THE MOREBRAIN CONSORTIUM

MOREBRAIN: Brain Circulation from Brain Drain to Brain Gain is an FP7 funded Coordination and Support Action which was funded under the call for 'Transnational Collaboration among EURAXESS Services Network Partners'.  The partners involved are Ireland, Spain and Iceland with the coordinator from Israel.

MOREBRAIN CONCEPT AND OBJECTIVE

MOREBRAIN is examining the brain drain issue in Europe and analyzing whether Service Centres, as promoters of the Mobility of Researchers, are enhancing the brain drain factor or can act creatively to convert this problem into an advantage?

The consortium developed a questionnaire for distribution to researchers to find out the reasons why researchers pursue a research career out of Europe and remain there and why researchers choose to return to their home country in Europe.

We can't control mobility of researchers; however understanding the factors which influence the stream in each direction makes it possible to overcome this problem. Understanding existing factors and creating new factors which can be controlled might make it possible to convert brain drain into brain gain. For this reason the project will introduce in the questionnaire new concepts of 'e-reintegration' and co-sharing and study their feasibility. The concept of e-reintegration is based on the option of a researcher conducting the research in a visiting country (away from his home country) and being electronically connected to the home country by electronic means. The concept of co-sharing is based on partial time that the researcher will spend in the home country while most of the time he will work from the visiting country using e-reintegration.

MOREBRAIN - IMPACT ON THE EURAXESS SERVICES NETWORK

These activities will enhance the overall performance of the EURAXESS Services Network by improving the coherence and quality of the services offered by the network of Service Centres and by ultimately offering new concepts of e-reintegration and co-sharing positions to mobile researchers. Introducing these concepts to the other Service Centres will encourage the sharing of good practice among the partners of the EURAXESS network. By instilling this knowledge, the Service Centres should be able to influence the factors which lead to reintegration on a daily basis and simultaneously increase brain circulation in Europe through e-reintegration and co-sharing positions. The initial results will be presented to the EU policy makers for discussion to serve as a catalyst for decision making and future policy in this field.