In 2002 the Italian Ministry of Health established Alliance Against Cancer (ACC), an association working together with the Italian National Institute for Health (ISS), with the aim to better coordinate cancer research and care, and to stimulate innovation and competitiveness. In light of the growing complexity of cancer research, ISS and ACC are committed to enhancing the Italian participation in the building of the European Research Area where continuous education must be given highest priority. Italy encounters difficulties to retain many of its most talented scientists and to provide an environment capable of attracting experienced scientists trained abroad. To partially overcome this strongly felt problem and to promote traslational cancer research, ISS and ACC are setting up a three-year international mobility scheme called Training through Research Application Italian iNitiative (TRAIN). This will consist of a total of 30 outcoming, incoming and reintegration fellowships which could be increased to 51 with the support of COFUND. TRAIN is regulated by Art.1 of Law No. 138 of 26 May 2006 “Joint national network and international cooperation initiatives” of the Italian Ministry of Health. It is addressed to post-doc scientists or scientists having at least four years of FTE research experience who wish to improve their training spending one year abroad. Part of the scheme is targeted at Italian experienced scientists having carried out at least three years of research in a Third Country and interested in returning to Italy. The mobility is also open to non-Italian and non-residing experienced scientists wishing to spend one year in Italy. Therefore, the TRAIN mobility scheme is open to the whole scientific community. Each application will be anonymously evaluated by an international panel of independent experts randomly chosen and fulfilling selection criteria based on topic related keywords, gender and different nationalities.