefore, the Administrative Board of the MCFA had decided to wait, until it was clear, that the MCAA can be sustainable. In this past 6 years, the MCAA has continuously growth until reach today more than 13000 members. It seems, that in few years, with the actions done mainly by the second and actual third MCAA Boards, the Alumni Association can be able in middle term to support itself.
The MCFA Chair was invited to participate at a meeting together with the MCAA Board members during the MCAA Board meeting on the 22nd of February 2019 before the 6thGeneral Meeting in Vienna. During this meeting the MCAA Board recognized that MCFA has a long history dating back to the early days of the Marie Curie Actions (FP5). It was offered the possibility to include this history as part of the previous activities to the foundation of the MCAA at the MCAA website. The MCAA recognizes as well that decisions about MCFA funding and the future of MCFA lie solely with the MCFA and its members.
As the MCAA offers meanwhile the same possibilities for members to contribute as the MCFA did in former times – mainly through Working Groups and (national/regional) Chapters – the MCFA has reduced all activities in these areas. All MCFA members are eligible to be members of MCAA, and we know that many of them already are. The effort to contact each MCFA member to ask if she/he allows the MCFA Board to forward their data to the MCAA is too much work to be done by the voluntary MCFA Board members. Therefore we appeal all the MCFA members, that until now do not did so, to join the MCAA. We will made no data transfer. It will be probably a pity for the data of the first members that joined and that maybe are not following the MCAA, but we cannot afford to do the transfer as the data security laws are expecting to be done.
The only activity that is really “alive” is our Facebook group with 6.5 thousand members. And we could include “Alumni” in the name of the group in case we reach the support of the MCAA for it.
Due to the lack of new members (because we decided to stop advertising MCFA in favour of the MCAA) and the few time available from the volunteers running MCFA at the moment, we the MCFA Administration Board want to propose the dissolution of the Marie Curie Fellows Association.
We, the MCFA Administrative Board will prepare an online voting for the members to agree or disagree with this proposal. In case the proposal is accepted, we will prepare all the necessary legal steps to close the association. The remaining money will be donated to the MCAA bonded to specific support for travel issues in the GEMS Working Group in order to visit conferences and events in name of the GEMS WG, as this kind of travel grants are not at the moment available. The new elected Administrative Board will act then as “liquidateur” panel. In case the members decide that the MCFA should continue, the actual Board will not be available for further leading voluntary work.
Any comments and ideas before the General Assembly are welcome. Please write to mcfa.natalia.balcazar@gmail.com.
We want to thank all the former members that have invested their time and engaged to run the MCFA for more than 20 years. Without that work, the fellowships and the programmes would not have evolved as they have done – in a way to allow more people to have the chance to show how good scientists from and in Europe are. The feedback that MCFA gave and the voluntary work done in panels and committees has led to a more balanced, open and variable offer for all the scientists around the world. We are proud of it. Now it is time to hand over…
EUWIIN - 6th Bi-Annual Euripean & International Women Inventors, Innovators & Entrepreneurs in Bari, Italy
The 6th Bi-Annual European & International Women Inventors, Innovators & Entrepreneurs Exhibition, Conference & Awards 2017 will take place at the wonderful "Salone Degli Affreschi" at the University of Bari, Italy.
EUWIIN is a catalyst Platform for the brillance of new products, processes and services. From building digital infrastructures, new science to low technology, high viability concepts and products, EUWIIN was set up in 2006, specifically to bridge the gender gap and find effective ways of bringing support, tools and information to assist women in achieving significant growth.
More information is available at the file here included.
Career Workshop and General Assembly 2017
We are proud to announce the sponsorship of the Heinrich-Heine-University and of the Association of Spanish Scientists in Germany CERFA. Therefore, the Career Workshop is also open for Post-Graduates, doctorates and post-doc of the Heinrich-Heine-University and for members of CERFA. Check the interesting Agenda!
Due to the sponsorship of CERFA and HHU we can offer the participation of the members of CERFA and the students of HHU at the Career Workshop for free. MCFA members that are up to date with their payments will have also free entrance. Other participants will be asked to pay a fee for the Career Workshop directly on site of 40 EUR.
You can register following this link: http://bit.ly/2iHmyYu
The Haus der Universitaet is really central and you have a broad offer on hotels around. In case you need some support to organize your travel, you can contact the MCFA local organization at the email softskills@enviro-pro.de.
At the General Assembly, we will have the possibility to elect new members for the Administrative Board. This is your chance to get very useful training for personal development! Join us! Candidate for the Board!
You only need to send an email with your profile and your motivation to candidate until Friday 10th February 2017 at office@mcfa.eu. We will present all the candidates online the days before the General Assembly. Please, consider that only full members have the right to vote at the General Assembly and to candidate for the Administrative Board. It still possible to pay the membership fees for 2017, in case this is necessary.
