The online database includes information on research institutions, universities, companies and public organisations, as well as individual researchers, from Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and the newly independent states. Visitors to the website can search for partners by research field, country or language.
In addition to contact details and fields of activity, the profiles featured on the site include details of prior experience in European and international research projects. New information is constantly being uploaded into the database, as more researchers and research groups add their details.
The project partners hope that the database will boost the participation of scientists from Eastern Europe in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The database is just one tool the project is using to achieve this goal. During the past few months, the partners have held workshops on FP7 in the target countries. In a recent interview with CORDIS News, the project coordinator, Maria Koutrokoi of the National Documentation Centre in Greece, explained that many scientists in Eastern Europe thought that they were not allowed to participate in FP7 and did not understand the rules fully.
The NIS-NEST project is financed under the “New and emerging science and technology” (NEST) activity of the Sixth Framework Programme. The project partners come from Greece, France, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
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