At UiT with prestigious Marie Curie Scholarship

Marie Curie Fellow, Claudia Cinelli. Photo: Trude Haugseth Moe

Dr. Cinelli was granted the scholarship for a post doc project about the role of the EU in the Arctic. She looks at which commercial interests exists in the Arctic, how they act and which responsibility they have for the environment.

- It is hard competition internationally for Marie Curie scholarships, so that Tromsø was chosen, matters a lot to us - it is prestigious for us, says professor Tore Henriksen, the leader of the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS) at UiT –The Arctic University of Norway.

Holds workshop with leading professors

Monday, Claudia Cinelli will hold a workshop as her first dissemination activity, to show the mid-way results of her research. Leading professors from Norway, The Netherlands, Italy and the UK are expected.

Interest for the Arctic in the EU

Cinelli explains that in 2008, the EU launched a new interest of the Arctic. The EU has an intention to develop a specific policy for the Arctic, and needs more studies about the Arctic to develop a strategy for sustainability and security.

- So my project was very relevant for the EU, Cinelli says.

She explains that three main factors are important in the competition for the Marie Curie scholarship: Your CV has to show high quality and independent research as well as mobility skills; that you have studied or done research in several EU countries. (Cinelli has been in Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and in Norway)

Also, your topic of research must match the expertise of the host institution, and finally, the topic has to be relevant for the EU.

The highest expertise

- The host institution must have the highest expertise on the topic and be prestigious – which the JCLOS definitely is, Cinelli means.

Cinelli explains that the host institution is examined carefully, and the person in charge, professor Tore Henriksen’s CV was relevant: he is “high profile” in the field, according to dr. Cinelli.

- A “Marie Curie” also contributes by new networks to the other research institutions she is connected to, and she creates activity at the Centre by giving workshops etc. Being chosen for this program is very positive for JCLOS, professor Henriksen says.

The EU’s web pages say this about the Marie Cure scholarship: “This action is meant to support the best, most promising individual researchers from anywhere in the world.”

- The researchers being chosen for Marie Cure are very good, The host institutions, too: they are among the 10 percent of the appliers that are weighed and found heavy enough, says Per Magnus Kommandantvold from The research Council of Norway. He would like more Norwegian institutions to apply, though, saying that Norwegian institutions send fewer applications compared with other European countries.

Claudia Cinelli by the glacier "Sarkofagen", Svalbard, Photo: UiT

Loves Tromsø

Claudia Cinelli has ben in Tromsø before. She spent a period of research here during her Phd-degree in 2009. That’s when she planned to return.

- I loved the place! Claudia smiles.

As much as the academic quality at the Faculty of Law, she likes life in Tromsø.

-  I like the family atmosphere; it is a small community and everybody is kind, you never feel alone. 

- The weather is of course…well, different from home, she smiles.

- But, the difference makes me love it! The darkness, the mountains, the landscape… I can learn a lot from the close relationship with the nature that you have here, the Marie Curie candidate concludes.