ECTS Career Establishment Award 2011

Deadline for applications 12 November 2010
2010 Award announcement

Online Application Form (Members Only)

Description
The ECTS Career Establishment Award is intended to assist newly-appointed faculty members in launching a successful research career.

to help meet some of the immediate costs of initiating research
to support and stimulate research on calcified tissues and related topics
to serve as a recruitment tool to assist in attracting young researchers to the ECTS

Amount
€20,000 (Euro) over a period of 2 or 3 years, payable in installments
Eligibility
Candidates must fulfill the following criteria

must be within 3 years of being appointed to their first faculty position as an independent researcher within a European (or International – see below) Academic Research Institution
applicant must be a European member of ECTS and be working in a European institution. Applications will be considered from European members who are working in an International institution if a strong case can be presented for performing the research outside of Europe
must be working in an area of research relevant to the aims of the ECTS
previous recipients of an ECTS Postdoctoral Fellowship, ECTS/Amgen/GSK Bone Biology Fellowship, ECTS/Servier Fellowship, ECTS Career Establishment award or ECTS PhD Studentship are not eligible to apply
applicant may only apply for one award (i.e. applicants for ECTS Career Establishment Award may not apply for any other ECTS award in the current year)

Please note

funds are not to be used for university/institution overheads
applicants are encouraged to seek funding from alternative sources for their research. However, successful applicants will be requested to complete a declaration form to state that they have not gained simultaneous funding from another organization towards the support of his/her salary for the same research project. Accordingly, the successful applicant is expected to inform ECTS in this event and the ECTS Board will make appropriate adjustments to the award, up to a complete withdrawal if the amount obtained from the other source covers 100% of the applicant’s salary
applications must be made on-line from the ECTS web site

Review Procedure
All applications are reviewed by an independent panel of reviewers and any conflicts of interest are identified and dealt with appropriately.
The final decision is based on the marks and comments from the reviewers and any conflicts of interest are identified and dealt with appropriately.

Report
Successful applicants will be required to:

submit a written report on the progress of their research at the end of the grant period
present a short outline of their research during the European Symposium on Calcified Tissues

The final installment of the grant will be payable on receipt of the written report

2010 Announcement

One ECTS Career Establishment Award was announced during the 37th European Symposium on Calcified Tissues in Glasgow on Sunday 27 June 2010 in Glasgow to Dr Riku Kiviranta (Turku, Finland)

2010 ECTS Career Establishment Award – Dr Riku Kiviranta

Dr Riku Kiviranta (right) with Professor Roland Baron – ECTS President (left)

Project
Title:	The Role of Early B-cell Factors in the Regulation of Bone Homeostasis and the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Niche
Abstract of research:	Osteoblasts are versatile cells that are responsible for forming new bone and controlling bone resorption but also regulate diverse metabolic functions and hematopoiesis within the hematopoietic stem cell HSC niche in bone marrow. Thus alterations in osteoblast function may contribute in addition to changes in bone mass, to metabolic and hematopoietic diseases. Conversely, osteoblasts may provide novel targets for developing innovative treatments not only for osteoporosis but also for metabolic and hematopoietic disorders. We and others have identified early B-cell factors Ebfs as novel important transcriptional regulators of osteoblasts, but their detailed function and molecular mechanisms of action in these cells remain unclear. This study aims to elucidate the specific roles of Ebf proteins in regulating osteoblast differentiation and function using in vivo mouse genetics and in vitro approaches. Furthermore, we will explore whether Ebf functions in osteoblasts are essential for normal function of the HSC niche.

Previous award winners

2009 Simone Cenci (Milan, Italy)
2008 Frank de Vries (Utrecht, The Netherlands)
2008 Julie Crocket (Aberdeen, UK)
2007 Marcel Karperien (Twente, The Netherlands)

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