Focus on Greece

Facts and figures, life scientists in Greece, EMBO opportunities

Greece has been an EMBC Member State since 1972.

Facts and figures

Gross expenditure on research and development in Greece has been rising steadily over the past few years and is currently at around 1.5% of GDP2. The General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI), tasked with co-ordinating and promoting research and innovation in Greece, has recently identified biosciences as one of several ‘Smart Specialisation Strategy Priority Areas’8. Actions planned for these areas, which were identified as being of significant economic importance, include supporting research staff and developing research infrastructures8. The GSRI also supports several national research centres including the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming”, and the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas9.

The recently established Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation has been created together with the scientific community. Its aim is to provide transparent funding and scholarship opportunities for young researchers and counteract the outflow of young talent10.

Greece has a rich heritage and culture of academic inquiry, priding itself on quality education6. There are 24 state run universities, with 140 Master programmes taught in English6. For example, the International Hellenic University, a collaboration with the EU, offers courses on science and technology taught exclusively in English11. In addition to the universities, many private colleges collaborate with international organizations to provide accredited study programmes11. All organizations take part in the ECTS credit system11. For students from the EU there are no tuition fees; for others they are low, with scholarships available even for short term stays12. Greece is very student friendly: there are around 60 student cities, over 260 sunny days per year6 and a student ID provides discounted tickets for transport and cultural events5.

Population: 10.8 million1
R&D spending: 1.5% of GDP2
Patents: 683
Researchers: 36,688 FTEs44
International students: 30,0005
Universities: 246
Horizon 2020 funding7:
1.7 billion euros
2,896 grants
39 ERC principal investigators
181 MSCA unique participants

All life scientists in Greece are eligible for the EMBO Programmes supporting life scientists in Europe and beyond.

Find out about all EMBO funding schemes here.

All information as of August 2022.

References

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