Scientific mobility often benefits researchers’ productivity and networks but may lead to unbalanced flows from less to more attractive countries. This is the first quantitative study to examine a mobility program aimed at tackling this problem by favoring relocation within a geographical domain, by supporting the long-term relocation of experienced researchers: the Career Integration Grant (CIG), a funding scheme of the Marie Curie Actions under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme. The CIG aimed to reinforce the European Research Area and counter the European brain drain to third countries by supporting the long-term relocation of experienced researchers in EU member states or associated countries. We consider three yearly calls between 2011 and 2013 and explore the effect on the chances of long-term relocation at country and institutional level. We find that obtaining the grant related to greater chances of long-term relocation in the host institution (+9.4%) and country (+8.2%). The grant was particularly effective for applicants’ subcategories that typically have less access to alternative funding sources: (a) nontenured, (b) scientists from soft sciences, (c) non “returnees,” and (d) moving to nonhigh-ranked institutions. We do not find a relationship with the probability of obtaining a tenured position or on scientific productivity.

As the global mobility of researchers increases, many of whom are supported by national funding agencies’ mobility schemes, there is growing interest in understanding the impact of this overseas mobility on knowledge production and networking. This study addresses a relatively understudied mobility—the temporary international mobility of PhD students in STEM fields—and its relation to the establishment of research collaborations between mobile PhD students and researchers at the host university and with other researchers overseas. First, we find that 55% of the participants established relevant international collaborations (i.e., with hosting supervisors and/or others at the hosting university), and we explore these collaboration patterns in detail by taking a novel research propagation approach. Second, we identify features of the visiting period that influence the formation of research collaborations abroad, such as the prestige of the host university, the duration of the international mobility period, the cultural distance, and the number of peer PhD students at the host university. Previous research collaborations between the home and host supervisors are also found to play a crucial role in research collaboration development. Age at the time of mobility is not found to be particularly relevant. We find that female PhD students are less able to benefit from collaborative research efforts than male students. These findings advance the knowledge of global research networks and provide important insights for research funding agencies aiming to promote international research mobility at the doctoral level.