To better prepare the future aspects to be treated at the General Assembly we want to ask you to fulfil following survey, it will be very helpful for us. It will only take two minutes: https://www.onlineencuesta.com/s/19659db
Hope to see you in the city at the Rhine!
The Administrative Board
AGENDA [DRAFT!]
8:45 h Registration
9:00 h CAREER WORKSHOP
Welcome from the MCFA, HHU and CERFA
9:10 h Career Session Block 1
Reading job advertisements: What employers want and how to get there – Christian Dumpitak, HHU
10:15 h Story telling for Scientists – Ulrike Wolpers, Science Stories
11:15 h Coffee Break (15m)
11:30 h Career Session-Block 2
EURODOC – A short view of the network – Claudia Dobrinski, Secretary Coordinator EURODOC
12:15 h What means for the personal development to be active at associations like CERFA, ITWIIN or MCFA. The voice of the experience:
Gianna Avellis, Innova Puglia, Italy
Christos Christoglou, Covestro, Germany
Tanya Romacho, CERFA NRW, Germany
13:00 -13:55 Lunch time
14:00 Start of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY (only for MCFA members)
· Welcome, Agenda
· Activity report, including the relationship to MCAA
· Financial report
· Election of the new Administrative Board
· Future activities
16:30 - 16:45 Coffee break
16:45 - 17:30 Open Space discussion:
- Results of the survey
- What can be the function of the MCFA in the future?
- Which are our motivations and how can we reach more researchers?
19:00 Social event
Invitation to MCFA General Assembly 2015 (2nd meeting)
The second run for the candidacies to become part of the MCFA 2015 Administrative Board is open until 21.04.2015. You can become a candidate by filling up the following form: http://goo.gl/Mf6DUu
As Board Member, you will be part of the decision making team that will implement the outcome of the general assembly during the next year(s). The candidacies are only open to MCFA full members in 2015 (including lifetime members).
You can become part of:
- the Women in Science group
- the Science policy group
- the Letter to Member Editors team
- fund-raising team (to help us raising funds to organize meetings and workshops, strengthening our networking activities)
- You can propose us any activity you think will be valuable for our association!
We strongly encourage you to candidate!
We will also revise our statutes during this General Assembly, making them more up-to-date with the changes in the Marie Curie Actions over the years. Please consider the proposal that is available on our website http://mcfa.eu/files/statutes2015-ym9f/ for a constructive debate during our session. Let us know if you already have any comments!
The agenda of this meeting is (start at 1:30 pm local time):
- Bienvenue, approbation de l'ordre du jour / Welcome of the Chair, approval of the Agenda
- Approbation du rapport moral / Approval of the activity report
- Approbation du rapport financier et du budget / Approval of the financial report and budget
- Décharge aux administrateurs / Discharge to the current board members
- Modification des statuts / Statutes change
- Élection des nouveaux administrateurs / Election of the new board members
- Summary and closing the meeting
Expected finishing time 15:30 pm local time.
You can register here: http://goo.gl/FSmuvZ
We will be happy to meet you in Eindhoven.
MCFA Workshop and General Assembly 2015
AGENDA
9:00 Registration 9:30 Career Session “Researchers’ careers: does Theseus need a new thread across the labyrinth?”
- Research Star? Teaching Star? How to think about career path alternatives as education becomes more important again - Chris Armbruster (Module Machine International, Europe PubMed Central)
- New skills are needed: "Constructive communication" improves you and your networks - Natalia Balcázar (MCFA)
- New paths for science and scientists - Margaux Kersschot (Eurodoc)
- Researchers’ voice on researchers’ careers: outcomes of the MCFA sessions at the ESOF 2014 - Maria Antonietta Buccheri, Maria Bostenaru (MCFA)
- Mobile Researcher Pension Plan - the RESAVER initiative - remote presentation by Andreas Dahlén (European Commission)
- The European Commission perspective: new possibilities for researchers under Horizon 2020 (speaker of the European Commission - to be confirmed)
13:55 Start of the General Assembly (only for MCFA members)
- Welcome, Agenda
- Activity report, including the relationship to MCAA
- Financial report
- Statutes change
- Election of the new Administrative Board
16:45 - 18:00 Open Space discussion:
- What can be the function of the MCFA in the future?
- Which are our motivations and how can we reach more researchers?
19:00 Social event
MCFA at ESOF 2014
European Science Foundation and MCFA co-organized a session on "New concepts of mobility to foster career development and gender balance in Europe" at ESOF 2014 in Copenhagen, with several speakers and roundtable participants from MCFA. A report of the session can be found on the ESF website.
MCFA statement about the MCAA
The Marie Curie Fellows Association (MCFA) is an international and multidisciplinary network of mobile researchers. It was founded in 1996 by the European Commission (EC) to promote the Marie Curie Actions and to provide a networking structure to Marie Curie fellows and fellows from former fellowship programmes like Training and Mobility of Researchers (FP4 and FP5).
