Introduction

On 23 February 1994, an Agreement relating to Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Australia and the European Community was signed.

This Agreement, the first of its kind that the European Community had concluded with an industrialised country outside Europe, addresses both ways of cooperation. It allows Australian researchers to participate as full partners in some EC supported R&D projects on a self-funded basis. It also confirms the participation of European scientists in Australian programmes, again on a self-funded basis.

Click here for full text of the Agreement Relating to Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Australia and the European Community.

With the benefits of cooperation acknowledged by both parties, the 1994 Agreement was amended on 9 December 1999 to extend the scope for collaboration.

Click here for full text of the 1999 Agreement amending the scope of the basic Agreement

Scope

The Agreement now allows for Australians to cooperate, on a self-funded basis, in all activities within the thematic programmes of the EU's Framework Programme on Research and Technological Development. Those elements of the Framework Programme facilitating networks between infrastructure operators and related research projects are also open to Australian cooperation (note: researcher exchanges or fellowships are not included within the scope of the Agreement). Details on areas currently covered are given below in the section on Framework Programme Collaboration.

To be within the scope of the Agreement, collaborative projects and networks must have a European dimension in its collaboration (i.e. include partners from at least 2 Member States of the European Union or 1 Member State of the European Union plus an associated European State).

Collaborative projects between Australia and only one EU Member State are considered to be bilateral collaboration. Under the principle of subsidiarity, such collaboration falls outside the competencies of the European Union and does not fall within the scope of the Agreement. See below for links for such bilateral cooperation.

Further information is available in the following downloadable background note which:

• gives an outline of the European Community/Australia Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement and experience to date;
• highlights what is meant by "Community" level research and the Fifth Framework Programme; and
• describes some of the practical modalities and benefits of such cooperation.

Click here to download Science and Technology Background.

For elaboration on 10 golden rules for Australians interested in cooperation at an EU level click here.

Further general information on collaboration with the EU from an Australian perspective, potential sources of funding for Australian participation and links on Australian research capabilities can be obtained from the ISR web site.

The National Health and Medical Research Council has established a limited fund to offer some support towards Australian participation in health and medical research projects selected for funding under the European Commission's Fifth Framework programme - Quality of life and management of living resources. In addition, the synchronisation of funding decisions and the acceptance of the European peer assessment process as the basis for determining the scientific excellence of research proposals will further remove technical obstacles to collaboration. For further details see: http://www.health.gov.au/nhmrc/funding/index.htm .

Framework Programme Collaboration

The Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) is valid from 1999 to 2002. It has four broad thematic programmes, made up of what are know as key actions, activities of a generic nature and support for research infrastructure:

Theme 1: Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources (LIFE or QoL)

a) key actions:

i) Food, Nutrition and Health
ii) Control of infectious diseases
iii) The "Cell Factory"
iv) Environment and Health
v) Sustainable Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
vi) The Ageing Population and Disabilities

b) activities of a generic nature

c) support for research infrastructure

For further detail see: http://www.cordis.lu/life/

Theme 2: User-friendly Information Society (IST)

a) key actions:

i) Systems and Services for the Citizen
ii) New Methods of Work and Electronic Commerce
iii) Multimedia Content and Tools
iv) Essential Technologies and Infrastructures

b) activities of a generic nature

c) support for research infrastructure

For further detail see: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/

Theme 3: Competitive and Sustainable Growth (GROWTH)

a) key actions:

i) Innovative Products, Processes and Organisation
ii) Sustainable Mobility and Intermodality
iii) Land Transport and Marine Technologies
iv) New Perspectives in Aeronautics

b) activities of a generic nature

c) support for research infrastructure

For further detail see: http://www.cordis.lu/growth/ and http://www.ec.europa.eu/research/growth/index.html

and

International Scientific Cooperation Policy Newsletter

Theme 4: Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (EESD)
this theme is divided into two parts:

A. Environment and Sustainable Development

a) key actions:

i) Sustainable Management and Quality of Water
ii) Global Change, Climate and Biodiversity
iii) Sustainable Marine Ecosystems
iv) The City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage

b) activities of a generic nature

c) support for research infrastructure

B. Energy

a) key actions:

i) Cleaner Energy Systems, including Renewables
ii) Economic and Efficient Energy

b) activities of a generic nature

For further detail see: http://www.cordis.lu/eesd/

In addition, Australians can participate in the Access to Research Infrastructures element of the Improving Human Research Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base Programme.

For further detail see: http://www.cordis.lu/improving/src/hp_ari.htm

Australians can participate in other areas of FP5, again on a self-funding basis, if their participation is considered to be "in conformity with the interest of the Community" and is of "substantial added value" for implementing all or part of the specific programme. The interest of the Community and the substantial added value must be clearly indicated in the proposal. This same criteria also applies to countries without an S&T Agreement, such as New Zealand.

Click here to keep abreast of developments and obtain more detailed information on the FP5.

Australia's participation in FP5

Provisional data for Calls for Proposals to date indicate that 52 proposals have been received involving Australian partners, with 12 of these either being launched or already selected for contract negotiation. A further project had been selected, but the Australian partner withdrew due to funding difficulties.

By programme, five of these projects are in the LIFE Programme; four are in the IST Programme; two in the GROWTH programme; and one in the ARI sub-programme.

Examples of joint projects are available on the FEAST website.

Bilateral Cooperation

Often the most appropriate form of collaboration is at the bilateral level, with Australian researchers working with their counterparts from just one EU Member State. Links to bilateral programmes between EU Member States and Australia are as follows:

France: http://www.france.net.au/frames_eng.html

Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology cooperation

Germany: http://www.germanembassy.org.au/culture.htm

Italy: http://www.ambcanberra.esteri.it/Ambasciata_Canberra/

United Kingdom: http://forums.mindsetuk.com/setup/funding/

Australian Research Council: http://www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/linkage/international/default.htm

Australian Academy of Science: http://www.science.org.au/internat

this page last updated July 7, 2006