Rules for the appointment of researchers:

The European commission has the following rules for the appointments of Ph.D students and postdocs:

•  Postdocs are defined as researchers who have at the time of the appointment a doctoral degree or a (full-time equivalent) research experience of 4-10 years since obtaining the degree/diploma which gives them access to doctoral studies in the country in which the degree/diploma was obtained.

•  Eligible researchers must be i) "nationals" of the Member States or the Associated States and/or ii) "nationals" of third countries.

•  Researchers must be "nationals" of a State other than that of the host institute. At the start of their fellowship, researchers may not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies) in the country of their host institute for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the selection of the researcher by the host institute. In the case of a national holding more than one nationality, he/she will be eligible in the country of his/her nationality in which he/she has not resided during the previous 5 years. (Short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.)

•  Researchers from Member States or Associated States are eligible for an appointment in their own country if they can provide evidence that they have legally resided and have had their principal activity (work, studies) in a third country for at least 4 of the last 5 years immediately prior to the appointment.

•  Non-nationals from Member States or Associated States having legally resided and having had their main activity (work, studies) for at least 4 of the last 5 years at the reference deadline for appointment in Member/Associated States are treated as "nationals" of the Member/Associated State in which they have resided the longest.

•  A maximum of 30% of the number of funded researcher-months can be used for third country researchers.

The 25 Member States of the European Union are: Austria , Belgium , Cyprus , Czech Republic , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , The Netherlands, Poland , Portugal , Slovak Republic , Slovenia , Spain , Sweden , United Kingdom .

The following countries are Associated: Bulgaria , Romania , Turkey , Iceland , Israel , Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland .