Brussels, 05/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The first Marie Curie prizes for research were awarded on Monday 5 November to three scientists - from Greece, the United Kingdom and Israel - the European Commission announced. The three winners are Gkikas Magiorkinis (Greece) - in the “Promising Research Talent” category, Claire Belcher (United Kingdom) - in the “Communicating Science” category, and Sarit Sivan (Israel) - in the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” category.
European Commissioner for Education Androulla Vassiliou said - at this time of negotiations for the 2014-2020 budget - that “it is vital that we continue to invest strongly in European research”. Research “contributes to solving great societal challenges in areas such as health and the environment”, and is “also important for the European economy”, she said. Among the conditions for winning the prize, the researchers should have been given funding under the Marie Curie Actions that were established by the Commission to support researchers' careers. Since 1996 Marie Curie Actions have enabled more than 65,000 researchers from nearly 130 countries to train or pursue research work abroad, according to the Commission. The Marie Curie Actions were awarded an envelope of €4.7 billion for the 2007-2013 period and the Commission has proposed €5.75 billion for the 2014-2020 period. (LC/transl.fl)