Marie (Sklodowska) Curie was born in Warsaw in 1867. In 1891, she moved to Paris where she got degrees in physics and mathematical sciences. She married the French scientist Pierre Curie in 1894. They worked together on radioactivity and developed methods for the isolation of radium and its therapeutic uses. Among many other awards, she received a Nobel Prize in physics with her husband and Becquerel for their work on spontaneous radiation in 1903 and one in chemistry for her work on the radioactivity of polonium and radium in 1911.

During World War I, she was personally involved with the creation and use of mobile radiography units (known as “Little Curies”) to locate shrapnel or bullets in wounded soldiers for the preparation of surgical intervention. She died in France in 1934 from a blood disease resulting from the overexposure to radiation during her research. To date, she remains the only woman to have received two Nobel prizes and to be buried in the French Panthéon of great men honoured by the nation. There was no better symbol than to give her name to European Union actions dedicated to researchers, their mobility and gender mainstreaming in sciences.

• Marie Curie’s biography

The Marie Curie actions are specific actions under the People programme that aim to allow researchers to develop skills and that support their mobility. The main actions are Initial Training Networks (ITN), Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development (IEF), European [International] Reintegration Grants (ERG), International Incoming Fellowships (IIF), International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development (IOF), Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP), International Reintegration Grants (IRG), Co-funding of Regional, National, and International Programmes (COFUND) and International Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES).

• Marie Curie Actions in brief

The intellectual property provisions applicable to the Marie Curie actions are established in the Marie Curie grant agreement, specifically in Annex II for the beneficiaries and in Annex III (corresponding to the different actions) for the regulation of their relationships with partner institutions and researchers.

• Marie Curie grant agreement model

If you are a single beneficiary, there is no need to prepare a consortium agreement. However, where appropriate, you may have to sign a partnership agreement with a partner institution. Moreover, you will have to sign an agreement with the researcher. If there are several beneficiaries in your project, you may (also) have to sign a consortium agreement.

• IPR-Helpdesk Web page on consortium agreement

No, there is no consortium agreement model specific to Marie Curie actions. But you can nevertheless consult templates of consortium agreements drafted for other FP7 actions. Note, however, that any model should always be used only as an example and be tightly adapted to the specific needs of a project.

• IPR-Helpdesk Web page on consortium agreement

The beneficiaries are the owners of the results of the project, including the foreground generated during the researcher’s secondment period. However, transfers of ownership of results are allowed. In that respect, when necessary, beneficiaries and partner institutions may take the appropriate arrangements to reach an agreement on ownership issues and/or the granting of licences, for example.

• IP provisions in Marie Curie actions under FP7

No, there is no model contract. The beneficiary should include all the appropriate IP-related clauses for the project in the agreement with the researcher, provided that they are compatible with the grant agreement signed with the European Commission, as well as the consortium agreement signed between beneficiaries where appropriate.

• IP provisions in Marie Curie actions under FP7

Yes, as in other FP7 actions, compulsory access rights to foreground and background have to be granted between beneficiaries when they are needed to implement the project or for use of the foreground. In addition, the beneficiaries shall always ensure that researchers enjoy access rights to background and foreground needed for their research activities/training under the project. Beneficiaries must inform each other and the researchers as early as possible of any restriction affecting the granting of access rights.

• IP provisions in Marie Curie actions under FP7