"The ERS, the main scientific society in the respiratory field in Europe, promotes research into respiratory diseases in children and adults, including asthma, COPD, cysticfibrosis, lung cancer, and sleep-related respiratory disorders. Respiratory diseases impose a global burden affecting hundreds of millions of people. Since1998, the ERS has operated a successful programme of transnational exchange of researchers in respiratory science. It was expanded in 2009 under the FP7 COFUND scheme with the RESPIRE programme. ERS was able to triple the number of post-doc fellowships in the respiratory field within Europe. Following the success of RESPIRE; “RESPIRE 2” will be further improved with the aim to maximise the impact on the fellow’s careers by extending the funding period to 2 fellowship years instead of 1. RESPIRE 2 will run over a total period of 5 years, and will fund a total of 24 fellowship years (compared to 18 in RESPIRE).ERS will organise an up-front screening of host institutions who will need to meet a number of selection criteria for the RESPIRE 2 candidates e.g. contribution to the fellows’ research costs, a career support programme, social security issues. RESPIRE 2 will be completely open, but only host institutions based in Europe will participate. There will be no discrimination according to age, gender, ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs. RESPIRE 2 will ensure that all applications undergo an impartial and rigorous peer-review by recognized international experts, free of conflicts of interest. The evaluation committee of ERS will select the host institute and fellows based on scientific merits and transparent criteria. RESPIRE 2 will be evaluated using quantifiable scientific output measures, and indicators of human achievements. RESPIRE 2 will boost the careers of the recipient fellows, it will also promote the ERA, by creating and maintaining scientific networks, and retaining promising researchers in Europe."