CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON

Their core work

The Carnegie Institution of Washington is a historic US private research organization focused on fundamental plant biology, ecosystem ecology, and global environmental science. In the H2020 context, it serves as a host institution for European researchers completing Marie Curie Global Fellowships abroad, welcoming fellows to its labs in the US before they return to Europe. Its visible EU footprint covers photosynthesis regulation, Amazonian ecosystem function, and molecular plant cell biology using model organisms like Arabidopsis and Chlamydomonas. For European consortia, Carnegie functions as a training and expertise partner in plant science rather than a grant-receiving participant.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

With only three H2020 fellowships all starting in 2018, there is no meaningful early-versus-late shift to observe; the institution's EU engagement is concentrated in a single cohort. Across that cohort the thematic centre is plant biology — molecular, physiological, and ecosystem-scale — consistent with Carnegie's long-standing Plant Biology and Global Ecology departments. The trend signal is stability rather than reinvention.

A reliable US host for European plant-science fellows; expect continued strength in photosynthesis, plant cell biology, and ecosystem research rather than applied technology work.

How they like to work

Carnegie appears in H2020 exclusively as a third-party host for individual Marie Curie fellows, never as coordinator or funded participant. That means it contributes senior scientific supervision and laboratory infrastructure to European researchers temporarily based in the US, rather than negotiating deliverables inside a consortium. Partnerships are built one researcher at a time around a specific scientific mentor, so engagement is personal and PI-driven.

Linked to four European consortium partners across four countries via three MSCA fellowships, with the European host institutions driving the formal collaboration. Geographic reach is transatlantic by design: European researcher, US host lab.

What sets them apart

Carnegie is a rare category in the H2020 dataset — a prestigious US basic-science institution acting purely as a fellowship host, not a grant recipient. For European PIs, this is the right address when a postdoc needs a top-tier US plant-biology lab for a Global Fellowship outgoing phase. It is not the right partner for applied R&D, industry-facing consortia, or technology transfer projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BSLchlamy
  The most technically detailed of the three, combining proteomics and phosphoproteomics in Chlamydomonas and Arabidopsis to dissect a conserved plant phosphatase family.
• UNREDE
  Targets non-photochemical quenching — a central question in photosynthesis research with implications for crop light-use efficiency.
• E FUNDIA
  Broadens Carnegie's visible profile from molecular plant biology into Amazonian ecosystem function and biodiversity.