The European Commission’s first Marie Curie prizes honored the Greek medical researcher Gkikas Magiorkinis in the ‘Promising Research Talent’ category for his work on tracing how the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has spread around the world.
According to European Business, the prize, comprising a trophy and a certificate, is based on the EU program Marie Curie Actions which has supported the work of more than 65,000 researchers since its launch in 1996.
“We have created this new award to highlight the excellence and talent of Europe’s best young researchers,” European education commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said at the award ceremony in Nicosia, Cyprus.
“It is vital that we continue to invest strongly in European research, which contributes to solving great societal challenges in areas such as health and the environment,” Vassiliou said.
The Marie Curie Actions have a budget of 4.7 billion euros ($6.0 billion) for 2007-13 and the Commission wants to increase this to 5.75 billion euros in 2014-20. However, its overall 2014-20 budget based on a 5.0 percent increase to 1.03 trillion euros is controversial, with net contributors such as France, Germany and Britain calling for sharp cuts to match those they are having to implement at home.
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