Dear Marie Curie fellows,

It is our pleasure to invite you to this year's Annual General Meeting of the Marie Curie Fellows Association, which will be held in Paris, France, on the last weekend of November. This is a great opportunity to meet other Marie Curie fellows from all over Europe and to share your experience in science and mobility. The programme will also include a one-day career workshop for PhD students and postdocs where you will learn essential tips and tricks for advancing your career. There will be a special guest to the workshop – the editor from Science magazine who will talk about science writing and publishing.

All current and former Marie Curie fellows are welcome to this meeting! Please make a note in you calendar and book your transportation tickets now.

Below you will find the draft programme of the meeting and some practical information.  Looking forward to seeing you in Paris. If you have any questions about the meeting, please do not hesitate to write to office@mariecurie.org or call +33.6.62.50.05.65

[PROGRAMME]    [PRE-REGISTRATION]    [REGISTRATION FEES]    [LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION]    [ACCOMMODATION]

FINAL PROGRAMME:

Friday, 27 November
Institut Curie, 1 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (5th district)
17:00(!) Visit to Curie museum         (note the new time; changed twice)
18:00 Informal get-together (library, entrance from the yard, 1st floor (above the groundfloor))

Saturday, 28 November
Paris Observatory, 77 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, Paris (14th district)
Workshop "the Career Plan" including the following sessions:
   9:00 General introduction
9:15 Career Plan: How to get where you want (Frank Heemskerk, Vanessa Díaz Zuccarini, Guggi Kofod)
   10:45 coffee break
11:15 Your selling points: How to identify your skills and communicate them (Natalia Balcázar)
   12:15 lunch (sandwiches will be served)
13:30 Your life on paper: How to build a good CV (Katrina Gray, Career Adviser, University of Glasgow, UK)
14:45 Say it right: The job interview (Katrina Gray, Career Adviser, University of Glasgow, UK)
   16:00 coffee break
16:30 Boost your CV: How to publish a scientific article (Dr Maria Cruz, Editor, Science magazine, UK)
17:30 Free time

Sunday, 29 November
Paris Observatory, 77 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, Paris (14th district)
9:00 MCFA Annual General Assembly – MCFA members only
- Presentation of annual Activity and Financial reports
- Election of the new Administrative Board
- Confirmation of last year's decision about the change of Statutes
- Discussion of future activities
   12:00 lunch (sandwiches will be served)
12:30 MCFA Annual Meeting – Open session (Invited representatives from the EC, NCP - TBC)
15:00 Free time


PRE-REGISTRATION:

The pre-registration is now closed

The workshop is open to the present and former beneficiaries of the Marie Curie mobility grants. The registration fee is 60 Euros, including the MCFA membership fee for 2010.  We will send you more details about the workshop and payment once you will be  registered.

The General Meeting (excluding the workshop) is of course free of charge, but it is only open to the full members of the MCFA in 2009.

REGISTRATION FEES:

Please keep in mind that the travel and participation costs for this event can be charged to your Marie Curie project (Part D: Participation expenses of eligible researchers).

The registration fee for the career workshop on Saturday is 60 Euros including the full MCFA membership for 2010. The registration fee can be paid using one of the options below:

1) by international bank transfer to:
BENEFICIARY: Association des Boursiers Marie Curie
IBAN: BE21 0001 8499 8703
BIC: BPOTBEB1XXX     (or simply BPOTBEB1)
BANK: Banque de La Poste, 56 rue des Colonies, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgique
MESSAGE: Workshop - <Your Full Name>

2) by credit card payment using our membership fee payment form at http://mcfa.eu/site/memberArea/onlinePayment.php (after logging in in the upper right corner of the MCFA start-page). If you choose to pay by credit card, be sure to add the MCFA's certificate in the list of security exceptions of your web browser. In the payment form, in addition to your credit card details, please specify the following information:
MEMBERSHIP FEE (EURO): 40
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION (EURO): 20
TOTAL AMOUNT TO WITHDRAW FROM YOUR CREDIT CARD (EURO): 60
COMMENTS: Workshop Paris 2009 including membership 2010

As soon as we receive your payment, you will receive a confirmation from the MCFA treasurer. In case of any problems or questions regarding the payment of the registration fee, please contact the treasurer at treasurer@mariecurie.org.

LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION:

A map showing the location of the meeting venue, the Curie museum (visit on Friday evening), the train stations, and the airport terminals is available here from Google Maps. You can click on the RER and metro stations to display the main public transportation lines.

Below you will also find a map of the Paris Observatory campus:

Entrance: 77, Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris (between builings number 17 and 18). The meeting room is number 16.

How to get there:
By Bus: line 38 stop Hopital Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.  Lines 83 or 91 stop Observatoire-Port Royal
By Subway: stations Port Royal (RER B) or Denfert-Rochereau (RER B or metro lines M4 or M6).
The "RER B" suburban train line provides a convenient link between the meeting site at Observatoire de Paris, the Marie Curie museum, the touristic center of Paris, the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the Orly (ORY) airport (via the OrlyVal metro to Antony), the Gare du Nord station (with trains to the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany). The Gare de l'Est station (with trains to Germany and Switzerland) is at a 5min-walk to the Gare du Nord station, where you can catch the RER B.

All these locations are shown on the personalized Google map for the meeting. You can also compute itineraries, find maps, and information about tickets on www.ratp.info/. Concerning tickets: all the city of Paris is one zone for the "Ticket t+" transportation ticket, which includes transfers in general, but excludes transfers between metro (or RER) and bus. The train stations shown on the map are all inside city of Paris. Airports are located outside of the city of Paris and need special tickets (little less than 10 euros for CDG or OrlyVal, 6.40 euros for Orly by bus to Denfert-Rochereau). The "Paris Visite" pass is designed for tourists and is not interesting for other kinds of visitors in general.

ACCOMMODATION

Hotel booking websites

http://www.venere.com/
http://www.expedia.com/

Hotels not far from the Paris Observatory:
Hôtel Beauvoir, 43, avenue Georges Bernanos - 75005 Paris,
Hotel Pierre Nicole, 39, rue Pierre Nicole, 75005 Paris, Tél: 01 43 54 76 86
Hotel Diana, 73 rue Saint Jacques 75005 Paris
Hôtel Henri IV, 9-11, Rue Saint Jacques, 75005 Paris
Hôtel Novanox, 155, Boulevard Du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris
Hotel Istria Saint Germain, 29, Rue Campagne Premiere, 75014 Paris
Hotel Campanile, 146, Avenue du Maine, 75014 Paris

Budget accommodation options in and around Paris:
HI hostels (or http://www.fuaj.org/)
MIJE hostels
http://www.etaphotel.com/ (motel style)
http://www.hotelformule1.com (no bathroom in the room)