We would like to invite you to participate in the initiative to apply to the European Commission for funds for a European Doctoral Research Training Site (ITN) on "Probing the violent Universe through advanced technologies". 
Please find attached an outline of the proposal. 

What are we applying for:

Our goal is to initiate a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN). Within the ITN it would be ideal to have 6-8 partners. In total we could ask for a maximum of 16 PhD students. The ITN can be funded for up to 4 years, each student will be paid for maximum of 3 years. However, an important requirement for such a proposal is to include industrial partners (in the broadest sense). Specifically, there can be two levels of industry participation: (a) as full or (b) as  associated partners. Nevertheless, our intention is to include at least one industry partner as a full partner.

The application deadline is December 22, 2009 (5 p.m., Brussels time).

The ultimate goal: 

The motivation of an ITN is to successfully train graduate students for the "job market", in either the public or private sector. We therefore take the responsibility to develop a concise and detailed joint research and training plan, including training in "soft skills" in order to achieve this goal.

What do we get:

The Marie Curie Program is reimbursing 100% of all costs. Specifically, it covers the total personnel cost for the students to be trained, a lump sum for training costs and networking costs. 

Marie Curie rules:

The Marie Curie rules include the obligation of mobility. Hence, we cannot fund our own staff. Students to benefit from the ITN have to be from a country other than that of their participating node. For instance, a German student residing in Germany cannot be funded by the ITN etc. There is no limit in hiring students from outside Europe!

What you need to do now:

We believe that  your expertise would boost the potential of this network and therefore we would like to ask you to participate in this ambitious effort. Please confirm your will to participate by email, until:

Friday September 11, 2009

Once the participating nodes are finalised we will invite all the participating sides to a face-to-face discussion in Bonn in October 2009 in order to start immediately with the final proposal composition.

Should you have any inquires For any question feel free to contact us.

Warmest regards,

Emmanouil Angelakis and J. Anton Zensus