COFIT · COFIT (COFUND International Trade)

COFIT (COFUND International Trade)

Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes (COFUND) has been instrumental in offering EU funding to render research training and career development more international. In this context, the World Trade Institute (WTI) and its Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) - Trade Regulation established a COFUND International Trade Fellowship Programme. This was achieved through the EU-funded COFIT (COFUND international trade) project, which offers incoming mobility and reintegration schemes to nationals from eligible countries. Pursuing intensive training and career development objectives, COFIT awarded experienced researchers incoming and reintegration fellowships to join the WTI and its National Centre of Competence in Research. It enhanced transnational mobility within COFUND by attracting fellows from EU Member States and Associated Countries, giving the fellows access to networking relations, expertise, career opportunities and financing possibilities in Switzerland. In total, the project has successfully employed four European postdoctoral fellows. They have published 3 books, 19 peer-reviewed articles, 2 non peer-reviewed articles, 10 working papers and 5 case notes. They have also benefited from opportunities to travel to countries including China, India, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States in order to present their work under the umbrella of COFIT. In total 40 presentations around the world have been given by 4 COFIT fellows. Considering the rapid turnover in academia, most of our fellows have made significant progress in their career since finishing their COFIT fellowship. One became a Professor of European and International Law at Queen Mary University of London. Another stayed on at the WTI as a senior researcher and is now Coordinator of the Doctoral School. A third joined the Department of Politics at the University of York as a lecturer. All these positions are highly prestigious in their respected fields. Further, COFIT has gained important experience in retaining research within Europe and hopes to repeat this exercise within the EU's upcoming Framework Programme, Horizon 2020. This will undoubtedly integrate Switzerland further into the European Research Area (ERA) and ensure its place as a key player in Europe, strengthening its bonds with the EU. List of host organizations: NCCR Trade Regulation World Trade Institute University of Bern Hallerstrasse 6 CH-3012 Bern public website of the project: http://www.nccr-trade.org/cofit/

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз