PhD Training in Central- and South-East Europe: Leave to Explore - Return to Lead

Central and South-East Europe is one of the most complex regions in Europe. This complexity promotes innovative thinking and scientists from the Region have contributed significantly to the progress of human knowledge in the past.At present a lack of funding and modernised structures often results in the inability of Region’s universities to maintain and attract excellent domestic and foreign PhD candidates and supervisors and hence to compete internationally. Thus, human and scientific potential in the Region is under-utilised in contributing to knowledge and wealth creation.Reactivating this potential is in the interest of the EU to ensure prosperity and international competitiveness. This necessitates targeted EU funds to support PhD training in the Region.