Mobility Centre and Portal Presentation of the FP6 Special Support Action project Latvian Researcher

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Mobility Centre and Portal Presentation of
the FP6 Special Support Action project Latvian
Researchers Mobility Centre establishing and
operation (RESMOB-LATVIA) May 19, 2005

• Success stories, Exchange of experience
• Dr Charles Woolfson Marie Curie Chair, University
  of Latvia

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Brief Profile

• Professor of Labour Studies, School of Law,
  University of Glasgow
• Member of Glasgow Baltic Research Unit
• Former Marie Curie Experienced Researcher
  Fellowship holder, Lithuania
• A sociologist with inter-disciplinary
  perspectives
• What would Marie Curie have said about
  sociologists?

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What is the Marie Curie chair?

• A new action in FP6 under the Marie Curie
  programme
• Forty awards in total to be made 2002-2006
• Covering social and natural sciences at a
  European level (including New Member states)
• Total budget 20million EUROS. Total of 30-40 new
  chairs, with 80-120 PhD theses supervised.
• FP7?

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Marie Curie chair requirements

• The chair holder shall be a world-class
  researcher of any nationality, with outstanding
  past achievements in international collaborative
  research
• A researcher wishing to carry out transnational
  mobility or come back to a Member State, or
  Associated State.

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• Chair award is normally for three years.
• Subjects to be taught - of a leading edge and/or
  multi-disciplinary nature.
• Correspond to directions in research relevant
  for Europe.
• Chair teaches research courses to graduate and/or
  postgraduate students.
• Chair carries out research and supervises
  research and thesis work.

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Wider activities of the chair

• Expected to participate in events designed to
  publicise top level research - via academic and
  practitioner conferences, media presentations,
  etc.
• Expected to demonstrate the attractiveness of
  research careers - via providing mobility and
  personal career advice to younger researchers

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Promoting multidisciplinary studies

• Industrial sociology/industrial relations (social
  dialogue, labour management).
• Legal and regulatory studies of labour market
  issues (European Integration issues eg
  enlargement and implementation).
• Working environment studies (workplace
  occupational health and safety).

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Successes Year 1

• Exchange of experience.
• New teaching and recruitment of PhDs and Masters
  students.
• Publications in English and national languages.
• Seminars delivered and international conference
  presentations.
• Wider outreach activities and provoking debate.
• Chair Years 2 and 3. We have survived In an
  insane world.. (Akira Kurosawa).

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Failures Year 1

• Mastering Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian.
• Learning to drive on wrong side of the road.
• Getting research assistants in each Baltic state.
• Persuading fellow academics and students to
  respond to my emails.
• Finding decent hotel rooms and places to eat that
  do not cost a fortune. Life is cheap, but not
  cheaper (Kurosawa?)

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Chair Successes and Failures Year 1 Judge for
yourself!

• Visit the Marie Curie chair website at
  http//www.eurofaculty.lv/MarieCurie/
• Email me at
• woolfson_at_eurofaculty.lv

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