Scientists studying anticancer drugs and the organization of anthills were among those recognized this week in the European Union's first “Marie Curie Excellence Awards,” which saw five researchers take home €50,000 each.

The awards are part of the European Union's efforts to stop its best scientists from fleeing to greener pastures in the United States and elsewhere and are open to scientists of any nationality who have received EU training and mobility support for at least a year.

The awards were handed out by Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday (November 4). “The Marie Curie Awards do not only pay tribute to the great Polish scientist, but also aim at recognizing European excellence in science and at making European researchers proud of their profession, in the broader framework of our initiatives to improve researchers' status in Europe,” he said. “We cannot hope to stop the brain drain and increase researcher's mobility across Europe if we don't take steps to make scientific careers more attractive.”

Winning the inaugural prizes were Paola Barbara Arimondo from the United Kingdom, for work on new antitumor agents based on conjugates of topoisomerase inhibitors and sequence-specific DNA ligands; Daniel Bonn from the Netherlands, for work on complex fluids; Letitia Fernanda Cugliandolo from Argentina, for work on the nonequilibrium dynamics of macroscopic systems evolving slowly; Marco Dorigo, Italy, for ant colony organization and ant algorithms; and Luis Serrano Pubull, Spain, for work on the design of biological systems to improve quality of life.

The funding for the awards comes from the Sixth Framework Programme for Research, which allocates about 10% of its budget to schemes supporting training, mobility, and career development for researchers. This emphasis chimes with the focus of the European Research Area initiative, which places mobility and career development at the heart of its strategy to combat brain drain.

A total of 84 eligible proposals, 71 by candidates from EU member states, were submitted for the awards, which were evaluated over the summer by 63 independent experts. The final recommendations of candidates were made by the Marie Curie Grand Jury, a panel of six under the chairmanship of Hélène Langevin-Joliot, a prominent French physicist and granddaughter of Marie Curie.

The awards were presented as part of Marie Curie Week, November 3–15, 2003, during which a range of activities are taking place designed to promote mobility and advancement in the careers of scientific researchers.