EuroSTELLS began in June 2005 and was completed in September 2008.
The programme was overseen by a Management Committee (MC) formed by one representative of each of the participating national funding agencies and the EUROCORES Programme Coordinator in Medical Sciences. The Assistant to the EUROCORES Programme provided support to the Management Committee and attended the meetings.
An independent international Review Panel (RP) formed of leading experts in the field, with a mandate from the funding agencies, oversaw the scientific aspects of the programme.
ESF supports networking activities to facilitate communication between the different projects, leading to an effective exchange of information and dissemination of results. To this aim, scientific workshops and conferences were organised during EuroSTELLS's lifetime. Web-based resources were used to support the exchange of technical and scientific information and expertise, and to promote effective collaborations with other European researchers working in the field.
The scientific coordination and networking for EuroSTELLS was funded through the EC FP6 Programme, under contract no. ERAS-CT-2003-980409. As of 2009, the National Funding Organisations will provide the funding for both the scientific coordination and networking in addition to the research funding for new EUROCORES Programmes.
Development of the EuroSTELLS Programme
Following agreement with a group of funding agencies from Europe, the European Science Foundation launched a first Call for Proposals for research projects to be undertaken within a EUROCORES programme on the Development of a Stem Cell Tool Box (EuroSTELLS).
The deadline for receipt of Outline Proposals was 30 April 2004. The Guidelines are still available for information here. Some special national requirements are given here.
33 outline proposals were received and assessed by an independent international Review Panel formed of leading scientists in the field. Seven proposals were invited to be submitted as full applications; the deadline for submission of full proposals was 31 October 2004. The Guidelines and Application Form for Full Proposals are still available for information here.
Full proposals were peer-reviewed by international leading experts in the field selected by ESF; suggestions were received from the Review Panel and the participating funding agencies. The full list of referees contacted by ESF can be downloaded here. The investigators were given the opportunity to respond to the referees’ comments.
The Review Panel met in Brussels on 24 February 2005 to assess the full proposals; the RP prioritised and recommended the best applications for funding taking into consideration the referees’ comments, the investigators’ rebuttals and the judgment of the RP members.
Based on the total amount of made available in each country by the national funding agencies supporting the programme, three projects were funded.
The use of funds in a programme is subject to the rules of each national funding agency supporting that project as well as to the national laws of those countries.
