Science4Refugees - Support to highly skilled refugee scientists

The Science4Refugees initiative is directed towards refugee researchers/scientists who have applied for and been granted asylum in a host country, which will enable them to continue their educational path or enter the labour market. Under the header "Science4Refugees" a number of initiatives will be brought together on the EURAXESS portal.

Information available on the education level of recently arrived asylum seekers and refugees points to a rather wide distribution in terms of education level. In Germany, the share of those who attended university was on average around 20% according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees but it varies widely across countries of origin and the same is true in Sweden. In any case, there is evidence that at least part of the recently arrived refugees have a tertiary education degree and intend to pursue their studies or research in the host country. To integrate them into Europe's research system, specific measures are required in terms of enhancing the employability and the skills of refugees.

The objective of this action is to scale up existing initiatives and bring them to a European level.

Scope

This action will support activities at the institutional, regional or national level to scale up their activities for refugees from a regional to a European level. These initiatives will give refugees researchers/scientists the opportunity to develop their knowledge and careers by improving their skills and experience.

The initiatives will have the potential to be scaled up to a European level during the implementation phase, with a take-up on the EURAXESS portal, eg. databases for language courses or webinars on entrepreneurship and other training needs.

This action is aimed at entities which have established initiatives (minimum 2 years) to support refugee researchers/scientists to update their skills and employability at the European labour market. Entities dealing with the first basic needs of refugees such as accommodation or clothing, or educational needs for children, are not targeted.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the order of EUR 100 000 would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nevertheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected Impact

provide financial and employability support to initiatives that support the integration of refugees into their new employment setting and culture, and to prepare refugees for the highly competitive and highly skilled job market. The visibility of these financially supported initiatives will be increased by making use of the EURAXESS Portal for dissemination, giving them high EU visibility & offering EU coordination support. In the medium term, the action aims at supporting research jobs and growth; it will increase the number of highly skilled workers who are sufficiently prepared to access the European labour market by using their newly gained skills and experience through the supported actions.