MOBEL GRANTS · Incoming and returning fellowships from the Belgian Science Policy Office

BELSPO supports activities which are of overall importance on the national and international level, including the stimulation of international mobility of researchers. The following 2 mobility schemes have been developed over the years, in concordance with political changes and the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA): A. Post-doc fellowships to non-EU researchers: initiated in 1991, with the objective to provide opportunities for highly-qualified foreign scientists to have a stay in Belgian research, in order to have access to european" infrastructure capacities and to build lasting cooperation links. So far 673 fellowships were granted for a total of about 10.5 million EUR (budget 2009 :750.000 EUR), distributed over 41 countries of origin. B. Return grants: initiated in 2002, in the frame of the ERA, the scheme aims to reintegrate talented Belgian researchers performing a post-doc stay in a foreign country with the prospect to valorise their expertise gained abroad and to continue their carreer in a Belgian environment. Annual budget : 1.240.000 EUR, up to now 100 mandates have been granted for a total of about 8.7 million EUR. The present project would allow BELSPO not only to increase the number of fellowships and return grants but also to ameliorate some modalities: - for the non-EU postdoc fellowships the targeted countries would be enlarged by adding f.i. Asian countries such as China