• Early stage researchers and Experienced Researchers with up to 10 years of research experience may be nationals of any country (subject to the requirement for an international balance described below)
• Experienced Researchers with more than 10 years of experience must be nationals of Member States and Associated States

Requirement for an overall international balance of the project

It should be noted that the number of funded researchers who are nationals of Third countries should normally not exceed 30% of the total number of funded researchers (the percentage is to be applied per event):

In the case of host-driven actions, a maximum of 30 %5 of the number of funded researcher-months can be used for third country researchers. This percentage could be exceeded in exceptional cases under the condition that the excess is duly justified as being essential to attain the objectives of the action. (Work Programme, section 2.5.3)

Furthermore, no more than 30% of all the participants in each event may be nationals of the same Member State, Associated State or of third countries collectively:

An international balance between the participants shall be guaranteed; no more than 30% of the total number of those attending each event within a series should be nationals of the same Member State or Associated State, or third countries collectively. (Work Programme, section 2.3.1.4)

Since, at the time of the submission of the proposal, the organisers are unlikely to know the identity of all the event participants, the Commission does not require definitive details on participation. However, in the final distribution of nationalities at the time of the event an international balance must be achieved in the following way:

• no more than 30% of the funded researchers (i.e. eligible) attending each event may be nationals of third countries collectively
• no more than 30% of the total number of researchers (i.e. eligible and non-eligible) attending each event may be nationals of the same Member State or Associated State, or nationals of third countries collectively)

EXAMPLE:

The organiser of a conference with 100 event participants in total and 50 eligible event participants should check that:

• no more than 30 event participants come from the same Member State or Associated State; AND
• no more than 30 event participants come from third countries collectively; AND
• no more than 15 eligible event participants come from third countries collectively.