This project on scientific mobility was jointly funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, under the Science in Society Programme, and the Anglo-German Foundation. The study explored the relationship between highly-skilled, scientific migration and the transfer of knowledge within the European Union. It considered the effects of these forms of mobility on the individuals concerned (in terms of their career progression and well-being) and on the selected countries (in terms of scientific development and capacity). It addressed the following questions: - Who is moving (what are the characteristics of migrants)? - Why are they moving (what motivates and shapes mobility)? - How are they moving (how long are they staying; how frequently are they moving; are they returning)? - What relationship exists between these forms of human mobility and the distribution of scientific knowledge and expertise (can highly skilled mobility generate forms of ‘disembodied’ knowledge transfer)? - What would happen if they did not move (would scientists continue to work productively in scientific research in the sending countries and would receiving countries suffer as a result)? The study examined the movement of natural scientists between two ‘receiving’ locations - the UK and Germany - and two ‘sending’ locations - Bulgaria and Poland - and involved a range of approaches including literature review, legal and policy analysis and face-to-face interviews (n=89) with key informants and mobile scientists in the four locations.

91 interviews with Polish and Bulgarian scientists undertaken as part of the MOBEX project.