The EC has awarded grant to the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS

The European Commission has awarded EUR 3 300 000 to the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the largest grants from "Research Potential" activity of the 7th Framework Programme awarded to single Polish research institution. The NOBLESSE grant will allow us to engage in activities that will further improve the quality of research conducted at our institute" said Prof. Robert Ho?yst, director for scientific affairs, and stressed that the Institute is the sole beneficiary of the grant. According to a release the Institute sent to PAP, out of 293 grant applications in the last "Research Potential" 2011 call for proposals only seven scientific institutions were awarded maximum points including the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS. With NOBLESSE grant the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS will be able to employ several researchers from foreign research centres and organise international scientific conferences on research topics pursued at the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS. Also planned are activities aimed at fostering cooperation with industry and related to the protection and valuation of intellectual property. Additionally, according to the release the Institute will purchase a high quality scanning electron microscope. In addition, part of the grant will be spent on forming new research teams. "We focus on young scientists, we want teams to be headed by PhDs without a postdoctoral degrees. The grant is a proof that the European Union supports such activities" - believes Prof. Ho?yst. New teams will work on issues including quantum nanostructures, biospectroscopy, biosensors and the so-called green nanotechnology. Scientists from 16 European countries will involved in the research. According to the release, in 2010 Institute of Physical Chemistry employed 220 researchers in research teams, who published 175 scientific papers in journals from the so-called Philadelphia list (90% of the papers) and received several thousand citations. The institute collaborates with 43 universities and scientific institutions in Poland and abroad, including the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the École Normale Supérieure in France and the Harvard University in the U.S. The 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, implemented since 2007, supports research and technological development. The 7-year programme has a budget of EUR 50 billion, which is mainly spent on research grants for participants from Europe and around the world involved in international research projects that improve the competitiveness of European industry in international markets.